History of climate science and broad overview of climate system physics.

Justin Bandoro

This lecture will begin with the history of climate science and will provide a broad overview of the physics of the climate system. The goal is to allow participants to develop a broad understanding of Earth’s climate system and understand the basic tools of climate science. We will touch on all of the following topics: i) Basic facts about the atmosphere, including its composition and vertical structure, ii) Introduction to planetary energy balance, and how Earth’s temperature is related to solar radiation, iii) The greenhouse effect, iv) Developing a simple analytical model for planetary energy balance, v) Observations of seasonal and other variability in the climate system.