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GEOG 547 / GEOS 547
GLOBAL & REGIONAL
CLIMATOLOGY
Instructor:s
Dr Katie Hirschboeck & Dr. Joellen Russell
Tue & Thu 12:30 - 1:45 pm
Location:
Education Building room 502
(classroom is on the 5th floor opposite the elevator at
the east end of the building)
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D2L SYLLABUS
LINKS
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COURSE
PHILOSOPHY:
Synoptic
climatology is "the
study of climate from the viewpoint of its constituent
weather components or events and the way in which these
components are related to atmospheric circulation at all
scales."
Harman & Winkler 1991
The guiding philosophy of
the course is that to understand past or future climatic
variability anywhere in the world, one must be grounded in
an understanding of present global and regional climate
dynamics from the viewpoint of the constituent weather
components or events that combine spatially and temporally
to produce these dynamics. |
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The
goal of this advanced course in climatology is to equip
graduate students in the earth, atmosphere, hydrologic and
environmental sciences with a comprehensive
understanding of
how global and regional weather
patterns and atmospheric circulation processes interact to
produce unique and varying climates worldwide.
This course builds on presumed background knowledge of
"the climate system"
by applying a synoptic meteorological and climatological
approach to analyze and explicate the complexity of climatic
patterns and processes from continent to continent across
the globe.
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The
organizing framework for the course is an emphasis on the
interactions between global atmospheric processes and
regional climatic responses as they are manifested in
synoptic-scale features and processes in different parts of
the world.
In
addition to a general overview of global atmospheric
processes and regional climatic patterns, the course will
address the earth's "problem climates"
1 and
climatically sensitive zones that are most susceptible to
floods, droughts, and other climatic extremes. |
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Online
data resources will provide the basis for an up-to-date
technical analysis of regional weather and climate patterns.
Using
Interactive Plotting and Analysis Pages,
the
NCEP Reanalysis Electronic Atlas, and other gridded
datasets we will create visualizations of climate variables
and synoptic circulation patterns in order to probe and
deconstruct classic "textbook" explanations of global and
regional climate from a process-based perspective.
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Graduate students
in geography, hydrology, geosciences, atmospheric sciences,
global change, natural resources, environmental sciences,
arid lands and other related areas are welcome
— especially if your
research involves the study of past, present or future
climatic variability in locations throughout the world. The
prerequisite is
an
upper division climatology or meteorology course (GEOG
530
or equivalent). Contact the
instructor to
inquire about other suitable prerequisites. |
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COURSE OBJECTIVES:
(1) to
provide an in-depth treatment of the causes of
regional weather and climatic patterns and processes
in terms of synoptic atmospheric circulation patterns.
(2)
to examine and analyze
regional examples of processes driven by the energy and
moisture fluxes at the global scale
(3)
to provide the climatic basis for a critical
evaluation of some of the most urgent regional
climate‑related extreme-events facing us today;
especially floods and droughts
(4)
to provide a sound
climate-based foundation for the analysis of
climatic environments of the past and/or future
and a physical basis for the interpretation of climates in different parts of
the world using indices, modeling and/or paleoenvironmental techniques
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COURSE FORMAT:
- Readings will be
drawn from textbook selections, journal articles, and online sources.
- Hands-on
computer-based applications of online resources and datasets will augment
the readings.
- In-class and homework
exercises will involve the use of the NCEP Reanalysis interactive plotting
and analysis pages to construct and explore circulation patterns and
processes in different parts of the world. In class we'll share our plots,
compare and contrast the patterns, and evaluate whether or not they fit
"textbook" or journal article explanations of what is "supposed to be"
driving regional climate patterns.
- A background self test will address introductory climate
basics and a midterm exam will test synthesis and application of the course
concepts
- Each student will complete a term
project. This could be a
circulation-based climate webpage for a particular continent, a detailed
regional climatic analysis of a particular area, or some other exploration
of global or regional climate.
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"Problem climates" as defined in the classic global climatology
text:
The Earth's Problem Climates by Glenn T. Trewartha,
1981 Univ of Wisconsin press.
For more information
contact:
Dr. Katie Hirschboeck
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research
208 West Stadium
621-6466
katie@LTRR.arizona.edu
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