ATM 693 Climate Journal Club (1 Credit) Fall 2005

Focus : Natural Cycles in the Earth System

Instructor of Record: Dr. Igor Polyakov (474-2686, igor@iarc.uaf.edu) & Uma Bhatt (x 2662, bhatt@gi.alaska.edu)

Meeting Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Friday in IARC 319 CRN 77745

Office Hours:  By appointment

Prerequisites: Graduate Standing and a basic knowledge of meteorology and/or oceanography, climate, such that the student is able to read and comprehend current journal articles reasonably well.   

Materials Needed: No Required Text. Reading materials will be available for students/participants to copy.

Expectation and Grading Policy: Students are expected to attend the class, do the required reading, participate and give one lecture. Each student will lead a discussion for at least one journal article or give a research talk. The class will be graded Pass/Fail.          

Course Overview:

  The "Climate Group" has evolved from an informal meeting for researchers, Ph.D and Masters students to be held at IARC.

This semester the class will revolve around the theme of 'Natural Cycles in the Earth System'. The course will begin with formal lectures from UAF faculty on various topics aimed at the level of students. The topics covered in the formal lectures will include: Overview of Climate time scales, The Diurnal cycle, Intraseasonal scales, Interannual, Decadal, Multi-decadal and Milankovich scales. This will be followed by more specific lectures on topics such as turbulence & the polar vortex, ENSO, and the seasonal terrestrial cycle. Student presentations on topics decided upon in consultation with the instructor will be given in the second half of the semester.

Expected Proficiencies:

• Develop a better understanding of the role of temporal and spatial scales in Climate Variability
• Learn to discuss science in a productive manner (or just throw tomatoes)
• Develop skills to read papers critically
• Improve the quality of your presentations

We are working out the schedule with scientists according to our topic progression and their availibility but the following topics will be presented during the semester:

Course Outline: Meeting Dates with Topics