PREREQUISITE:

Placement into ENG101, college level reading or completion of ENG101S and RDG095

COREQUISITE:

MAT 101 or equivalent

 REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

1. Understanding Weather & Climate, 5^th edition, Edward Aguado and James E. Burt, Pearson/Prentice Hall
   ISBN# 0-13-149696-4
   
   
2. Exercises for Weather and Climate, 7^th edition, Greg Carbone, Pearson/Prentice Hall
   ISBN# 0-13-149701-4

 REQUIRED MATERIALS:  

Safety glasses are required for all on-campus sections.

 As the result of instructional activities, students will be able to:

1. Describe and define in detail the structure, composition, and formation of the Earth's atmosphere.
   1. List the major and minor components of the Earth's atmosphere.
   2. Define the layers of the Earth's atmosphere and their important features.
   3. Explain how the Earth's atmosphere was formed.
2. Explain solar radiation, the Earth's heat budget, and the seasons.
   1. Explain the causes of the seasons and the significance of the solstices and equinoxes.
   2. Explain the difference between heat and temperature.
   3. Explain the difference between kinetic and potential energy.
   4. Define convection, conduction, and radiation.
   5. Describe what happens to incoming solar radiation as it passes through the atmosphere.
   6. Explain the greenhouse effect and how Earth's atmosphere is heated.
   7. Describe Earth's heat budget and latitudinal heat balance.
3. Discuss the Earth's energy balance and temperature.
   1. Discuss the factors that contribute to the differential heating and cooling of land and water.
   2. Describe the influence of ocean currents, altitude, geographic position, cloud cover, and albedo on temperature.
   3. Explain daily and annual temperature variations.
   4. Explain wind chill and heat index.
4. Describe and define the major processes involved with atmospheric moisture.
   1. Describe the movement of water through the hydrologic cycle.
   2. Discuss the processes and energy requirements by which water changes from one state of matter to another.
   3. Define absolute humidity, mixing ratio, vapor pressure, relative humidity, and dew point.
   4. Discuss the adiabatic process and its role in cloud formation.
   5. State the four mechanisms that cause air to rise.
   6. List the atmospheric conditions which determine the stability of air.
   7. List the factors that modify the stability of air.
5. Describe and define the processes involved for cloud development, the forms of clouds, and the processes involved for precipitation.
   1. Describe the process of condensation and the role of condensation nuclei in the formation of clouds.
   2. List the major cloud types based on their form and height.
   3. Explain the formation of the various types of fog, dew, and frost.
   4. Describe the formation of precipitation according to the Bergeron process and the collision-coalescence process.
   5. Explain the difference between rain, snow, sleet, glaze, and hail and describe the circumstances under which each forms.
   6. Describe how precipitation is measured using standard instruments and weather radar.
6. Define and discuss the major processes involved with atmospheric pressure and winds.
   1. Define air pressure and explain how it is measured.
   2. Discuss pressure changes with increasing altitude.
   3. Describe how the pressure-gradient force, the Coriolis effect, and friction each affect the wind.
   4. Define an isobar and read a weather map.
   5. Explain winds aloft and geostrophic flow.
   6. Explain cyclonic and anticyclonic airflow.
   7. Describe surface winds and the forces that promote vertical airflow.
7. Discuss and define the types, models, and processes involved with atmospheric circulations and pressure distributions.
   1. Explain the difference between macroscale, mesoscale, and microscale winds.
   2. Discuss the three-cell circulation model of the atmosphere.
   3. Identify each of Earth's idealized zonal pressure belts.
   4. Discuss the locations and causes of the major monsoons.
   5. Discuss the westerlies and polar jet stream.
   6. Describe the relation between global winds and ocean currents.
   7. Describe the occurrence and effects of El Niño and La Niña.
8. Discuss and define the different types of air masses and fronts and their origin.
   1. Define an air mass and discuss air mass classification.
   2. Describe the ways air masses are modified.
   3. List the source regions and properties of air masses that influence the weather of North America.
   4. Distinguish between warm fronts, cold fronts, stationary fronts, occluded fronts, and drylines.
9. Discuss mid-latitude cyclones and the processes involved in their creation.
   1. Discuss in detail the life cycle of a midlatitude cyclone.
   2. Summarize the idealized weather associated with a midlatitude cyclone as it passes completely over a region.
   3. Explain cyclogenesis and the nature of cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation.
10. Describe and define the development and conditions needed to produce lightning, thunder, and tornadoes.
    1. Describe the stages of development of an air-mass thunderstorm.
    2. Summarize the characteristics of severe thunderstorms, supercell thunderstorms, squall lines, and mesoconvective complexes.
    3. Discuss the atmospheric conditions that produce lightning and thunder.
    4. Discuss the development, occurrence, destruction, and detection of tornadoes.
11. Discuss the types, formation, detection, and warnings of tropical storms and hurricanes.
    1. Discuss the formation and decay of hurricanes.
    2. Describe the difference between a tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, and hurricane.
    3. Explain the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
    4. Describe how satellites, aircraft, radar, and data buoys are used to detect and track hurricanes.
    5. Explain the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning.
12. Identify the techniques and processes involved with weather forecasting.
    1. Identify the different approaches used in modern weather forecasting.
    2. Discuss short and long-range forecasts and their accuracy.
    3. Describe how satellites and other tools are used in modern weather forecasts.
    4. Explain the role of upper-level flow in preparing weather forecasts.
13. Discuss the effects of humans on air pollution.
    1. List the major primary and secondary pollutants and identify their sources.
14. Explain and discuss climate change, both natural and man-made causes.
    1. Explain the methods used to detect climate change.
    2. Summarize natural mechanisms of climate change that are unrelated to human activities.
    3. Discuss the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere and how the addition of carbon dioxide, trace gases, and aerosols has modified global temperature.
    4. List several possible consequences of greenhouse warming.
15. Explain the nature of light and optical phenomena.
    1. Explain the formation of mirages, halos, sun dogs, sun pillars, coronas, glories, and rainbows.

