SCI-230 Quantitative Analysis of Climate Change
Conversation about the weather is considered to be the universal icebreaker: Yesterday's sweltering heat, the storm predicted for this weekend, even long-term climate shifts find their way in our daily conversation. Today, however, such casual conversations have an edge to them, because we are realizing that humans play a role in determining the climate shift. To understand the magnitude of climate change and its pace, and to meaningfully participate in any dialogue that addresses this problem, people have to be aware of certain concepts of planetary science and quantitative analysis. This course will focus on providing these key concepts through discussions, developing simple physical models, running computer models, and analysis of real climate data.