Welcome to the course Climate Change Engineering: Science and Modeling!
By: Mim Rahimi
Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, mainly as a result of human activities. Designing an action plan to mitigate climate change requires in-depth understanding of the climate system and carbon cycle. Climate models are additional assets to projecting future climate change and evaluating potential mitigation options. I have designed this course to introduce the fundamentals of climate change science and modeling.
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Identify the components of climate and describe how they interact to impact climate change
- Articulate the evidence attributing climate change in recent decades to human activities
- Construct climate models and identify the impact of greenhouse gases
- Apply climate models to predict future climate change and evaluate the impacts of various mitigation options
- Interpret and critique research papers on climate systems and modeling as well as climate change
- Express an informed opinion on the scope and urgency of climate change mitigation
COURSE LEVEL & REQUIREMENTS
This online course is open to undergraduate students majoring in chemical engineering, chemistry, mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, environmental engineering, or physics. Basic knowledge of general chemistry, mathematics, and programming (preferably in Python) is required. Please contact me by email at rahimi@xyz.edu if you have questions regarding the course or its prerequisites or any other concerns.
COURSE STRUCTURE
- Climate System | 1.1. Climate components; 1.2. Energy balance
- The Carbon Cycle | 2.1. The natural cycle; 2.2. The perturbed cycle
- Modeling Climate Change | 3.1. Climate model basics; 3.2. Model construction
- Future Climate Change: Prediction and Mitigation