Courses:

Course Info

• Course Number / Code:
• 12.301 (Fall 2006) 
• Course Title:
• Climate Physics and Chemistry 
• Course Level:
• Undergraduate / Graduate 
• Offered by :
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  Massachusetts, United States  
• Department:
• Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences 
• Course Instructor(s):
• Prof. Edward Boyle
  Prof. Kerry Emanuel
  Prof. Carl Wunsch 
• Course Introduction:
•  
• 
  
  12.301 / 12.842 Climate Physics and Chemistry
  
  
  
  

  Fall 2006

  
  
  

  
  
  

  Course Highlights

  
  
  

  
  
  12.301 / 12.842 Climate Physics and Chemistry
  
  
  
  

  Fall 2006

  
  
  

  

  Schematic view of the components of the climate system, their processes and interactions. (Image courtesy of IPCC.)

  
  
  

  Course Description

  
  
  

  This course introduces students to climate studies, including beginnings of the solar system, time scales, and climate in human history; methods for detecting climate change, including proxies, ice cores, instrumental records, and time series analysis; physical and chemical processes in climate, including primordial atmosphere, ozone chemistry, carbon and oxygen cycles, and heat and water budgets; internal feedback mechanisms, including ice, aerosols, water vapor, clouds, and ocean circulation; climate forcing, including orbital variations, volcanism, plate tectonics, and solar variability; climate models and mechanisms of variability, including energy balance, coupled models, and global ocean and atmosphere models; and outstanding problems.