- Pick a section of the course to jump to that part of the calander:
- Section 1: Earth's atmosphere and energy
- Section 2: Radiative transfer and water in our atmosphere
- Section 3: Force balances and wind & the extra-tropical cyclone
- Section 4: Thunderstorms, hurricanes, and climate changes
| Week | Dates | Topic | Reading | HW |
| 1 | January 20 & 22 |
Intro to the course and to our atmosphere. Earth's early atmospheres, atm. composition. Temperature, pressure and density. The ideal gas law. (Lec. 1 / Lec. 2) | pp 1-14 | |
| 2 | January 27 & 29 |
Density, temperature, pressure in our atmosphere. Atmospheric structure. Where does "weather" happen? Station Models (see notes) (Lec. 3 / Lec. 4) | pp 25-26 pp 142-145 p 144 |
1/27: HW 1 out |
| 3 | February 3 & 5 |
Introduction to heat, heat capacity, specific heat, and heat transfer. What are conduction, convection, and advection? (Lec. 5 / Lec. 6) | pp 27-30 | |
| 4 | February 10 & 12 |
Heat transfer, conduction, convection, advection. Intro to radiation. Wien's Law, Stefan-Boltzmann Law, Kirchoff's Law, Review. (Lec. 7 / Lec. 8) | pp 27-34 | 2/10: HW 1 due HW 2 out |
| Week | Dates | Topic | Reading | HW |
| 5 | February 17 & 19 |
2/17: EXAM 1 on Section 1 Radiant energy, Selective absorbers/emitters, and the atmospheric greenhouse effect. (Lec. 9) |
pp 35-38 | |
| 6 | February 24 & 26 |
Incoming solar energy and energy budget. Reflection and scattering. Albedo. Why do we have seasons? (Lec. 10 / Lec. 11) | pp 40-50 | 2/24: HW 2 due HW 3 out |
| 7 | March 3 & 5 |
The daily temperature cycle and controls of temperature. The hydrologic cycle, evaporation, condensation, saturation, and humidity. (Lec. 12 / Lec. 13) | pp 56-66 pp 80-87 |
|
| 8 | March 10 & 12 |
The dew point temperature. Dew, and frost. Fog, and clouds, how and where do they form? (Lec. 14 / Lec. 15) | pp 91-95 | 3/10: HW 3 due HW 4 out |
| Week | Dates | Topic | Reading | HW |
| 9 | March 24 & 26 |
Atm. stability, cloud development, and how we get precipitation.
(Lec. 16) 3/26: EXAM 2 on Section 2 |
pp 112-126 pp 148-154 |
|
| 10 | March 31 & April 2 |
Stability and precipitation type. Atmospheric forces, PGF, Coriolis, friction, centrifugal. (Lec. 17/ Lec. 18) | pp 148-154 pp 155-159 |
3/31: HW 4 due HW 5 out |
| 11 | April 7 & 9 |
Force balances at the surface and upper levels. Horizontal and vertical wind. A global picture of the full winds, Hadley, Ferrel, and polar cells. ITCZ, sub-tropical highs, mid-latitude lows, jets. (Lec. 19/ Lec. 20) | pp 155-159 pp 184-192 |
|
| 12 | April 14 & 16 |
A look at fronts and where they fit into the extratropical cyclone. ET cyclone development, the Norwegen Cyclone Model, and vertical ET cyclone structure. (Lec. 21/ Lec. 22) | pp 214-222 pp 222-230 |
4/14: HW 5 due HW 6 out |
| Week | Dates | Topic | Reading | HW |
| 13 | April 21 & 23 |
4/21: EXAM 3 on Section 3 Thunderstorms, ordinary and severe, how do they form? Tornadic thunderstorms and tornadoes. (Lec. 23) |
pp 264-268 pp 288-292 |
|
| 14 | April 28 & 30 |
Hurricane (tropical cyclone) formation and ingredients. How do extra-tropical and tropical cyclones differ? Hurricane winds and storm surge, watches/warnings. (Lec. 24/ Lec. 25) | pp 300-315 pp 321-322 |
4/28: HW 6 due HW 7 out |
| 15 | May 5 & 7 |
Intro to climate change and global warming. The Sahel. Review. (Lec. 26/ Lec. 27) | pp 384-390 pp 402-406 |
5/7: HW 7 due |
| Finals | May 14 Thursday |
10:05-12:05 pm |
60% cumulative 40% Sec. 4 |