The course highlights the application of state-of-the-art climate models to a series of paleoclimate topics ranging from the role of oceanic gateways in Cenozoic climate change through Quaternary climate cycles and the last glacial maximum to natural climate variability during the Holocene. Finally, it gives an outlook on future climate change scenarios and discusses the response of global climate models to projected anthropogenic climate forcings.

The students are able to evaluate the results of state-of-the-art climate models applied to past and future climate change problems. Furthermore, they can assess the different aspects of the public global change debate including adaptation and mitigation strategies.

As part of module exam "Climate Change II: Models and Data"

oral exam

Ruddiman, W. F., Earth's climate: past and future, 465 pp., W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 2001.