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Instructors: Dr. Gualtiero Badin
Event type:
Lecture + practical course
Displayed in timetable as:
OZ-M-NDCC1-VÜ
Hours per week:
4
Credits:
6,0
Language of instruction:
English
Min. | Max. participants:
5 | 60
Comments/contents:
What happens when the system is nonlinear? In the first semester we will learn the concept of equilibria of a system and their stability. Through nonlinearity, the system can undergo bifurcations, i.e. when a parameter (like the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere) is varied continuously, the system might undergo changes that are not continuous, making new equilibria appear, disappear, change their stability. We will also study how these equilibria might take the form of periodic solutions.
Examples that will be examined are nonlinear models of the ocean circulation (Stommel model, Welander model for convection), as well as examples from population dynamics, including chaotic synchronization of phytoplankton blooms.
Learning objectives:
Understanding of the nonlinear nature of climate
variability and ocean/atmosphere dynamics, with
consequences ranging from the chaotic behavior of
weather; the existence of scaling regimes at climate
scales; and the presence of bifurcations which give rise to sudden changes in the system, explaining for
example the transition to turbulence. Chaotic dynamics will also be used to study the mixing by turbulent eddies in the ocean and atmosphere.
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