SCI 103 Meteorology

Aguado, Edward Burt, James E. Understanding Weather and Climate 7th ed. (Pearson, 2015).
ISBN-10: 0-321-98443-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-98443-2

Students can obtain this text book from the following source: source:http://www.mypearsonstore.com/bookstore/understanding-weather-and-climate-plus-masteringmeteorology-9780321984432?xid=PSED

All reading and (optional) homework assignments referenced in this syllabus refer to this text
1) In addition, it is recommended that students have access to MyMeteorologyLab®, by Pearson. This can be accessed here:
http://www.mypearsonstore.com/bookstore/understanding-weather-and-climate-plus-masteringmeteorology-9780321984432?xid=PSED

2) The following study guide will be made available upon enrollment:
Aguado, Edward Burt, James E. PowerPoint Presentation for Weather and Climate 7th ed (Pearson, 2015).

Lesson Overview

Lesson 1: Composition and Structure of the Atmosphere
Read Chapter 1

In this lesson the students look at the composition and structure of the atmosphere. The students distinguish between the permanent gases, the variable gases, and aerosols. The students study the vertical structure of the atmosphere and its density. The students look at layering based on temperature profiles and layer based on electrical properties. The students learn about the ionosphere and study atmospheric pressure and wind. The students examine temperature and humidity and look at planetary atmospheres. The students study weather forecasting as both an art and a science. The students learn about different kinds of energy and study energy transfer mechanisms. The students study radiation with respect to quantity and quality. The students learn about intensity and wavelengths of emitted radiation and examine the solar constant. The students examine the causes of earth’s seasons with respect to the earth’s revolution and rotation.
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Lesson 2: Solar Radiation and the Seasons
Read Chapter 2

In this lesson the students study power and energy. The students differentiate between kinetic and potential energy. The students study conduction, convection, and radiation. The students look at radiation quantity vs. radiation quality. The students study intensity and wavelength with of emitted radiation and differentiate between blackbodies and graybodies. The students study emissivity and Wien’s law. The students learn about the inverse square law. The students look at the Earth’s revolution and what causes it. The students examine the summer and winter solstices with respect to solar angle.

Lesson 3 – Energy Balance and Temperature
Read Chapter 3

In this lesson the students look at atmospheric influences on isolation with respect to absorption. The students study reflection, scattering, and transmission. The students examine the fate of solar radiation. The students learn about the energy transfer processes between the surface and the atmosphere and surface-atmosphere radiation exchange. The students look at conduction and convection and study net radiation and temperature. The students learn about latitudinal variations and study the greenhouse effect. The students examine global temperature distributions and the different influences on temperature. The students study latitude, altitude, and atmospheric circulation. The students look at how temperature differs between land and water and study warm and cold ocean currents. The students look at the local impacts on temperature and how temperature is measured. The students look at thermodynamic diagrams and vertical temperature.

Lesson 4 – Atmospheric Pressure and Wind
Read Chapter 4

In this lesson the students look at the concept of pressure and how it is measured. The students look at density and study Dalton’s law. The students study the equation of state and the ideal gas law. The students learn about mercury barometers and barometric pressure. The students also study aneroid barometers and learn to graph pressure gradients. The students study the role of density in hydrostatic equilibrium and examine the distribution of pressure. The students learn about the Coriolis force and study the forces affecting the speed and direction of the wind. The students study supergeostrophic and subgeostrophic flow and the role of near surface winds. The students look at anticyclones, cyclones, troughs, and ridges. The students look at how to measure the wind with respect to azimuths, aerovanes and wind vanes.

Lesson 5 – Atmospheric Moisture
Read Chapters 5

In this lesson the students study atmospheric moisture, vapor and liquid water. The students look at evaporation and condensation. The students examine the indices of water vapor content and look at vapor pressure. The students study absolute and specific humidity and learn about relative humidity. The students learn about the dew point and the distribution of water vapor. The students study methods of achieving saturation and the effects of curvature and solution. The students look at the effect of curvature and the effect of solution. The students learn about ice nuclei and how humidity is measured. The students look at the diabatic and adiabatic processes and study the environmental lapse rate. The students study forms of condensation such as dew, frost, frozen dew, and fog. The students examine the formation and dissipation of cloud droplets.

Lesson 6 – Cloud Development and Forms
Read Chapter 6

In this lesson the students study cloud development and forms and the mechanisms that lift air. The students learn about uplift and frontal lifting. The students look at convergence and localized convection. The students study static stability and the environmental lapse rate. The students study absolutely and conditionally stable and unstable air. The students look at the factors that influence the environmental lapse rate. The students examine the affects of the heating or cooling of the lower atmosphere and the advection of cold and warm air at different levels. The students study the concepts of entrainments and inversions. The students look at different cloud types such as high clouds, middle clouds, and low clouds. The students study clouds with vertical development, unusual clouds, and cloud coverage.

Lesson 7: Precipitation Processes

Read Chapter 7

In this lesson the students study precipitation processes and growth with respect to cloud droplets, condensation, warm clouds, and cold clouds. The students look at the different forms of precipitations such as snow, rain, graupel, hail, sleet, and freezing rain. The students learn how to precipitation and how raingages are used. The students look at snow measurement and study cloud seeding.

