05-MMG-CC2 Climate Change II: Models and Data

This second module introduces to the reconstruction and modeling of abrupt climate changes, provides an overview of paleo and historical climate changes (from the role of oceanic gateways in the Cenozoic through Pleistocene climate cycles to natural climate variability during the Holocene) and presents an outlook on future climate changes in response to projected anthropogenic climate forcings. Available evidence for past climate changes (from ice and marine sediment cores) as well as current climate change (from historical and instrumental data) is discussed. Computer lab exercises with conceptual climate models and results of comprehensive climate models are used throughout to investigate the processes that cause those climate changes.

to become familiar with the reconstructed climate variations for selected time intervals of the Cenozoic
to gain an understanding of the dynamics of abrupt climate changes
to analyze proxy data and compare them to the results of numerical climate models
to become able to assess the respective roles of natural and anthropogenic climate variations in past and future climate changes

Contents of module Climate Change I

Course Type 1: Lecture, Exercise (L+E) 5.0 SWS ( 70.0 h)

Tutorial(s): -

70.0 h presence time
56.0 h self-study
54.0 h exam workload

180 h total workload

module exam

exam elements: 1
SL: 0

100 % oral exam

Alley et al.: Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 238 pp., 2002.

Ruddiman, W.F.: Earth’s climate: past and future. W.H. Freeman, 3rd revised edition, 464 p., 2013.