97939 - The climate system: forcings and impacts

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the students will acquire basic competences on the main forcings and impacts which drive the functioning of the climate system. Specifically, the students:

• understand the mechanisms and the feedback processes which regulate the climate system, and the interactions among its components;

• know the processes which control the climate system and its evolution;

• know the planetary energy balance, and the energy exchanges with the outer space;

• know the climate conditions characterizing the urban areas with respect to the surrounding rural ones;

• correctly identify, comprehend and evaluate the different impacts on the climate system both natural and induced by anthropic activity.

Course contents

Energy budget

Global energy budget: transport of energy through e.m. waves. The solar forcing: measurements and natural variations. The link between temperature and energy emitted by the bodies. The Earth albedo. The Earth energy budget.

The role of the atmosphere in the Earth radiation budget: radiative components. Greenhouse effect. Energy balance at the surface. Natural and anthropogenic drivers.

The role of clouds and aerosols. The feedback processes: the case of cloud feedback. Ozone and the formation of the stratosphere. Measuring the climate change from satellite.


Climate dynamics

The climate system, seasonal, decadal, centennial climate variability: phenomenology
and drivers.

Climate change and climate feedbacks. The case of ozone depletion.

History and development of numerical climate models, the IPCC.

Climate predictions and projections, signals and uncertainty.

 

The urban climate

Environmental impacts of urban development: impacts of the urban morphology and function on the atmosphere. Scales of urban climate phenomena. The vertical structure of the urban atmosphere. Urban vs. rural differences. The urban heat island and the heat waves. Geographical controls on urbanization and on the urban effects. Urban impacts on the global climate system: changes in land use and greenhouse gases emissions from cities. Air pollution and its interaction with climate.

Readings/Bibliography

Slides and notes of the course provided by the lecturers.

 

 

For more details the student can refers to the following texts:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/bookseries/international-geophysics/vol/56/suppl/C

 

http://www.climate.be/textbook/

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures with projector and blackboard

Assessment methods

Preparation of a written essay intended to verify the comprehension of the topics illustrated in the module.

Teaching tools

PC with projector

Office hours

See the website of Tiziano Maestri

See the website of Paolo Ruggieri

See the website of Erika Brattich