Fall 2024 Earth and Environmental Sciences GR6922 section 001

ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION

Call Number 11487
Day & Time
Location
TR 1:10pm-2:25pm
555 EXT Schermerhorn Hall [SCH]
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Robert Pincus
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

This course provides a basic quantitative introduction to (electromagnetic) radiation in the climate system, focusing on the atmosphere. We will establish the language used to describe radiation and describe how sources of radiation are related to temperature and to the physical properties and chemical composition of the atmosphere. We’ll learn how radiation emitted by the earth and atmosphere is transported between elements of the climate system and the rest of the universe, combining this with information about how the optical properties vary with wavelength to understand phenomena as varied as the cooling rate of the atmosphere, how “radiative forcing” arises from compositional changes and how this varies in space, and why the amount of rain increases more slowly than the amount of water in the atmosphere. We’ll then consider light from the sun, which arrives as a collimated beam that’s diffused in the atmosphere. We’ll consider methods for computing the fate of incoming sunlight and explore how this depends on the distribution of the gasses, aerosols, and clouds that make up the atmosphere.

Web Site Vergil
Department Earth and Environmental Sciences
Enrollment 14 students (25 max) as of 11:06AM Saturday, December 7, 2024
Subject Earth and Environmental Sciences
Number GR6922
Section 001
Division Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Note Course prerequisites found here: https://eesc.columbia.edu/c
Section key 20243EESC6922G001