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A concise introduction to climate system dynamicsClimate Dynamics is an advanced undergraduate-level textbook that provides an essential foundation in the physical understanding of the earth's climate system. The book assumes no background in atmospheric or ocean sciences and is appropriate for any science or engineering student who has completed two semesters of calculus and one semester of calculus-based physics.Describing the climate system based on observations of the mean climate state and its variability, the first section of the book introduces the vocabulary of the field, the dependent variables that characterize the climate system, and the typical approaches taken to display these variables. The second section of the book gives a quantitative understanding of the processes that determine the climate state—radiation, heat balances, and the basics of fluid dynamics. Applications for the atmosphere, ocean, and hydrological cycle are developed in the next section, and the last three chapters of the book directly address global climate change. Throughout, the textbook makes connections between mathematics and physics in order to illustrate the usefulness of mathematics, particularly first-year calculus, for predicting changes in the physical world.Climate change will impact every aspect of life in the coming decades. This book supports and broadens understanding of the dynamics of the climate system by offering a much-needed introduction that is accessible to any science, math, or engineering student.Makes a physically based, quantitative understanding of climate change accessible to all science, engineering, and mathematics undergraduatesExplains how the climate system works and why the climate is changingReinforces, applies, and connects the basic ideas of calculus and physicsEmphasizes fundamental observations and understandingAn online illustration package and solutions manual for professors is available

Climatology. --- Human ecology. --- Aerosol. --- African easterly jet. --- Albedo. --- Anticyclone. --- Arctic oscillation. --- Atlantic Ocean. --- Atmosphere of Earth. --- Atmospheric circulation. --- Atmospheric pressure. --- Atmospheric temperature. --- Climate change. --- Climate model. --- Climate sensitivity. --- Climate state. --- Climate. --- Cloud albedo. --- Cloud feedback. --- Cloud forcing. --- Convection. --- Drought. --- Earth system science. --- Earth's energy budget. --- Ekman layer. --- Ekman spiral. --- Ekman transport. --- El Niño–Southern Oscillation. --- Equatorial Counter Current. --- Evaporation. --- Faint young Sun paradox. --- Geopotential height. --- Global warming potential. --- Global warming. --- Greenhouse effect. --- Greenhouse gas. --- Hadley cell. --- Indonesian Throughflow. --- Instrumental temperature record. --- Intertropical Convergence Zone. --- Inversion (meteorology). --- Katabatic wind. --- Lapse rate. --- Latent heat. --- Little Ice Age. --- Meridional flow. --- Methane. --- Middle latitudes. --- Mixed layer. --- Monsoon. --- Multivariate ENSO index. --- Natural gas. --- Nitrous oxide. --- Northern Hemisphere. --- Ocean current. --- Oceanic basin. --- Outgoing longwave radiation. --- Pacific Ocean. --- Pacific decadal oscillation. --- Paleoclimatology. --- Polar amplification. --- Polar regions of Earth. --- Potential temperature. --- Pressure gradient. --- Proxy (climate). --- Pycnocline. --- Radiative equilibrium. --- Radiative forcing. --- Rayleigh scattering. --- Salinity. --- Sea ice. --- Sea level rise. --- Sea surface temperature. --- Seawater. --- Soil. --- South Pacific convergence zone. --- Southern Hemisphere. --- Stratopause. --- Stratosphere. --- Subtropics. --- Surface pressure. --- Surface water. --- Temperature gradient. --- Terrain. --- Thermal equator. --- Thermal low. --- Thermocline. --- Thermohaline circulation. --- Trade winds. --- Tropical Easterly Jet. --- Tropical cyclone. --- Tropics. --- Tropopause. --- Troposphere. --- Upwelling. --- Water cycle. --- Water vapor. --- Weather forecasting. --- Year. --- Zonal flow (plasma). --- Zonal flow.