Lesson 8: Atmospheric Circulation and Pressure Distributions
Read Chapter 8

In this lesson the students study atmospheric circulation and pressure distributions. The students look at the single-cell model and the three-cell model. The students look at the Hadley cell, the Ferrell cell, and polar cells. The students study the accuracy of the three-cell model. The students study semipermanent pressure cells and the upper troposphere. The students examine westerly winds in the upper atmosphere, the polar front and jet streams. The students look at troughs and ridges and study Rossby waves. The students study the oceans ocean currents, and upwelling. The students look at major wind systems and study monsoons, foehn, chinook, Santa Ana winds, and katabatic winds. The students look at sea and land breeze as well as valley and mountain breeze. The students look at air-sea interactions and study El Niño, la Niña, and the Walker circulation. The students look at pacific decadal oscillation and arctic oscillation.

Lesson 9: Air Masses and Fronts
Read Chapter 9

In this lesson the students study the formation of air masses. The students look at the air masses of the continental polar (CP), continental arctic (CA), maritime polar (MP) air masses. The students also look at the continental tropical (CT) and maritime tropical (MT) air masses. The students study weather fronts such as cold fronts, warm fronts, stationary fronts, and occluded fronts.

Lesson 10: Midlatitude Cyclones
Read Chapters 10

In this lesson the students study mid-latitude cyclones with respect to polar front theory. The students look at the life cycle of a mid-latitude cyclone and study cyclogenesis. The students examine mature cyclones and occlusion. The students study the evolution and movement of cyclones and look at the processes of the middle and upper troposphere. The students study Rossby waves and vorticity. The students look at surface fronts and upper-level patterns. The students learn about cold fronts and the formation of upper-level troughs. The students look at flow patterns and large-scale weather patterns. The students look at the steering of mid-latitude cyclones and the migration of surface cyclones relative to Rossby waves. The students look at the modern view-mid-latitude cyclones, conveyor belts, and anticyclones.

Lesson 11: Lightning, Thunder, and Tornadoes
Read Chapters 11

In this lesson the students study lightning, thunder, and tornadoes. The students look at the processes of lightning formation and charge separation. The students study leaders, strokes, and flashes. The students look at different types of lightning and define thunder. The students study lightning safety and look at self-extinguishing and self-propagating thunderstorms. The students study air mass thunderstorms and severe thunderstorms. The students examine downbursts and microbursts. The students look at the geographic and temporal distribution of thunderstorms. The students look at tornadoes and their characteristics and dimensions. The students study tornado formation and the location and timing of tornadoes. The students look into tornado damage and fatalities. The students differentiate between watches and warnings and study waterspouts.

Lesson 12: Tropical Storms and Hurricanes
Read Chapters 12

In this lesson the students look at tropical storms and hurricanes and study hurricane characteristics. The students learn about the eye and the eye wall and study hurricane formation. The students look at the conditions necessary for hurricane formation and examine hurricane movement and dissipation. The students look at hurricane destruction and fatalities and describe the hurricane intensity scale.

Lesson 13: Weather Forecasting and Analysis
Read Chapters 13

In this lesson the students study weather forecasting and analysis and why weather forecasting is imperfect? the students examine different forecasting methods and different types of forecasts. The students learn about data acquisition and dissemination as well as forecast procedures and products. The students look at the analysis phase, the prediction phase, and the post-processing phase. The students distinguish between medium-range forecasts and long-range forecasts. The students look at different types of weather maps and images such as surface maps, upper-level maps, satellite images, radar images, and thermodynamic diagrams. The students study the lifted index and the k-index and look at the modernization of the national weather service.

Lesson 14: Human Effects on the Atmosphere
Read Chapter 14

In this lesson the students look at air pollution and heat islands. The students study atmospheric pollutants such as particulates, carbon oxides, sulfur compounds, and nitrogen oxides. The students study volatile organic compounds (hydrocarbons) and photochemical smog. The students look at atmospheric controls on air pollution and the study the effect of winds on horizontal transport and the effect of atmospheric stability. The students study urban heat islands and radiation effects. The students look at changes in heat storage and sensible and latent heat transfer.

Lesson 15: Earth’s Climates
Read Chapter 15

In this lesson the students study the earth’s climates with respect to the Koeppen system. The students identify different tropical climates such as tropical wet (AF) and monsoonal (AM) climates. The students look at dry climates such as subtropical deserts (BWH), subtropical steppe (BSH), mid-latitude deserts (BWK), and mid-latitude steppe (BSK) climates. The students look at mild mid-latitude climates such as Mediterranean (CSA, CSB), humid subtropical (CFA, CWA), and marine west coast (CFB, CFC). The students examine severe mid-latitude climates such as humid continental (DFA, DFB, DWA, DWB) and subarctic (DFC, DFD, DWC, DWD) climates. The students look at polar climates such as tundra (ET), ice cap (EF), and highland climates (H)

Lesson 16: Climate Changes: Past and Future
Read Chapter 16

In this lesson the students look at climate changes in the past and future. The students study the time scales of climate change. The students look at the effects of variations in solar output and changes in earth’s orbit. The students look at the effects of changes in land configuration and surface characteristics as well as changes in atmospheric turbidity. The students examine the effect of changes in radiation-absorbing gases and study feedback mechanisms. The students study ice-albedo feedback and evaporation of water vapor. The students look at ocean-atmosphere interactions and atmosphere-biota interactions. The students look at general circulation models and methods for determining past climates. The students study oceanic deposits and ice cores. The students study remnant landforms, past vegetation, and relic soils

The student’s final grade will be based on a final examination. Examination questions will cover all topics covered in the readings. Students will have two hours to complete the final examination. Students will be assigned a number grade from 0-100. A letter grade will also be issued in accordance with the following scale:

90-100 – A
80-89 – B
70-79 – C
0-69 – non passing