1. Geog 5900: Climatology

2. Review of last lecture Atmosphere: A mixture of gas molecules, microscopically small particles of solid and liquid, and falling precipitation Meteorology: The study of the atmosphere and the processes that form weather Weather: The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place Climate: The statistical properties of the atmosphere. (i.e. averages and variability) Weather- and climate-related disasters: tropical cyclones, tornados, floods, droughts, winter storms, extreme heat, extreme cold, lightning, El Nino, global warming Impacts of weather/climate on public health, transportation, agriculture, business, international relationships, history, science, philosophy, education, …

3. Atmospheric Sciences at a Glance (2)

4. The modern climatology (meteorology) was born in the 1940s (a very young science!), but has been growing very fast! Carl-Gustaf Rossby (1898-1957) Generally considered as the “father of modern meteorology”. Founder of the “Chicago School of Meteorology”.

5. Observing the atmosphere: Surface weather stations 1875 (~100) 1975 (>1700)

6. Observing the atmosphere: Surface weather stations Now

7. Observing the atmosphere: Upper-air sounding stations Now (>1000)

8. Observing the atmosphere: Weather Radar First weather radar (NOAA NSSL) Current NEXRAD Doppler radar (NOAA NWS)

9. Observing the atmosphere: Aircraft NOAA P3

10. Video clip: Flying into hurricanes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAy fHqEW3gkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAy fHqEW3gk

11. TIROS-1 (1960) World’s first weather satellite Observing the atmosphere: Satellite

12. NASA’s Earth Observation System A-Train Satellites Observing the atmosphere: Satellite

13. Observing the atmosphere: Proxy data (e.g. coral reef, tree ring, lake sediment, ice core) Coral reefTree ring Lake sedimentIce core

14. Climate Modeling on World’s Fastest Supercomputers Japan’s Earth Simulator (World’s #1 in 2004, #20 now) OSC’s new IBM machine among world’s top 100

15. World’s Major Global Climate Models

16. Summary The modern climatology (meteorology) was born in the 1940s (a very young science!), but has been growing very fast! Now we have a global observational network with many satellites, ships, radars and surface stations, as well as very comprehensive prediction models running on the world ’ s fastest supercomputers.