All assignments are due at the start of class on the date indicated, unless shown otherwise.
| Date | Topic | What's due today? Reading and assignments |
| Jan 9 | Class overview. Introduction, team formation, and topic suggestions. Introduction to climate as a system. | Online textbook: Introduction. Section 1.2.1: Composition and temperature. |
| Jan 11 | Atmospheric composition and structure. Controls on climate: The global energy balance. | |
| Jan 16 | Variations in the global energy balance. | |
| Jan 18 | Surface energy balance. Example of a Climate News presentation. |
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| Jan 23 | Heat transport by the atmospheric and oceanic general circulation. | |
| Jan 25 | The atmospheric general circulation. | |
| Jan 30 | Perturbations to the atmospheric general circulation: Monsoons. Ocean circulation: Wind driven circulations. Upwelling and downwelling. Composition and properties of ocean water. |
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| Feb 1 | Ocean circulation: Thermohaline circulation and the ocean conveyor belt. | |
| Feb 6 | Interlude: A world tour of climates, including extremes. | |
| Feb 8 | El Niño and the Southern Oscillation. | |
| Feb 13 | El Niño and the Southern Oscillation (continued). Other major oscillations in the climate system. | |
| Feb 15 | Active review session for midterm exam (questions and discussion). | |
| Feb 20 | Midterm exam | |
| Feb 22 | Climate of Iowa and its surrounding region. | |
| Feb 27 | Climate of Iowa (continued). Climate and agriculture. | |
| Mar 1 | Climate and agriculture (continued). | |
| Mar 6 | METED Module: Understanding the Hydrologic Cycle. | |
| Mar 8 | The hydrologic cycle and water resources. | |
| Mar 13 | Spring Break | Rest and relaxation. |
| Mar 15 | Spring Break | Fun in the sun (or snow, or rain). |
| Mar 20 | Climate data sources. Causes of natural climate changes. | |
| Mar 22 | Causes of natural climate changes (continued). Richard Alley lecture: The Biggest Control Knob. Discussion |
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| Mar 27 | Anthropogenic climate change: Changes to atmospheric composition. | |
| Mar 29 | Understanding and predicting climate change: Climate models. Projected global climate changes, including changes to extremes. | |
| Apr 3 | Understanding and predicting climate change: Scenarios. Sea level rise simulator. | |
| Apr 5 | ||
| Apr 10 | ||
| Apr 12 | ||
| Apr 17 | Projected climate changes for Iowa and the Midwest. | |
| Apr 19 | Farmer adaptation to and attitudes toward climate change. | |
| Apr 24 | Poster presentations of climate reports. | |
| Apr 26 | Poster presentations of climate reports. | |
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May 2 9:45 - 11:45 a.m. |
Final exam. |