METR 212, Climatology
Textbook: Climate Studies: Introduction to Climate Science
by Joseph M. Moran
Dr. Moran is particularly concerned with anthropogenic climate
change. Almost everything in the book is explained with that in
mind.
These lectures will supplement the text and provide a logical
progression not completely focused on climate change, although
it will be covered.
Read the assigned pages. If you feel you need a review of METR
110, read the other pages of each chapter.
Syllabus
Notes:
● The text is a combination of Introduction to Meteorology and Climatology.
The climatology pages are assigned. Read the rest of the pages in a
chapter to review what you learned in METR 110
● Your textbook author was mostly concerned with Climate Change caused
by humans. Much of the book looks at climate through that lens. You
should think about it and decide for yourself what the evidence shows. The
class will discuss climate change at the end. Be ready to contribute.
● The biggest single graded aspect of the course will be the term project.
Don’t get behind on these deadlines: Feb 2 – get a topic approved; Mar 3 –
turn in rough draft; Apr 26 – turn in final paper; Apr 26 to May 3 – oral
presentations
Be sure you write your project papers using verifiable facts and cite
your sources! Be careful about using Internet sources. Stick to
reputable ones, such as NWS, NOAA, or anything with a .gov domain
(sometimes .org and .edu will be factual, too but .com is suspect)
Definitions
(from the Glossary of Meteorology and your textbook)
Weather (glossary): … a category of individual and combined
atmospheric phenomena which must be drawn upon to describe the
local atmospheric activity at the time of observation.
Moran: … the state of the atmosphere at some place and time,
described in terms of such variables as temperature, humidity,
cloudiness, precipitation, and wind speed and direction.
Climate (glossary): The statistical collective of an area’s weather
conditions during a specified interval of time (usually several decades).
Moran: …weather (the state of the atmosphere) at some locality
averaged over a specified time interval.
Climatology: The scientific study of climate. In addition to the presentation
of climatic data, it includes the analysis of the causes of climate.
Climate is not “average” weather. The extremes and the way the individual
measurements are distributed also contribute to what is expected
Climatology, from the Greek klima, refers to the sun’s angle
Precipitation (clouds)
Climate: Average precipitation, average cloudiness, typical humidity.
Climatology: Why the observed averages occur, what are the effects
on temperature, pressure, and other atmospheric features.
Water: Once it reaches the ground, it’s part of the regional climate.
And humans use it.
Temperature
Lapse Rate
Temperature and
Altitude
The graph shows the Environmental
Lapse Rate - the average change of
temperature with increasing altitude.
This graph would be different for
any specific place and time
Air temperature changes most
rapidly nearer the earth’s surface
(air warms and cools mainly by
contact with the earth)
Wind: Its direction can be crucial for temperature
and precipitation.
It’s important to know what winds are. This is NOT the Polar Vortex
THIS is the Polar Vortex. Its configuration does things like cause the
Ortonot
(2015):
coldest weather in the world
be over
eastern North America (2014)
Pressure: Changes in the horizontal create weather
systems (and winds and precipitation!)
How the NWS does the measurements:
It all starts with the Sun …
Next topic:
Radiation