Study of the interactions between solar and Earth's radiation and how they affect the Earth's climate.
Radiation Basics: This includes the fundamentals of radiation, its properties, and behavior.
Planetary Energy Balance: This topic involves understanding how incoming solar radiation is balanced by the Earth's outgoing radiation, and how this balance affects the overall temperature of the planet.
The Greenhouse Effect: This involves an understanding of how greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap heat, and how this contributes to the warming of the Earth's surface.
Radiative Forcing: This is the concept of how factors like greenhouse gas emissions, land use changes, and other human activities can alter the balance of incoming and outgoing radiation, affecting the global temperature.
Climate Feedback Mechanisms: This involves understanding how various factors, such as changing albedo due to melting ice, can act as feedback mechanisms that amplify or dampen the effects of radiative forcing on climate.
Climate Models: This topic involves learning about the computer models used to simulate climate and predict how it will change in the future, based on various scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions.
Paleoclimate: The study of past climate changes and how they were caused by natural forces, such as volcanic activity, solar radiation changes, or Earth's orbital variations.
Aerosols and Climate: Understanding the impact of atmospheric aerosols and how they can cause temporary cooling effects, offsetting the warming caused by greenhouse gases.
Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions: This involves learning about how the ocean and atmosphere interact to regulate climate, including phenomena like El Niño and La Niña.
Climate Change Impacts: This topic covers the various impacts of climate change on different sectors, such as human health, agriculture, water resources, and biodiversity.
Climate Policy: This involves understanding policies and initiatives aimed at mitigating climate change or adapting to its impacts, such as carbon pricing mechanisms, renewable energy subsidies, or coastal protection measures.
Climate Change Communication: This topic addresses the effective communication and public engagement strategies for raising awareness about climate change, dispelling myths and misconceptions, and promoting climate action.
Electromagnetic radiation: Energy in the form of waves or particles that travel through space, including microwaves, radio waves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays.
Ionizing radiation: Any type of radiation that can produce ions when it interacts with matter, including alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays.
Non-ionizing radiation: Radiation that does not have enough energy to remove electrons from atoms, including radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, and visible light.
Cosmic radiation: High-energy particles and radiation that originate from sources outside our solar system and can cause damage to living tissue.
Solar radiation: Energy from the sun that reaches Earth, including visible light, ultraviolet radiation, and infrared radiation.
Temperature: A measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a substance or system.
Humidity: The amount of water vapor present in the air.
Precipitation: The deposition of water from the atmosphere onto the Earth's surface, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail.
Atmospheric pressure: The force exerted by the weight of the atmosphere on a given area.
Wind: The movement of air from one place to another due to differences in atmospheric pressure.
Cloud cover: The extent to which the sky is covered by clouds.
Air quality: The degree to which air is free from pollutants and allergens.
Climate change: Long-term changes in temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables that are caused by natural and human factors.