Introduction to forecasting techniques including use of upper air observations and numerical forecast guidance.
This course is intended primarily for students majoring in the various options of environmental science. It does not satisfy specific science requirements for majors in the Division of Science.
In this course students are introduced to the role of critical thinking in the development of scientific theories. Several major areas of science are explored with a focus on the link between conceptual thought and the resulting physical laws. The importance to society of scientists and citizens making informed decisions on science/technology issues are examined. Methods to gather and assess data are discussed and a number of examples of the use of scientific principles to prove fact or fraud are studied. The students will learn how to question propositions put before them.
Serves as a general meteorology course for the non-science major. Topics include: atmospheric composition, solar radiation, temperature, moisture and condensation relationship between air pressure and wind, weather patterns, severe weather, optical phenomena in the atmosphere, and the behavior and possible change of climate.
This course satisfies the Gen Ed science requirement, but not specific science requirements for majors in the Division of Science.
The laboratory encourages students to apply knowledge from the lectures to a variety of atmospheric and climatic phenomena developed from data analysis, experimentation, and maps. Synthesis and critical thinking are encouraged in the solution of problems.
Co-Req or Pre-req: 85.141 Weather & Climate
The plotting and analysis of meteorological data is introduced, with the goal of understanding the basis for various ways of looking at weather systems. After each technique is introduced, students will see the computer counterpart using the workstations in the weather lab. Both the strengths and weaknesses of automated displays are made clear to students, thus making them better able to interpret the computer images on a daily basis.
The use of the skew-T diagram to understand the vertical structure in the atmosphere is the main focus of this course. Students will learn to plot and analysis atmospheric sounding data, and to recognize various structures in the analyzed data. Both hand and computer-aided analysis will be compared.
A basic course in computer programming using FORTRAN 90/95. Topics include programming arithmetic, decisions, repetition, input/output structures, arrays and array processing, and simple algorithms for searching and sorting.
The variables of state, Charles' law, Boyle's law, equation of state for an ideal gas, mixtures of gases. Thermodynamics of dry air, water vapor and moist air. Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Adiabatic and pseudoadiabatic processes. Moisture variables. Hydrostatics equilibrium, hydrostatics of special atmospheres. Hydrostatic stability. Convection theory, parcel method, slice method, entrainment, bubble theory.
Pre-Reqs: 87.202 Earth & Env Systems II, 95.103 General Physics I, and 92.132 Calculus II
The application of vector analysis to dynamic meteorology. Three-dimensional divergence and vorticity, circulation, and solenoids. Selected ordinary and partial differential equations of fluid mechanics and their solutions. Spectral decomposition of hemispheric wave motion.
Pre-Reqs: 87.202 Earth & Env Systems II and 92.234 Differential Equations or 92.236 Eng Differential Equations
Fundamentals of numerical weather prediction. Data analysis methods in meteorology using the techniques of curve fitting, correlation, and power spectrum analysis. Solution of stability problems.
Pre-Reqs: 85.304 Methods in Meteorology I and 85.234 Scientific FORTRAN Programming
The focus of the course is the development of problem-solving skills. Applications are made to a wide range of environmental problems that resemble real-world situations. The emphasis in the course, however, is on the thought process necessary to solve complex problems. Analysis of the problems consider from "hand-waving" to exact solutions, how and where to find the necessary governing equations and input, how and when to make approximations, and how to ensure that your answer is reasonable and, hopefully, correct.
Explores techniques of synoptic analysis including graphical subtraction, thickness analysis, isentropic analysis, streamlines and trajectories, divergence and vorticity. The use of a computer to perform these computations is explored through student projects.
Pre-Reqs: 85.102 Weather Forecasting Seminar and 87.202 Earth & Env Systems II
Explores three-dimensional structure and dynamics of mid-latitude storm systems; capabilities and limitations of the barotropic model; quasi-geostrophic model; and operational primitive equation models. Some mesoscale phenomena are covered as time permits including coastal cyclogenesis, thermal lows, and sea-breeze circulations.
