Course Information:

Instructors: Associate Professor A. Koutroulis, Dr Manolis Grillakis

Recommended Reading:

• Feenstra, J. F., Burton, I., Smith, J. B., & Tol, R. S. (1998). Handbook on methods for climate change impact assessment and adaptation strategies.
• Parry, M., Nishioka, S., Harasawa, H., & Carter, T. (1996). Technical guidelines for assessing climate change impacts and adaptations.
• Pörtner, H. O., Roberts, D. C., Adams, H., Adler, C., Aldunce, P., Ali, E., ... & Fischlin, A. (2022). Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
• Zhongming, Z., Linong, L., Xiaona, Y., Wangqiang, Z., & Wei, L. (2021). AR6 climate change 2021: The physical science basis.
• Further readings of selected scientific publications

Eclass:

• Registration required

Course objectives:

Climate change is a leading environmental and social issue globally. However, its impacts are experienced at regional and local scales; thus, their assessment and the planning for adaptation depend on the availability of regional and local climate information at appropriate scales and forms. This course covers the theory and application of climate change impact assessment as a tool for environmental science. The course discusses the use of climate data to analyse the effects of climate change and, eventually, to guide regional decision-making and adaptation plans. The course begins with an overview of climate change science and the adaptation and vulnerability of manmade and natural systems to climate change. The framework for the climate change impact assessment (CCIA) is then presented and used in a number of case studies. A significant part of the course is dedicated to individual student projects. Instructors will assist students in designing a research project of their choice that will use open-source online platforms and tools to access projections of future climate generated by climate models participating in the most recent climate modelling phases. Students are encouraged to choose projects based on their prior research and professional experience or based on topics and regions about which the students are particularly knowledgeable or interested. By the end of the course, students will be able to work with observations and climate model outputs for CCIA, apply CCIA to real-world problems and professionally communicate scientific findings.

Syllabus:

Assessment method:

• Assignments (20%)
• Final project report (50%)
• Project presentation and discussion (30%)

Last modification: 05-10-2022