Urban Meteorology
GEOB 401 - by Andreas Christen
'Urban Meteorology' focusses on the impact of urbanization upon atmospheric processes and climates. Cities significantly alter exchange processes at the land-atmosphere interface. We elaborate and quantify how meteorology and climate on different scales are affected by the presence of an urban surface (trace-gas exchange, urban heat island, precipitation modification, etc.). We explore methods to measure and model urban land-atmosphere interactions. We discuss the significance of urban climate in applications such as architecture, urban planning and management, health, weather forecasting, dispersion modelling and global climate change.
Microscale Weather and Climate
GEOB 300 - by Andreas Christen
'Microscale Weather and Climate' introduces you the nature of the atmosphere and processes close to the Earth's surface on small scales and the predictive tools we can employ. We focus on interactions between the surface, vegetation and atmosphere. We gain an understanding of and describe mass- momentum and energy exchange, turbulence, dispersion and atmospheric circulations in the context of forcing surface processes and global climate. The course introduces basic instrumentation and methods used in today's monitoring and modeling of microscale climate and surface-atmosphere exchange.
Introduction to Biometeorology
GEOB 204 / APBI 244 - by Andy Black and Andreas Christen
'Introduction to Biometeorology is an introductory course to the fundamental processes and concepts of climatology, and their relevance to vegetation and animal systems. We focus on radiation, heat, water, and carbon exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere. We discuss large scale weather and climate processes relevant to applications in forestry and agriculture. The course consists of three one-hour lectures and a two-hour laboratory per week. The accompanying laboratory exercises provide hands-on experiences explaining physical principles and introducing instrumentation.
Urban Environments
GEOB 311 - by Sally Hermansen and Andreas Christen
This is a course on the impact of urban development on the natural environment and vice versa. It introduces the study of the ecology and metabolism of cities, and their relevance for more sustainable urban design. Using global and local case studies, students learn to map, quantify and understand the functional relations between society, technology and the natural environment in cities by integrating concepts from the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and engineering. Note: This is an Arts credits course.