Physics of weather and climate 1100-2`FPK

Program
The goal of this lecture is to build in the student basic physical understanding of atmospheric phenomena which govern weather and climate,

Syllabus:

1. Weather and climate. Deterministic and deterministic-stochastic approach to atmospheric phenomena.
2. Energy budget of the Earth. Radiative transfer in the atmosphere. Greenhouse effect. Radiative-convective equilibrium. Role of aerosol and clouds in the Earth's energy balance.
3. Introduction to atmospheric thermodynamics: gas constant of dry air, humidity, virtual temperature. Hydrostatic equilibrium and potential temperature. Condensation and evaporation. Clouds and precipitation.
4. Basic properties of atmospheric and oceanic circulations. Range of scales and interaction between scales. Primitive equations. Synoptic scale. Geostrophic approximation. Turbulence.
5. Atmospheric and oceanic circulations as mechanism redistributing energy on the Earth. General circulation of the atmosphere, monsoons, ENSO. Thermohaline circulation in the oceans.
6. Timescales of climatic processes. Climate changes: natural and anthropogenic components.
7. Instability of atmospheric flows. Predictability of the atmosphere due to unknown initial stare problem ("butterfly effect) and imperfect understanding of the system representation. Weather forecasts and climate projections.