Guest Lectures

In the fall of 2019, I provided 2 weeks of guest lectures to Present and Future Climates, a joint undergraduate-graduate course. These lecutres covered Atmospheric General Circulation and Climate Variability. To view the lecture slides and notes, click the links above. Below is a detailed list of topics covered in each week.

Atmospheric General Circulation:

  • Zonal-mean solar insulation
  • Hot-plate circulation
  • 3 cell structure of the atmosphere
  • Conservation of angular momentum
  • Coriolis force
  • Hydrological Pattern
  • 3D momentum equation
  • Thermal wind balance
  • Meridional energy transport
  • Stationary and transient eddies
  • Baroclinic instability

Climate Variability:

  • Forced vs internal variability
  • Teleconnections
  • Variability timescales
  • Walker Circulation
  • El Nino Southern Oscillation
  • North Atlantic Oscillation
  • Southern Annular Mode
  • Pacific Decadal Oscillation
  • Atlantic Meridional Oscillation
  • Madden-Julian Oscillation
Molly Erin Menzel
Molly Erin Menzel
Atmospheric Scientist

Graduate student at Johns Hopkins University studying atmospheric dynamics.