Stability of the earth's climate is crucial to the fabric of human society. Recent increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases from humans are potentially changing our climate in dramatic ways. This course will give the student an understanding of all aspects of the earth's climate incorporating land, ocean, atmosphere and ice and will focus on the potential impacts posed by global climate change upon these systems. A brief introduction to climate change policy will also be given. Although no mathematical background is required, an introduction into how scientists predict future climate change will be demonstrated by application of global climate models via tutorials.
The student will gain a firm grasp of what controls the earth's climate, how our climate may be changing, how future climate is predicted and some of the current challenges to climate policy.