LAB OBJECTIVES:

• Construct and interpret graphs to measure how pressure, density, and temperature change with height above the earth's surface.
• Measure the solar elevation angle and solar intensity, then compare solar intensity measurements at different latitudes and seasons.
• Examine how cloud cover, latitude, season, and time of day affect incoming shortwave radiation.
• Examine the global energy budget and the differences in energy across the globe.
• Calculate saturation mixing ratio, mixing ratio, vapor pressure, saturation vapor pressure and relative humidity of a given air sample.
• Calculate the lifting condensation level for two separate air parcels and determine atmospheric stability of a given air parcel.
• Examine the forces acting on cloud droplets and ice crystals and the processes that cause the droplets and crystals to grow and precipitate.
• Examine how pressure gradient, Coriolis, and frictional forces act to influence wind speed and direction.
• Examine how surface winds differ from upper air winds and consider how horizontal winds lead to vertical motion.
• Construct and interpret weather maps.
• Use idealized and real world examples to illustrate the surface weather patterns associated with mid-latitude cyclones and to examine how upper-level winds influence storm processes, development, and movement.
• Use real world examples to examine geographic patterns of thunderstorms storms and tornadoes, their structure, and the atmospheric conditions that produce them.
• Using hurricane case studies to examine their formation, structure, energy, and movement.
• Analyze climographs to determine temperature and precipitation ranges and patterns.
• Examine and interpret climatic data associated with urban heat islands
• Use climate models to simulate climate change.

GENERAL TOPICS OUTLINE:

1. Composition and Structure of the Atmosphere.
2. Solar Radiation and the Seasons.
3. Energy Balance and Temperature.
4. Atmospheric Pressure and Wind.
5. Atmospheric Moisture.
6. Cloud Development and Forms.
7. Precipitation Processes.
8. Atmospheric Circulation and Pressure Distributions.
9. Air Masses and Fronts.
10. Mid-Latitude Cyclones.
11. Lightning, Thunder, and Tornadoes.
12. Tropical Storms and Hurricanes.
13. Weather Forecasting and Analysis.
14. Human Effects: Air Pollution and Heat Islands.
15. Earth's Climates.
16. Climate Changes: Past and Future.
17. Atmospheric Optics.

Feel free to contact a member of the Science Department or the Science Department Chair.