Science of climate change
Summary
The course equips students with a comprehensive scientific understanding of climate change covering a wide range of topics from physical principles, historical climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, the IPCC assessment to future scenarios and climate action.
Content
The basics: physics and chemistry of the climate system, historical climate change, climate variability, sensitivity, feedbacks
Climate change assessment: IPCC review of present-day climate change, tipping elements, extremes, regional climate change
Scenarios and carbon budget: climate change scenarios, remaining carbon budget, climate metrics, short-lived climate forcers/pollutants
Climate action: mitigation, adaptation and climate engineering
Keywords
Climate change, regional climate change, Earth system, IPCC, greenhouse gases, carbon budget, climate scenarios, greenhouse gas emissions
Learning Prerequisites
Required courses
none
Recommended courses
ENV-320 : Physics and chemistry of the atmosphere
ENV-409 : Air pollution
ENV-407: Atmospheric processes: from cloud to global scale
Important concepts to start the course
Basics of physics and chemistry
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the student must be able to:
- Express the basic physics and chemistry of climate change
- Discuss the concepts of climate variability and climate sensitivity
- Reason why present day climate change is different from historical climate change
- Contrast climate change scenarios
- Apply simple climate metrics
- Interpret basic climate data and model output
- Critique mitigation, adaptation and climate engineering options
Transversal skills
- Assess one's own level of skill acquisition, and plan their on-going learning goals.
- Plan and carry out activities in a way which makes optimal use of available time and other resources.
- Communicate effectively with professionals from other disciplines.
- Give feedback (critique) in an appropriate fashion.
- Summarize an article or a technical report.
- Access and evaluate appropriate sources of information.
Teaching methods
In-depth teaching. Exercises with educational support. Project work in teams. Discussions.
Expected student activities
Lecture attendance, exercise assignments, project work, presentations
Assessment methods
50 % exercises, 50 % exam
Supervision
| Assistants | Yes |
| Forum | Yes |
Resources
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
No
Bibliography
Peixoto, José P., Physics of climate, New York : American Institute of Physics, 1992
Ressources en bibliothèque
- Seinfeld. - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics BOOK
- Wallace. - Atmospheric science, an introductory survey BOOK
- Peixoto. - Physics of climate BOOK
Notes/Handbook
lecture slides; recordings
Websites
- https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/
- https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
- https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/
- https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/
- https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/
- https://interactive-atlas.ipcc.ch/
Moodle Link
In the programs
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Written (winter session)
- Subject examined: Science of climate change
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Written (winter session)
- Subject examined: Science of climate change
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Written (winter session)
- Subject examined: Science of climate change
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exam form: Written (winter session)
- Subject examined: Science of climate change
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Written (winter session)
- Subject examined: Science of climate change
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Written (winter session)
- Subject examined: Science of climate change
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Written (winter session)
- Subject examined: Science of climate change
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Reference week
| Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | |
| 8-9 | |||||
| 9-10 | |||||
| 10-11 | |||||
| 11-12 | |||||
| 12-13 | |||||
| 13-14 | |||||
| 14-15 | |||||
| 15-16 | |||||
| 16-17 | |||||
| 17-18 | |||||
| 18-19 | |||||
| 19-20 | |||||
| 20-21 | |||||
| 21-22 |
Légendes:
Lecture
Exercise, TP
Project, other