ATM OCN 100/101

WEATHER AND CLIMATE

Spring 2006

Instructor: Prof. Jonathan E. Martin

Room 1425A, AO&SS Building, 1225 West Dayton St.

Phone: 262-9845

E-mail: jemarti1@wisc.edu

Meeting Times: MWF 11:00 am Room 105 Psychology

Students in both AOS 100 and AOS 101 will meet at the same time

for lecture!

Office Hours: Wednesday 1:00-3:00 and also by appointment (which can be made

most easily by e-mail or after class)

Textbook: Introduction to Weather and Climate: Second Edition

Jonathan E. Martin

Grading: Seven (7) homework assignments will be given, you can drop one of

the seven. Three exams during the term will be given and a final

exam (which will only be very slightly longer than the other three).

6 Homeworks @ 4% each 24%

3 1 hr exams @ 18% each 54%

1 Final exam @ 22% 22%

100%

HOMEWORK IS DUE BEFORE LECTURE ON THE DUE DATE

(OR ANYTIME BEFORE THAT)!

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE TURNED IN BY THAT TIME,

NO EXCUSES.

Students taking 101 should be aware that the lab section will not be a rehash of lecture; it will be a supplement to the 100 lectures. An independent letter grade for the lab will be assigned to each 101 student and will constitute one-fourth of his/her final grade for 101.

Extra credit projects may be submitted with prior approval from the instructor. For more details about extra credit see the AOS 100/101 HOMEPAGE at the following URL address;

http://marrella.aos.wisc.edu/aos100.101/aos100.html

You will most likely use this page alot so try accessing it immediately and ask for help if you are unfamiliar with the computer.

T. A.’s: AOS 100 - Jessica Staude

Rm 1311 AOS jastaude@wisc.edu

AOS 101 (Section 301) - Everest Ong

Rm 835 AOS ong1@wisc.edu

AOS 101 (Section 302) - Steve Jaye

Rm 1449 AOS smjaye@wisc.edu

AOS 101 (Section 303) - Andrea Lang

Rm 1421 AOS aalopez@wisc.edu

AOS 101 (Section 304) - Jessica Staude

Rm 613 AOS jastaude@wisc.edu

It is the rare person who is not excited, or has not been excited at some time in his/her lifetime, by the weather. The atmosphere influences almost every facet of our lives and presents us with a thrilling subject for study this semester. I am eager to transfer to you some of the excitement I feel for the weather; both its phenomenological beauty and its physical elegance. We will do this by examining, piece by piece, a number of important physical concepts that explain atmospheric phenomena. We will end up speaking intelligently about fascinating and dazzling entities like cyclones, severe weather, and hurricanes.

I realize that a large number of you are non-science majors and are taking the course to fulfill a science requirement. One of my side goals during this term is to convince you that there is no such thing as “Humanities thinking” or “Business thinking” or “Science thinking” - there is just thinking; and success in this course will require thinking! Good luck to you and take advantage of your time in this class.

You will notice in the syllabus that I have indicated readings from the book. Students often want to know how much of the reading is going to show up on exams. You can be certain that everything you read will be closely related to the lectures. When studying for exams, however, if something in the book is not covered in lecture (rare but possible), it will not be on the exam. DAILY ATTENDANCE in class is the only way to be sure what has been covered in lecture!!!

SYLLABUS

DATE SUBJECT READING

WEEK 1

W 1-18 Intro. to course, What is the

Atmosphere?

F 1-20 HW #1 OUT What can we measure about pp. 1-2

the atmosphere?

WEEK 2

M 1-23 Composition of Earth’s pp. 2-6

atmosphere.

W 1-25 Composition continued, “

Force, Area, Kinetic Energy

F 1-27 Temperature and Pressure “

WEEK 3

M 1-30 Relationship between Temp., pp. 6-8

and Pressure; Ideal Gas Law

W 2-01 Gas Law continued “

F 2-03 HW #1 DUE Vertical Structure of the Atm. pp. 8-10

HW #2 OUT

DATE SUBJECT READING

WEEK 4

M 2-06 What is Energy? Forms of pp. 10-15

Energy

W 2-08 What is Heat? Heat transfer “

F 2-10 Conduction and Convection pp. 15-17

and Heat transfer

WEEK 5

M 2-13 EXAM #1

W 2-15 Radiative transfer and wave energy pp. 18-22

F 2-17 HW #2 DUE Boltzmann and Wein’s Laws “

HW #3 OUT

WEEK 6

M 2-20 Absorption, transmission and “

reflectance

W 2-22 Concept of Radiative balance, “

Kirchoff’s Law

F 2-24 Atmospheric “windows”, pp. 22-24

Greenhouse effect

WEEK 7

M 2-27 The daily and seasonal temp pp. 24-30

cycles

W 3-01 Seasonal cycle continued “

F 3-03 HW #3 DUE Scattering of light, pp. 30-32

HW #4 OUT Why is the sky blue?

WEEK 8

M 3-06 Humidity and how we measure it pp. 33-37

W 3-08 Condensation and Fog formation pp. 37-38

F 3-10 EXAM #2

DATE SUBJECT READING

(SPRING BREAK, MAR 13-MAR 17)

WEEK 9

M 3-20 Cloud formation, pp. 38-42

Why does rising air cool?

W 3-22 Buoyancy and the concept “

of instability.

F 3-24 HW #4 DUE Atmospheric Stability and “

HW #5 OUT relevance for severe weather

WEEK 10

M 3-27 Precipitation formation; pp. 42-47

Why don’t all clouds precipitate?

W 3-29 Forces and Force balance; Pressure pp. 48-52

gradient force

F 3-31 The Coriolis Force “

WEEK 11

M 4-03 What forces control the wind above pp. 53-55

the surface? Geostrophic balance

W 4-05 Friction - What forces control the “

wind at the surface?

F 4-07 HW #5 DUE Surface winds near cyclones and pp. 55-57

HW #6 OUT anticyclones

WEEK 12

M 4-10 The continuity of mass, pp. 57-63

How does this influence weather?

W 4-12 EXAM #3

F 4-14 Convergence and Divergence, “

Vertical air motions

WEEK 13

F 4-17 Extratropical cyclones, pp. 63-67

What are they? Who cares?

W 4-19 Cyclones and fronts, “

Weather patterns

DATE SUBJECT READING

F 4-21 HW #6 DUE Cyclones and fronts, “

HW #7 OUT Vertical structure

WEEK 14

M 4-24 The cyclone life cycle “

W 4-26 Weather Prediction, WEB HANDOUT 1

Numerical weather prediction

F 4-28 Why are forecasts wrong sometimes? “

Intro to Severe Weather

WEEK 15

M 5-01 Severe Thunderstorms pp. 67-72

W 5-03 Tornadoes “

F 5-05 HW #7 DUE Hurricanes WEB HANDOUT 2

FINAL EXAM Thursday May 11, 2006 12:25 PM Room TBA

(Remember, it will really be like a fourth exam with a little more material, but you’ll still get the full two hours!)