Course: “eScience Tools in Climate Science: Linking Observations with Modelling”

The  next course “eScience Tools in Climate Science: Linking Observations with Modelling”  will be held in 31 October to 11 November 2022 at Tjärnö Marine Laboratory (plus 28-30 November for remote presentations of final results).

Coordination: Paul Zieger (SU) and Michael Schulz (UiO/MetNo)

The registration has closed. The next eScience course will be held in spring 2024, stay tuned!

Course Content

The course in 2022 will introduce Earth system analysis as well as data analysis with practical exercises. The course will make use of existing infrastructures, such as climate models (e.g., NorESM, EC-EARTH), model databases (e.g., AeroCom, CMIP6), model data evaluation portals (e.g., AeroCom), and atmospheric and oceanic databases (e.g., EBAS, ORA-IP). Practical work is initiated and accompanied to apply modern visualization, data analysis and statistical tools (e.g., Jupyter notebooks, AeroCom tools). Introductions will be given on the role of aerosols and clouds, observational techniques,  Earth system models, climate forcing and climate model evaluation. The course involves a set of relevant lectures and tutorials, with the main emphasis placed on intensive group work and a final report that will be written during and after the course by each student. Before the course, the selected students will be asked to practice the tools to be used on the course (mainly Python and Jupyter notebook) by solving a pre-exercise. The course is primarily aimed at PhD students in atmospheric and biospheric sciences (also advanced MSc students are welcome to apply). During the course the students can either use their own data or utilize provided model data together with long-term aerosol, air, ion, trace gas, meteorological data measured at field stations. Topics for practical work will be suggested depending on student’s background. This year, the topics will relate to the core themes identified in the CRiceS project. Related introductory lectures will be given by researchers from the CRiceS consortia.

A successful course participation is covering 5 ECTS/HEC credits.

For master students from UiO the course is part of the GEO4990 course. Students at SU can take this course as part of a master course MI7025 (7.5 ECTS).

Detailed course content

Introductory lectures on:

• Lectures on core themes of CRiceS
• Climate model evaluation& Climate model diagnostics
• Observational methods (in-situ and remote sensing techniques)
• Model analysis tool introductions
• Model data base structures
• Tips & Tricks with Python and Jupyter notebooks / Jupyter Hub

Practical work

Students are asked to cooperate in small groups (3-4) with an assistant on individual topics of interest in the realm of climate model evaluation and analysis. Jupyter notebooks shall be compiled to document the work and results. Two Presentations are expected during the course to report on progress.

The learning outcomes

In the end of the course the student will have

• skills to analyze a scientific problem within the Earth system;
• skills to set up small python based data analysis projects;
• knowledge about existing online databases containing atmospheric and ecosystem data;
• the ability to understand, evaluate and visualize model output;

Some of the transferable skills the course strives to improve

• statistical analysis of model and field measurements;
• multidisciplinary approach;
• project management; and
• collaborative learning.

Prerequisites

The participants are expected to be able to write scripts using a structural programming language. Basic data analysis skills are also expected. The main programming language to be used on the course will be Python. The main tool for visualization and online publishing will be Jupyter Notebook. Students without knowledge in Python are asked to self-prepare before the course with web-based online tutorials.

Course Fees

The course fee is approx. 15 000 SEK (~1500 EUR).

Funding will be available for students enrolled at Stockholm University/Bolin Centre for Climate Research, and students who are part of CRiceS or CHESS. Students participating in the course on the Earth System GEO4990 will be covered by the University of Oslo (UiO). There will be additional funding available for students without own funding (please note your request in the application).

This fee covers:

• all academic and social program during the course
• access to the electronically provided course material
• accommodation (shared rooms) and logis during the course

The fee does not cover:

• travel expenses to and from Tjärnö*
• personal health and civil liability insurance
• personal expenses such as drinks, telephone, photocopies, laundry etc. during the course

We encourage all participants to take public transport to Tjärnö. *Students from SU/Bolin Centre and students from Noway will get the train travel covered.

Maximum number of participants: 25

Participation via online conferencing will be provided due to the expected Corona-related travel restrictions.

Successful applicants will be notified by the beginning of October.

Arrival to Tjärnö should be on October 31st (lunchtime), departure 11th of November (around lunch). The final presentation will be given virtually approximately 2 weeks after the course in Tjärnö (28-30 of November 2022).

Previous courses

• 2017 at Hyytiälä, Finland. (Course title:  “Climate science at high latitudes: Online data storage and visualization tool”). A short report and some impressions can be found here.
• 2018 at Andoya Space Center, Norway (“Climate science at high latitudes: Modeling and model evaluation”). A short report and some impressions can be found here.
• 2019 at Abisko Research Station (“Climate science at high latitudes: eScience for linking Arctic measurements and modelling.“). A short report and some impressions can be found here.
• 2020 The course (originally scheduled for Tjärnö) was given as a virtual course (4-13 and 20 November 2020).
• 2021 at Tjärnö Marine Laboratory (1-8 and 20-22 November 2021).

Sponsors

Funding has been provided by

• EC project: CRiceS
• Bolin Centre for Climate Research
• CHESS – Research school on changing climates in the coupled earth system
• The University of Oslo