Climate Variability and Climate Change

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted in the Graduate Certificate in Climate Change for Primary Industry (GC-CCFPI) or Specialist Certificate in Climate Change for Primary Industries. This subject is not available for students admitted in any other courses.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Objectives, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this course are encouraged to discuss this matter with the Student Equity and Disability Support Team: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject introduces the fundamental processes and dynamics important for climate variability and climate change in the Australian region using both observations and climate models. There are discussions on the development of regional climate change scenarios using climate model outputs and their application for a range of climate change impact studies

On completion of this subject, students are expected to be better able to:

• Assess the relative magnitudes of climate variability and climate change over different time scales in different Australian regions;
• Evaluate future climate scenarios for assessing the range of potential impacts on global and regional conditions, incorporating the uncertainty associated with those scenarios, and;
• Use current and projected meteorological data for developing policy and business decisions

• oral presentation during intensive workshop (20 minutes, 20%),
• computer-based problem completed during the intensive workshop (data collection and interpretation, equivalent to one 1500 word essay) worth 10%,
• 3000 word report, being an analysis of climate scenarios in a specific region and for a specific industry, due four weeks after the intensive workshop (70%)

All class materials will be provided

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, students are expected to be better able to:

• Collect, evaluate and integrate information;
• Work constructively with colleagues; respect the value of other points of view, and identify knowledge gaps and sources of uncertainty, and;
• Prepare written documents of a high quality that clearly and convincingly inform the reader