氣候對地球生命及人類活動有極重要的影響，隨著全球暖化越演越烈，我們對氣候系統的運作過程的瞭解也越來越重要，當系統中出現擾動時，整個系統將產生相對應的反應。例如，當全球平均溫度上升0.5℃時，大氣環流會如何改變，海洋環流又會如何改變？本課程透過資料分析與模式模擬，探討地球氣候變化的特性與機制。課程內容包括氣候系統的介紹、全球能量平衡、大尺度環流、氣候反饋機制等的介紹、氣候資料分析與簡單氣候系統的模擬等。
The climate plays an important role on Earth's life and human activities. Our understanding to the mechanisms of climate systems has become crucial when the global warming is getting worse. For example, if the global mean temperature increases for half degree C, how the general circulations would change in the atmosphere? How would the ocean circulations change in response to the atmospheric circulations? And how these two systems interact to each other? We will discuss the characteristics and possible mechanisms for earth climate. We will cover the introduction of climate system, energy balance, climate feedbacks, analysis of climate data and simulations of climate using simplified models.