Atmospheric physics for weather and climate

The Earth’s radiation budget helps define our weather and climate, and changes in this budget are driving climate change and changes in extreme weather events.  This unit examines the physics of radiative transfer and how its interactions with clouds and aerosols affect our climate and weather. This unit first examines the scattering, absorption and emission of radiant energy within the atmosphere and how this knowledge is employed by satellite and ground-based instrumentation to observe the atmosphere. The unit then focuses on aerosols, cloud microphysics and the development of precipitation, introducing satellite meteorology, radar meteorology and air pollution meteorology.