ATSC 2000: Introduction to Meteorology
Fall 2006
Lecture: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 1:10 - 2:00pm, EN 6085, Zhien Wang
Laboratory: either Mon 2:10 - 5:00pm EN 6085 David Rahn
or
Tue 2:45 - 5:25 pm EN 6085 Cory Demko
or
Wed 2:10 - 5:00pm EN 6085 Cory Demko
Labs begin Monday September 11.
Instructor:
Dr Zhien Wang
Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science
Office: ENG 6071; (ph) 766-5356; zwang@uwyo.edu
Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2-4 pm; Feel free to drop in anytime
when I am in the office
Lab Assistants: Dave Rahn and Cory Demko office: ENG 6049 and ENG 6052
Textbook: Required! Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate, and
the Environment (with InfoTrac and Blue Skies CD-ROM), 7th Edition, by C.
Donald Ahrens.
Lab Manual: Required! The manual is available in the University Bookstore (Bring
the Lab Manual and the Text to Lab)
Course Website:
Lecture notes will be posted at
http://www.das.uwyo.edu/%7ezwang/atsc2000/atsc2000.html
Other information (such as homework and answers) will be posted through
WyoWeb.
Test & Final:
Test I: Wednesday 4 October
Test II: Wednesday 8 November
Final: Monday 11 December
Textbook, lectures, and lab:
It is imperative that you read the textbook, and it is recommended that you do that in
preparation for the lectures and the lab. It is essential also to attend classes. The textbook
reading, lecture attendance, and lab practice all complement each other to give you a
comprehensive understanding of how weather works
Course Grading:
Basis
Test I 15 %
Test II 15 %
Final exam 25 %
Class participation 5 %
Take-home assignments (weekly) 15 %
Lab exercises 25 %
Scale
A: >85%
B: 73-85%
C: 60-73%
D: 50-60%
F: <50%
I: unfinished labs/homeworks/tests
Please arrange your schedule so that you do not miss any of the tests Make-up
examinations will only be permitted for students with an officially authorized absence.
This includes the final. If you have a valid excuse to explain why you cannot attend an
exam, eg, documented illness, court appearance, participation in an official UW sports
event, please present it to me as soon as possible Please see me immediately if you are a
University athlete likely to be required to be frequently absent from either regular class
meetings or examinations
Lab attendance is mandatory In order to pass the class, you must achieve a passing
grade in the lab
Course Outlines:
Introduction and Ch. 1
1) Why university science class?
2) Why meteorology?
3) Layers of the atmosphere characterized by temperature, altitude, pressure - exosphere,
thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, troposphere
4) Current composition of the earth's atmosphere - permanent gases, variable gases
5) Evolution of the earth's atmosphere - removal of CO2, rise of oxygen
6) Behavior of air - Ideal gas law relating temperature, pressure, density
7) Brief history of meteorology.
Ch. 2 - Energy - Topics
1) Energy
a) Potential
b) Kinetic
c) Radiant
d) Internal
2) Specific heat - Climate influences
3) Latent heat
4) Heat transfer
a) Conduction
b) Convection
c) Radiation
5) Radiation
a) E&M spectrum
b) Stefan Boltzmann law – E = σ T4
c) Wien's law – λ = Const/T = 3000 (µm-K) / T
d) Planetary equilibrium temperature
e) Absorption = Emission (Kirchoff's law)
f) Greenhouse effect
Ch. 3 – Seasonal and Daily Temperatures - Topics
1) Local temperature controls
a) seasons
b) location (latitude, altitude, proximity of water)
c) humidity
d) ventilation (wind chill)
Ch. 4 – Light, color, and atmospheric optics - Topics
1) Reflection
2) Refraction
3) Scattering - (Rayleigh, Mie)
4) Diffraction
5) Dispersion
6) Phenomena explained
a) blue sky
b) white clouds
c) haze
d) sunsets
e) red sun
f) twinkling stars
g) mirages
h) rainbows
i) haloes
j) sun dogs
k) ice pillars
Ch. 5 – Atmospheric moisture - Topics
1) What is in a cloud?
