This course is taught by 3 instructors in 6 parts. The first three parts are taught by Prof. Edward Boyle. The fourth and fifth parts are taught by Prof. Carl Wunsch. The sixth part is taught by Prof. Kerry Emanuel.
Calendar schedule.| LEC # | TOPICS |
|---|
| Part 1. Paleoclimate (8 lectures) |
| 1 | The origin of the earth, the atmosphere and life |
| 2 | The moon and the earth's rotation rate |
| 3 | The co-evolution of life, ocean and atmospheric chemistry, and sedimentary rocks |
| 4 | The "Faint Young Sun Paradox" and the geochemical C cycle |
| 5 | Long-term climate cycles and the proterozoic glaciations ("Snowball Earth") |
| 6 | Climate on geologic time scales and the CO2-climate connection |
| 7 | Pleistocene ice age cycles 0-2.65 Ma |
| 8 | Ice sheet paleoclimatology |
| Part 2. CO2 and ocean chemistry (4 lectures) |
| 9 | Natural and fossil fuel CO2 in the ocean I (1 lecture) |
| 10-12 | Natural and fossil fuel CO2 in the ocean II (3 lectures) |
| Part 3. Atmospheric chemistry and climate (4 lectures, 2 lectures each topic) |
| 13-14 | Atmospheric chemistry I |
| 15-16 | Atmospheric chemistry II |
| Part 4. Wiggle matching and Milankovitch theory (2 lectures) |
| 17-18 | Wiggle matching and milankovitch hypotheses |
| Part 5. Ocean and climate (7 lectures) |
| 19-25 | Ocean circulation for climate understanding |
| Part 6. The atmosphere (10 lectures, 2 lectures each topic) |
| 26-27 | Introduction |
| 28-29 | Radiative and convective heat transfer |
| 30-31 | Moist convection |
| 32-33 | Water vapor and clouds |
| 34-35 | Lateral transport of heat and water |