Those with strong undergraduate background in physics and math, interested in graduate studies and PhD research in climate dynamics, are encouraged to apply via the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences or via the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. If you plan to apply, please feel free to write the relevant faculty members with any questions you may have or see Professor Eli Tziperman's website for more information.
A proposed curriculum for Graduate Students interested in Climate Dynamics
First year:
Fall term
- Applied Mathematics I: ODEs and asymptotic analytic methods (Harvard APM 201: Physical Mathematics I)
- Introduction to geophysical fluid dynamics (Harvard Earth and Planetary Sciences 232: Dynamic Meteorology; MIT 12.800)
- Introduction to climate phenomenology (e.g. MIT Climate Physics and Chemistry; Harvard Physics of climate)
- Elective (e.g. MIT Inference From Data and Models)
Spring term
- Applied Mathematics II: partial differential equations (Harvard APM 202: Physical Mathematics II)
- Climate dynamics (Harvard Earth and Planetary Sciences 231: Climate Dynamics)
- Waves (MIT 12.802: Wave Motions in the Ocean and Atmosphere)
- General circulation of the oceans or general circulation of the atmosphere (MIT 12.810 Dynamics of the Atmosphere, or MIT 12.801 Steady Circulation of the Oceans, or MIT 12.803 Quasi-balanced Circulations in Oceans and Atmospheres)
Second year:
- Baroclinic instability
- Time series analysis and inverse methods/ Inference From Data and Models
- Nonlinear dynamics and chaos
- Turbulence in the Atmosphere and Ocean
- Numerical methods
- Paleoclimate
- Breadth courses: (e.g. Harvard great papers in Earth Sciences)