2) Water vapor in the air/atmosphere - Definitions
a) Vapor pressure
b) Saturation vapor pressure
c) Relative humidity
d) Boiling point (demo – in specially designed flask boil water. Cork with stopper
including a thermometer. Turn off invert add ice. Keep water boiling till near
room temperature. Estimate air pressure in cooled flask. )
e) Dew point
Ch. 6 – Condensation: Dew, fog, and clouds - Topics
1) Condensation
a) Dew/Frost
b) Nucleation - cloud condensation nuclei
c) Fog
d) Clouds
2) Cloud classification
a) Low
b) Middle
c) High
d) Vertically developed
Ch. 7 Stability and cloud development - Topics
1) Thermodynamic diagram
a) Lapse rates
i)
dry adiabatic
ii)
moist adiabatic
iii)
environmental
iv)
water vapor mixing ratio
v)
lifted condensation level
2) Environmental stability
a) Stable
b) Neutral
c) Conditionally unstable
d) Absolutely unstable
3) Causes of instability
a) Cold air advection aloft
b) Surface warming
a) Lifting mechanisms
i)
orography
ii)
cold fronts
iii)
surface heating
Ch. 8 – Precipitation - Topics
a) Cloud drops to rain drops
b) Warm rain processes (collision - coalescence)
c) Ice crystal process
i)
Ice nucleation, ice nuclei
ii)
Growth by vapor diffusion over ice
iii)
Ice crystal shapes = f(T)
iv)
Cloud seeding
Ch. 9 – The atmosphere in motion: Air pressure, forces, and winds - Topics
1) Laws of motion: Force(F),mass (m), acceleration(a), F=ma
2) Forces that affect air motion
a) Gravity
b) Pressure gradient force
i) Differential heating of the earth  Equator to pole pressure gradient
c) Coriolis force
i) Coordinate systems - frames of reference
d) Friction
3) Force balance
a) Hydrostatic
b) Geostrophic
i)
Upper level westerlies
ii)
Cyclonic / Anticyclonic circulation
iii)
Thermal wind
c) Gradient – hurricanes
Ch. 10 – Wind: Small-scale and local systems – Topics
1) Small-scale winds
a) Scales of motions
b) Eddies
2) Local wind systems
a) Sea and land breezes
b) Chinooks
Ch. 11 – Wind: Global systems - Topics
1) General atmospheric circulation
a) Differential heating of earth's surface
b) Three cell model (Hadley, Ferrel, Polar)
i)
Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
ii)
Subsidence - deserts
iii)
Trade winds
iv)
Cell boundaries
c) Upper level westerlies,
i)
jet streams
ii)
wave structure
2) General oceanic circulation
a) Ekman spiral - upwelling
b) Gulf stream
c) El Nino Southern Oscillation
Ch. 12 - Air masses and fronts - Topics
1) Air mass definition/ source regions
2) Air mass types and source regions in our area
a) cP  continental Polar - central Canada
b) cT  continental Tropical - central Mexico
c) mP  maritime Polar - northern Pacific
d) mT  maritime Tropical - central eastern Pacific/ gulf of Mexico
e) cA  continental Arctic
3) Fronts
a) Cold
b) Warm
c) Occluded
d) Stationary
Ch. 13 Middle latitude cyclones - Topics
1) Polar front theory
2) Cyclones as eddies in large scale flow - transporting energy
3) Upper level waves
a) Genesis - vorticity
b) Long
c) Short
4) Vertical structure of cyclone/anticyclone
a) Upper level and low level divergence/convergence
b) Relationship of cyclones, jet stream, upper level trough.
5) Life cycle of extratropical cyclone
a) Cyclogenesis
b) Development
c) Maturity
d) Decay
Ch. 14 Weather forecasting - Topics
1) Origin - Richardson 1922
2) Steps in numerical prediction
a) Observations - model initialization
i)
surface
ii)
upper air
iii)
radar
iv)
satellite
v)
aircraft
b) Data assimilation - model grid space/initialization
c) Types of models
d) Forecasts
e) Problems with forecasts
f) Natural limits
Ch. 15 – Thunderstorms and tornadoes - Topics
1) Convection
a) Showers
b) Thunderstorms
c) Tornadoes
Ch. 16 – Hurricanes - Topics
1) Description
2) Formation (tropical storm stages) and dissipation
Ch. 17 – Air pollution (Human influences on the atmosphere) - Topics
1) Ozone depletion
2) Air pollution – smog
3) Acid rain
Ch 18 – Global Climate- Topics
Present climates
a) Climate controls
b) Climate classifications for the world
i)
Western hemisphere
ii)
Eastern hemisphere
Ch. 19 Climate change - Topics
1) Determining past climates
a) Millions of years - geologic evidence
b) Up to 400,000 years ago - ice cores
c) ~ 5000 years - historical crop records
d) 500-1000 years - dendrochronology
2) Climate history
a) 700 Mya - last ice age ~ 20,000 Ya, Ya=Years ago
b) 20,000 - 1,000 Ya
c) Last 1000 years
3) Causes of climate change
a) Millions of years - geologic activity: plate tectonics, sea floor spreading,
mountain building.
b) Thousands of years - Milankovitch theory
i)
Eccentricity (100,000 years)
ii)
Nutation (41,000 years) - changes in earth's tilt
iii)
Precession (23,000 years) - change in direction earth's axis points
c) Decadal
i) Volcanism - asteroid impacts
ii) Sunspot cycle - Maunder minimum 1645-1715
d) Seasonal - long wave pattern
e) Anthropogenic
i)
Increases in carbon dioxide
ii)
Predictions/uncertainties
Lab Schedule
Week Beginning:
August 28
September 4
September 11
September 18
No labs
No labs: Labor Day
I: Surface Weather Observations
II: Temperature Structure of the Lower Atmosphere (meet in
computer lab)
September 25
October 2
October 9
October 16
October 23
October 30
November 7
November 13
November 20
November 27
December 4
III: Radiative Energy Transfer
IV: The Greenhouse Effect (Take Home Lab)
V: Humidity Variables
VI: Thermodynamic Diagrams
VII: Static Stability and Clouds
VIII: Freezing of Water: Ice Nucleation
IX: Interpreting Weather-Satellite Images (Take Home Lab)
X: Force Balance and Atmospheric Motion
No Labs: Thanksgiving
XI: Frontal Disturbances. Part I: Surface Charts
XII: Frontal Disturbances. Part II: The Jet Stream and Surface
Weather