Meteorology 3410- Weather Observations and Analysis I

Office Hours: Tu, Th 1-2 or by appointment; WBB 817

Phone: 581-3903

Course Description: The goals are to refresh and further develop the basic computer skills required for a professional in the field of atmospheric sciences, to review and further develop applications of thermodynamics in the atmosphere with an emphasis on thermodynamic diagrams, and to learn about basic meteorological observations and instrumentation.

Class Hours: Tu,Th 9:10-10:30. Substantial additional time will be required to complete computer assignments.

Classroom: 490 INSCC

Prerequisites: PHYS 2220, Concurrent with Math 3150, CP SC 1020. (See overview for further information)

Grading: The course grade will be determined from class participation and assignments (50%), midterm exam (25%), and final exam (25%).

Text: Weather Analysis by Dusan Duric (this book is optional, appropriate handouts will be given in class to complete assignments.)

Course Outline: (by week)

Computational Science & Applied Math

1 (1 class): Navigating the Internet.

2: Editor review. Assignment: develop personal web page

3: Unix.

4: Programming in Fortran and C.

5: Graphics: gnuplot.

6: Graphics: xanim.

7 (1 class): Review of math concepts.

8: Application of math concepts.

Observations and Instrumentation

9: In situ observations.

10: Remote-sensing observations.

Thermodynamics

11: The equation of state. Work, heat, and specific heat capacity.

12: First law of thermodynamics. Adiabatic processes.

13: Equation of state of moist air. Moisture variables.

14 (1 class): Phase changes and latent heat. Adiabatic processes of saturated air.

15: Skew T-log p diagrams.

16: Hydrostatic stability and convection.

Updated last on August 21, 2002