These pages describe courses taught at UCLA by Prof. Alex Hall. Below are courses taught during the current academic year. Descriptions of past courses on topics such as Arctic climate change, mesoscale climate dynamics, and climate sensitivity are also available.

2007-2008 Academic Year

AOS 200B Introduction to the Dynamics of the Earth System

Lecture and discussion, four units. Fall quarter 2007. Overview of general circulation of atmosphere and ocean; global energy balances; coupled circulations (such as El Niño); mesoscale, synoptic, and tropical phenomena; boundary layers, clouds, and convection; biogeochemical cycles; climate variability and change. Letter grading.
Tues/Thurs 2:30-3:50PM
syllabus

AOS 201A Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I

Lecture and discussion, four units. Winter quarter 2008. ecture, three hours. Fundamental equations of motion. Atmospheric and oceanic approximations. Rotating reference frame. Density stratification. Geostrophic adjustment and balance. Potential vorticity conservation. Vortex dynamics. Acoustic, gravity, inertial, Rossby, and Kelvin waves. Barotropic and baroclinic instability. Ekman boundary layers. Oceanic wind gyres: Sverdrup balance and western boundary currents. Letter grading.
Mon/Wed 9:00-10:30AM
syllabus

AOS 1 Climate Change: from Puzzles to Policy

Lecture and discussion, four units. Special laboratory option 1L, one unit. Spring quarter 2008. Overview of the fundamentals of earth's climate, including the greenhouse effect, water and chemical cycles, outstanding features of the atmospheric and ocean circulation, and feedbacks between different system components. Exciting and contentious scientific puzzles of the climate system, including the causes of the ice ages, greenhouse warming, and El Nino/La Nina. The importance of climate science and prediction to society, with emphasis on science's role in identifying, quantifying, and solving environmental problems such as the ozone hole and greenhouse warming. Letter grading.
Tues/Thurs 9:30-10:45AM
syllabus