MIT OpenCourseWare

Browse materialsMIT 12.842 · Fall 2008

Climate Physics and Chemistry

Subjects: Chemistry · Physics · Science

Art: Claes Janszoon Vooght, Ca. 1680 celestial chart by Claes Jansz Vooght, circa 1680 · Public domain

Instructors: Carl Wunsch, Prof. Edward Boyle, Prof. Kerry Emanuel
Term: Fall 2008
Level: Graduate
What's inside: 1 problem set · 3 solutions · 1 lecture note · 1 reading · 34 other files · 4 web pages
Materials open: MIT OCW

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Start course: Lecture 1: The origin of the earth, atmosphere and life ( PDF…Find a topic

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About this course

Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 12.842 Climate Physics and Chemistry, Fall 2008, Carl Wunsch, Prof. Edward Boyle, Prof. Kerry Emanuel — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.

Has MIT solutions 3 files in this course are named by MIT as solutions.

Before you start

Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.

This course’s cited books, in our reading lists: The Earth System · Physics of Climate

How this course was organized

What's here, and what isn't

MIT's own materials here did not support a verified, course-wide order, so they are grouped by section instead.

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MIT's page format for this item wasn't recognized clearly enough to place it safely. (51 items)

Materials by section

Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.

Lecture Notes

21 files

Assignments

Other materials from this course

13 files

MIT OpenCourseWare, Carl Wunsch, Prof. Edward Boyle, Prof. Kerry Emanuel, 12.842 Climate Physics and Chemistry, Fall 2008.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2008 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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Climate Physics and Chemistry

Before you start

What's here, and what isn't

Not included here

Materials by section

Lecture Notes

Assignments

Other materials from this course

Lecture 1: The origin of the earth, atmosphere and life ( PDF - 1.5 MB )

Lecture 2: The early geochemical evolution of the earth and the origin of life ( PDF )

Lecture 3: The co-evolution of life, ocean-atmospheric chemistry, and sedimentary rocks ( PDF - 1.9 MB )

Lecture 4: The Faint Young Sun Paradox, the geochemical C cycle and climate on geologic time scales ( PDF )

Lecture 5: Long-term climate cycles and the proterozoic glaciations (“Snowball Earth”) ( PDF )

Lecture 6: Climate on geologic time scales and the CO₂-climate connection ( PDF )

Lecture 7: Pleistocene ice age cycles 0-2.65 ma ( PDF - 1.9 MB )

Lecture 8: Ice sheet paleoclimatology ( PDF )

Lecture 9: Randomness and chaos in the climate system ( PDF - 1.2 MB )

Lecture 10: Climate physics and chemistry ( PDF )

Lecture 11: Radiative transfer ( PDF - 3.5 MB )

Lecture 12: Moist convection ( PDF - 1.4 MB )

Lecture 13: Flux of water ( PDF - 1.4 MB )

Lecture 14: Heat transport ( PDF - 2.4 MB )

Lecture 15: What controls the temperature gradient in middle and high latitudes? ( PDF - 1.0 MB )

Lecture 16: Natural and fossil fuel CO₂ in the ocean I ( PDF - 2.7 MB )

Lecture 17: Natural and fossil fuel CO₂ in the ocean II ( PDF - 1.0 MB )

Lecture 18: Changes in CO₂ during the past million years ( PDF )

Lecture 19: Atmospheric chemistry I: ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and dimethyl sulfide ( PDF )

Lecture 20: Atmospheric chemistry II: methane ( PDF )

Lecture 21: Ocean circulation for climate understanding ( PDF - 1.7 MB )