A ENV 415 / A ATM 415: Climate Laboratory

Syllabus, Spring 2016

Course number: 10031 or 9927 (3 credits)

Meets Tuesday, Thursday 10:15 - 11:35 AM in ES 328

Instructor: Brian Rose

Teaching assistant: Cameron Rencurrel

  • Email: crencurrel@albany.edu
  • Office: ES 330
  • Office hours: Monday 9:30 - 11 AM, Thursday 3:00 - 4:30 PM (or by appointment)

Course website

http://www.atmos.albany.edu/facstaff/brose/classes/ENV415_Fall2016/

Includes the online version of this syllabus with hyperlinks, lecture and reading schedule and more.

From the Undergraduate Bulletin:

A hands-on course in climate modeling; students will gain an appreciation for what climate models are, their limitations, and how they can be used to study natural phenomena. Topics include the physical laws governing climate and climate change, the hierarchy of model complexity, parameterization versus simulation, using models for prediction versus understanding, application of simple climate models to past and future climates on Earth (including radically different climates of the past such as Snowball Earth), accessing and analyzing results from IPCC models. Students will gain significant computer experience making calculations, analyzing results, and interpreting their significance. Prerequisite(s): A ATM 210, A ATM 315 or A ENV 315 or permission of instructor for students with computer programming experience; A MAT 111 or 112 or T MAT 118.

Grading: A-E, 3 credit

Grades will be determined based on the following breakdown:

  • Assignments: 40%
  • Quizzes: 5%
  • Midterm exam: 20%
  • Final exam: 25%
  • Participation: 10%

Course requirements

  • Attendance and participation during in-class exercises
  • Completion of all assigned reading and regular homework assignments
  • Completiong of occasional in-class quizzes
  • Completion of midterm and final exams
  • A computer with internet access and a scientific Python environment
  • Recommended: a personal laptop computer with Anaconda Python

Textbook (required)

Kendal McGuffie and Ann Henderson-Sellers (2014): The Climate Modelling Primer (4th edition), Wiley-Blackwell.

All students will need to follow the regular reading assignments. One copy of the book will be on reserve at the Science Library. Two accompanying websites may be useful:

Reading and quizzes

Reading assignments from the Primer are clearly given on the schedule page on the course website. The reading is required, and must be completed before class on the day indicated. It is important for every student to keep up with this schedule.

To encourage this, a pop quiz based on the assigned reading will occasionally be given in class. Dates will not be announced in advance. Quizzes will be given in the first 5 minutes of class.

Attendance and participation policy

A significant portion of the course grade is given for class participation. You are expected to attend all lectures and participate fully in our in-class exercises and discussions. Any absence should be discussed with Professor Rose in advance whenever possible (email preferred). UAlbany policies for Medical Excuses can be found here: http://www.albany.edu/health_center/medicalexcuse.shtml

Homework policy

Much of the course will consist of hands-on computing exercises, including both in-class exercises and homework. We will use the computer language Python for our exercises and calculations. We recommend software called Anaconda Python, which in completely free and provides everything we need. See the class web page for installation instructions. The instructor will provided additional Python code files for each exercise as necessary. The goal of the exercises is to carry out scientifically meaningful calculations. We will therefore view our efforts in learning to work with Python code as a means to an end, not an end in itself. Grading of homework will be based more on scientific content and understanding than on programming skill. The TA is available for computing assistance.

There will be regular homework assignments throughout the semester (about 8 total, subject to change). Homework will be due at the beginning of class on the stated due date, usually 1 week after it is handed out. LATE HOMEWORK will incur a penalty of 15% per day. Exception: each student is granted ONE freebee late day to be used on one assignment of their choice. For these purposes "days" are defined as 24 hour periods after the due date and time, which is 10:15 am. Late assignments will not be accepted after solutions have been discussed in class.

Academic integrity

In this class we will strive to be interactive, learning by doing and by discussion. Some collaboration on exercises is therefore encouraged. However you are ultimately expected to submit your own work and your own thoughts, and to give proper credit to others for previous work and ideas.

This is very important when writing computer code! There is nothing wrong with borrowing useful pieces of code from classmates or online sources -- that is in fact the central principle of open-source software. However, you must always acknowledge the original author(s). You must also, wherever practical, understand the code you are borrowing and be able to explain what it does.

It is every student's responsibility to become familiar with the standards of academic integrity at UAlbany. Claims of ignorance, of unintentional error, or of academic or personal pressures are not sufficient reasons for violations of academic integrity. Please review these policies in the Undergraduate Bulletin at http://www.albany.edu/undergraduate_bulletin/regulations.html