Climate System Dynamics and Modelling

This textbook presents all aspects of climate system dynamics, on all timescales from the Earth's formation to modern human-induced climate change. It discusses the dominant feedbacks and interactions between all the components of the climate system: atmosphere, ocean, land surface and ice sheets. It addresses one of the key challenges for a course on the climate system: students can come from a range of backgrounds. A glossary of key terms is provided for students with little background in the climate sciences, whilst instructors and students with more expertise will appreciate the book's modular nature. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter for readers to test their understanding. This textbook will be invaluable for any course on climate system dynamics and modeling, and will also be useful for scientists and professionals from other disciplines who want a clear introduction to the topic.

Table of Contents:
1. Description of the climate system and its components; 2. The energy balance, hydrological and carbon cycles; 3. Modelling the climate system; 4. The response of the climate system to a perturbation; 5. Brief history of climate: causes and mechanisms; 6. Future climate changes.

About the Author :
Hugues Goosse is senior research associate with the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS-Belgium) and professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. He teaches climate related topics to students from a wide range of backgrounds, including physics, geography, engineering, bioengineering, biology, Earth and environmental sciences, and philosophy. His research is mainly devoted to the development of climate models, model-data comparison and the application of models to study past, current and future climate change, analyzing both natural variability and the response to human-induced perturbations. He is currently editor and former co-chief editor of the journal Climate of the Past. He has contributed to several international programs and assessment reports, in particular to the Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Review :
'Hugues Goosse offers a brilliant introduction to climate dynamics and modelling. This comprehensive overview bridges the gap between classical, more focused textbooks on individual aspects of the wide-ranging climate topic, thereby providing an excellent compendium for advanced undergraduate and early masters students in the field of climate science.' Martin Claussen, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg 'This is an outstanding new textbook - a superb introduction to climate dynamics and climate systems modelling. The book is tailored masterfully to suit commencing graduate students, spanning all components of Earth's climate, and including a comprehensive glossary and exercises. It is also an ideal reference book for all undergraduates whose degrees require a fundamental knowledge of climate system dynamics. The book is also an outstanding teaching resource - I highly recommend it to all practitioners.' Matthew England, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, University of New South Wales 'Climate System Dynamics and Modelling is a broad, graduate/advanced undergraduate level, introduction to the climate system. It covers important processes and drivers of the climate system. It also provides a nice description of modelling the climate system, forcing and feedbacks. It fills a gap between those books that focus on detailed geophysical fluid dynamics and a descriptive discussion of the climate system. Goosse's book covers a broad range of topics including a detailed description of how orbital changes affect Earth's climate, how to use climate models and key ideas such as radiative forcing and climate feedbacks. As expected, given Goose's interests, changes in Earth's climate on timescales from its formation, the last one thousand years and the near future are all covered. He also discusses how past climates can be inferred from proxies. I like the book for its broad coverage, accessible style and review exercises at the end of each chapter. Students using it as a textbook would need some mathematical skill.' Simon Tett, University of Edinburgh 'This is exactly the book I wish I had when I started to study climate change! The book is well illustrated and written in a language clear enough for non-specialists to understand the dynamics of the climate system, but also provides clues on numerical approaches and references useful to specialists. The book offers a comprehensive view of the forcing and mechanisms driving the climate, the Earth's energy budget, and the global hydrological and carbon cycles. It guides the reader towards modelling as a tool for understanding climate change, in response to external forcing or internal dynamics. It also gives an excellent overview of the state-of-the-art knowledge on climate change from the formation of the Earth to the last centuries. Furthermore, it proposes a critical view on anticipated changes in climate, ice and ocean in the near- to long-term future. Beyond its scientific content, the book is written in such a way that it is ideal as handbook for undergraduate and graduate classes in the Earth sciences. In brief, Climate System Dynamics and Modelling by Hugues Goosse is a remarkable work that will serve as a reference for years!' Anne de Vernal, Université du Québec, Montréal