Climate is a central component of the physical environment, playing an important role in a wide range of human activities. The ability to force changes in the global climate system may be one of the more significant ways in which human society will impact Earth's physical environment in the near future.
The Climatology minor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences is an interdisciplinary program drawing from the fields of meteorology, geography, and geosciences. The minor provides an overview of the physical processes that control present-day climate. It also provides an introduction to the history of climate change through geologic time, and presents some of the causes and consequences of potential future climate change and variability.