CLIMATE MODELLING AND MONITORING

The course provides insights into Climate Modelling and Environmental Monitoring. Specifically, the students will acquire general knowledge about climate dynamics and how to study them through observational and numerical methods.

The students will acquire the physical-mathematical bases for understanding the fundamental processes that regulate the Earth's climate and the contribution of the major subsystems. They will learn the hierarchy of climate models and their use. They will learn different numerical methods to discretize differential equations.
They will have an overall understanding of the main techniques used to measure climate variables.
The students will learn how to work on climate data during the practical classes.

Basic knowledge of fluid dynamics, Earth's climate and Physical Climatology.

Module 1: Climate dynamics
• energy balance and transport
• the climate system and its components
• hydrological cycle
• carbon cycle

Module 2: Climate monitoring
• climate observations (in situ measurements and remote sensing)
• essential climate variables
• climate projections

Module 3: Climate modelling
• definition and hierarchy of the climate models
• basic equations
• types of grids, resolution, spatial and temporal discretization methods
• testing the validity of the models
• numerical experiments: hindcast, reanalysis, ensembles, scenarios
• regional climate models (downscaling)

Module 4: data analysis
This part consists of two sessions of practical exercises using Python and other tools. The students will perform some simple computations on climate data. Assignments are expected to be due during these lectures.
• the IPCC report
• overview of some of the main repositories for climate observations and simulations
• managing NetCDF files
• basic computations on gridded data, model ensembles and time series (time and spatial averages, ensemble mean, trend, extreme values)
• how to plot the data

Textbook: Goosse H., P.Y. Barriat, W. Lefebvre, M.F. Loutre and V. Zunz, (2008-2010). Introduction to climate dynamics and climate modeling.
http://www.climate.be/textbook/contents.html
http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/climdyn2019/Goosse.pdf

Additional suggested material:
Hartmann, D. L. Global Physical Climatology. Elsevier Science, 2015.
The IPCC report - Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/ )

During the course, the slides and additional material will be provided

The oral exam is thought to evaluate the knowledge acquired by the student in the various topics covered in the course. After a first question at will, that serves as an introduction to the exam and offers the possibility to test the knowledge acquired about a topic of special interest for the student, the exam continues touching upon other various arguments of the course. Progress will also be verified by describing a climate data analysis procedure.

oral

28-30L: excellent knoledge of the course topics; ability to prioritize information; use of appropriate technical terminology;
26-27: good knowledge of the topics covered in the course; fair ability to organize information and present it orally; familiarity with technical terminology;
24-25: not always in-depth knowledge of the topics covered in the course; orderly oral presentation but with not always correct use of technical terminology;
22-23: often superficial knowledge of the topics covered in the course; unclear oral presentation and lacking in technical terminology;
18-21: knowledge of the topics covered in the course is at times incomplete; confused oral presentation, with little use of technical terminology.

Face-to-face lectures and practical exercises

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development