A&O SCI 51
Fundamentals of Climate Science
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: Mathematics 3B or 32A, Physics 1B or 6B, with grades of C or better. Development of fundamental understanding of climate science. Topics include global energy balance, atmospheric radiation and greenhouse effect, surface and boundary layer dynamics, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, global hydrologic cycle, modes of climate sensitivity, climate modeling, and climate change. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Prof Hall is definitely interested in what he teaches. This class is a catch all and covers a lot of introductory climate science topics across all sorts of domains. Hall likes to teach these very conceptual topics right off the slides, which can get a little boring and hard to pay attention to. His grading scheme is fine, but if you fumble one of the midterms you're a little screwed (there's five of them and they're each worth 13% of your grade). The tests are pretty tough, and some of the questions are super conceptual; we often would have to look at a graph and use some concept to explain what might be happening in the region the data came from. HOWEVER, they are open note, slides, practically everything, and they're take home multiple choice. Overall, this class is interesting, and is a really nice exposure to a lot of cool climate and AOS topics, but if you're not super engaged in the material or haven't just shotgunned a redbull, you may struggle to pay attention in lecture and not do so well on the harder exams.
Fall 2023 - Prof Hall is definitely interested in what he teaches. This class is a catch all and covers a lot of introductory climate science topics across all sorts of domains. Hall likes to teach these very conceptual topics right off the slides, which can get a little boring and hard to pay attention to. His grading scheme is fine, but if you fumble one of the midterms you're a little screwed (there's five of them and they're each worth 13% of your grade). The tests are pretty tough, and some of the questions are super conceptual; we often would have to look at a graph and use some concept to explain what might be happening in the region the data came from. HOWEVER, they are open note, slides, practically everything, and they're take home multiple choice. Overall, this class is interesting, and is a really nice exposure to a lot of cool climate and AOS topics, but if you're not super engaged in the material or haven't just shotgunned a redbull, you may struggle to pay attention in lecture and not do so well on the harder exams.