ESS 288: Cloud and Aerosol: From Microphysics to Climate Change
Course Description
Cloud and aerosol in the atmosphere are critical components in the weather and climate systems. They are also considered as the leading uncertainty sources in the current climate change assessment. The purpose of this course is to introduce the laws of the thermodynamics that drive the changes in temperature, moisture, and the energy conversions, and the physics of aerosols, clouds, and precipitation (also known as "microphysics"). Understanding these processes on multiple time and space scales is crucial to gain insights of the Earth's mean climate change as well as weather and climate extreme events (like heavy precipitation, lightning, hail). The advancement of atmospheric physics depends on observations from a variety of platforms (in situ, ground-based, and remote sensing), providing massive amounts of information regarding the evolving state of the atmosphere. These observational data are then fed into numerical models of the atmosphere, which play an increasingly important role in decision-making, from short-term forecasts of hazardous weather to long-term policy implications of global climate change. The course will discuss the state-of-the-art observations and numerical models related with aerosol, cloud, and precipitation. The key topics covered in this course include: Dry and Moist Atmospheric Thermodynamics, Warm Cloud Physics, Cold and Mixed-Phase Cloud Physics, Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions, Thunderstorm Electrification and Lightning, Observations and modeling of Clouds and Precipitation, etc. Prerequisite: Undergraduate Mechanics at the level of Physics 41, Thermodynamics at the level of Physics 45, and Calculus at the level of Math 51 or CME 100. ESS 246A/CEE 262I: Atmospheric Circulation is recommended, but not a prerequisite for the class. Students are expected be proficient in at least one programming language (e.g., Python, R, C++, or MATLAB) to complete the numerical calculation components of the assignments.