Pre-Req: 85.308 Forecast & Synop Techniques I
Atmospheric processes determining the climate: solar and terrestrial radiation, elevation and thermal properties of surfaces, atmospheric circulations and eddy conduction between the atmosphere and land or sea surfaces, heat and water balance of earth's surface and the atmosphere; hydrologic cycle; and climatic simulation models.
An introduction to the tropical atmosphere including tropical climatology, structure and dynamics of easterly waves, tropical cyclones and monsoonal circulations.
Pre-Req: 87.202 Earth & Env Systems II
Explores theory and applications of radar, satellites, and lidar. Use of satellite imagery as a forecasting aide, theory and use of satellite profiling, and application of conventional and Doppler radar to severe weather and short term forecasting. Use of lidar and other profiling techniques to determine vertical temperature structure and turbulence.
Pre-Req: 87.202 Earth & Env Systems II
Explores solar and terrestrial radiation processes and the heat balance of the atmosphere; fundamentals of radiation theory; radiative transfer processes in the atmosphere; atmospheric condensation processes; and nucleation theory and the growth of water drops and ice crystals by condensation, sublimation and accretion.
Pre-Req: 85.301 Atmospheric Dynamics
Advanced analysis techniques and their use as forecasting tools are explored in both manual and computer formats. Techniques include moisture advection, moist isentropic trajectories, boundary layer destabilization, and other state-of-the-art techniques. Application of techniques to small and mesoscale phenomena.
Pre-Req: 87.202 Earth & Env Systems II
Explores dynamics of rotating fluids in a rotating reference frame. Conservation laws (momentum, continuity, and thermodynamics energy equations). Scale analysis, geostrophic balance. Applications to balanced flow, streamlines and trajectories, thermal wind, vertical motion, and surface pressure tendency. Circulation and vorticity, potential vorticity equation, barotropic and baroclinic vorticity.
Pre-Reqs: 85.301 Atmospheric Dynamics and 92.234 Differential Equations or 92.236 Eng Differential Equations
Atmospheric turbulence and boundary layer equations. Secondary circulation and spindown. Quasi-geostrophic prediction, diagnosis of vertical motion, and baroclinic disturbances. Atmospheric oscillations and perturbation theory. Hydrodynamic instability, baroclinic instability, and baroclinic waves.
Pre-Req: 85.415 Adv Atmospheric Dynamics I
This course presents an overview of solar-terrestrial relations with emphasis on morphology, related electromagnetic theories and a study of quiescent and disturbed states. Topics include solar physics, interplanetary medium, the geomagnetic field and magnetospheric physics. Each student will select one topic for independent study to assess observational techniques or relevant theories.
Pre-Req: 85.415 Adv Atmospheric Dynamics I
Space Weather is an emerging field of space science focusing on understanding the conditions and processes on the sun, in the interplanetary space, and in the Earths magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere that can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems and can endanger human life or health. This course is an introduction level course. It applies knowledge learned in Physics I and II in particular in electromagnetics to a real situation: space. The course introduces the present knowledge of space phenomena and the physical understanding of the plasma environment from the sun to the earths ionosphere and in the heliosphere. Regions in space to be discussed include solar surface, solar wind, bow shock, magnetsheath, magnetosphere, magnetotail, radiation belts, ring currents, and ionosphere. Among space plasma physics theories, single particle theory, kinetic theory, and magnetohydrodynamics, which describe charged particle motion in electromagnetic fields and its consequences, are introduced and applied to space environment.
Pre-Reqs: 92.231 Calculus III, 95.103 General Physics I, and 95.104 General Physics II
Students, through regular and frequent consultation with the instructor, undertake independent study of a particular area of meteorology.
An individual or team research project carried out by qualified students with the approval of and supervision by a faculty member.
A program of on-campus and/or off-campus experiences developed by the student in consultation with a faculty member and, when appropriate, a member of the staff of an off-campus firm. May be repeatedup to a maximum of six credits. The practicum may not be substituted for a nonelective course in the major.
