Instructor: William M. Frank
601A Walker
865-0470
email: frank@ems.psu.edu
Venue: MWF 11:15-12:05
112 Walker
Text: Atmospheric Science, An Introductory
Survey
Wallace and Hobbs
This
course will cover a broad range of topics within the atmospheric sciences at an
introductory level. It is designed to
provide meteorology majors with a general understanding of the Earth’s
atmosphere and its behavior and thus to establish a context for the more
specialized courses that follow. It is
required of all majors in the Department of Meteorology, and it may be taken as
an elective by majors in other disciplines.
Meteorology
is a physical science. Most of your
courses within the major will make extensive use of mathematical models of
physical phenomena. In my view, you
will find that your basic physics courses may be the closest analogies for
courses in meteorology. This
introductory course will make use of relatively simple mathematical models, and
it will stress problem solving and quantitative understanding of the
atmosphere.
Grading
will be based primarily on exams. There
will be three exams during the semester, each of which will represent 25% of
the grade. There will not be a
final. There will be about eight
problem sets, and these will count for 10% of your grade. The class will be divided into study teams
(probably about 12 groups of five persons each), and the problem sets will be
turned in as team efforts. There will
also be team projects, and these projects will count for 10% of your
grade. Each project will consist of a
study of the weather and climate of a particular location around the
world. Final projects will be submitted
by each team during the final week of the term. The projects will be in the form of a group web page. The final 5% of your grade will be my
assessment of your overall professional performance.
The
outline below shows the order and approximate timing of the material to be
covered. However, we are likely to get
a little behind schedule. Each topic is
preceded by the approximate number of lectures on that subject in parentheses and the relevant chapter in
Wallace and Hobbs. The course does not
follow the book closely, but you will find the text to be a good overall
reference.
1. (2)
Introduction. (Ch.1) Basic concepts, atmospheric origin and
composition, vertical structure.
2. (3)
Atmospheric thermodynamics. (Ch.2)
3. (2)
Clouds and cloud physics. (Ch.4)
4. (2)
Water vapor and moist thermodynamics.
(Ch.2)
5. (2)
Radiative transfer and its applications.
(Ch.6)
6. (2)
The Earth as a system, global energy budget.
(Ch.7)
7. (4)
Introductory dynamics. (Ch.8)
8. (2)
Waves in the atmosphere and ocean.
(mostly class notes)
9. (2)
The boundary layer. (mostly class
notes)
10. (2) The
tropics. (class notes)
11. (2)
Global change (a. warmer, b. colder).
(class notes)
12. (1)
Review and Project Update.
28 AUG L
30 Math Evaluation
Test
02 SEP Labor Day – Holiday
04 L
06 L
PS#1 out
09 L
11 L
13 PS#1 in, PS#2 out
16 L
18 L
20 PS#2 in
23 L
25 L
27 Exam #1
30 L
02 OCT L
04 Requiem for Exam
#1, PS#3 out
07 OCT L
09 L
11 PS#3 in, PS#4 out
14 Fall Break
16 L
18 PS#4 in
21 L
23 L
25 L
28 Exam #2
30 L
01 Nov L
04 Requiem Exam #2, PS#5 out
06 L
08 L
11 PS#5 in, PS#6 out
13 L
15 L
18 PS#6 in
20 L
22 L
25 Exam #3
27 L
29 Thanksgiving –
Holiday
02-13 DEC Projects