Return to Geography Course Pages
| Instructor: John Chiang email: jchiang@atmos.berkeley.edu office phone: 642-3900 office: 547 McCone office hours: TBA |
Class Location: 145 McCone Class Time: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30-11 Course control number: 36493 Units: 3 |
| Purpose: This course examines the processes that determine the structure and circulation of the Earth's atmosphere. The approach is deductive rather than descriptive: to figure out the properties and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere based on the laws of physics and fluid dynamics. Roughly 1/3 of the course will cover atmospheric thermodynamics and radiation, and 2/3 on atmospheric dynamics. Prerequisites: Solid background in advanced calculus and general physics. Some previous knowledge of the atmosphere is useful, but not necessary. Grades (provisional): Homework ~30%; Midterm ~30%; Final ~40% Recommended texts: (on 1-day reserve in the Earth Sciences Library) Andrews, D.G. An introduction to atmospheric physics. Cambridge Univ Press, 2000 Goody R.M. and J.C.G. Walker. Atmospheres. Prentice-Hall, Englewood NJ 1972 Hartmann, D.L. Global Physical Climatology. Academic Press, 1994 Holton, J.R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology 3rd edition. Academic Press, San Diego, 1992 [recommend buying] Wallace, J. M. and P.V. Hobbs. Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey. Academic Press, 1977. Syllabus (subject to change): 1. Introduction to the atmosphere Atmospheric length and timescales; atmospheric composition; thermal and circulation structure 2. Thermodynamics Equation of state; Laws of thermodynamics; Adiabatic processes; Thermodynamics of atmospheric water; Adiabatic processes of saturated air; Hydrostatic equilibrium; Convection; Cloud formation 3. Radiation Nature of electromagnetic radiation; Absorption and emission of radiation by molecules; Blackbody radiation; Atmospheric absorption and scattering of solar radiation; Atmospheric absorption and scattering of terrestrial radiation; Radiative transfer; Radiative and radiative-convective equilibrium; Energy budget of earth 4. Dynamics Fundamental and apparent forces; Conservation laws: momentum equation, continuity equation, thermodynamics energy equation; Scale analysis; Elementary applications of basic equations: geostrophic balance, thermal wind; Circulation and vorticity; Quasigeostrophic analysis; Planetary boundary layer; Atmospheric oscillations; Baroclinic instability (time permitting); Tropical dynamics (time permitting) |
|
Date
|
Notes (Lecture notes download as pdf files)
|
Handouts/Homework
|
Reading
|
| Week 1 | |||
| Wednesday, January 19 | Introduction to the atmosphere I Link - The atmosphere circulation movie shown in class |
Syllabus | W&H 1.3 |
| Week 2 | |||
| Monday, January 24 | Introduction to the atmosphere II Thermo I - Equation of State Link - W&H Draft |
W&H 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 |
|
| Wednesday, January 26 | Thermo II - hydrostatic balance, first law, adiabatic processes | Homework 1- W&H questions 1.14, 3.22, 3.24, 3.32 (due Mon. 2/7) |
W&H 3.1 - 3.3 |
| Week 3 | |||
| Monday, January 31 | No Class | ||
| Wednesday, February 2 | No Class | ||
| Week 4 | |||
| Monday, February 7 | Thermo III - Thermodynamics of Water, moist adiabatic processes | W&H 3.4, 3.5 |
|
| Wednesday, February 9 | Thermo IV - Convection, Second Lay of thermodynamics | Homework 2- (due Fri. 2/18) | W&H 3.6 |
| Friday, February 11 | Thermo V - Cloud processes | ||
| Week 5 | |||
| Monday, February 14 | Radiation I - Nature and characterization of EM radiation, Atomic and molecular transitions | W&H 4.1,4.2 |
|
| Wednesday, February 16 | Radiation II: atomic and molecular transitions, blackbody radiation, emission temperature | lecture notes | |
| Friday, February 18 | Radiation III -Emission temperature, greenhouse effect, scattering | lecture notes, and W&H 4.4.1 for scattering | |
| Week 6 | |||
| Monday, February 21 | Holiday - no class | ||
| Wednesday, February 23 | Radiation IV: Absorption, radiative and radiative-convective equilibrium | Homework 3- (due Fri. 3/4) | lecture notes |
| Friday, February 25 | Radiation V: Role of clouds in climate; radiative energy budget of the earth; Radiative forcing and climate change | lecture notes | |
| Note: Midterm will be on Wednesday, March 9, in class. The midterm will cover thermodynamics and radiation. |
|||
| Week 7 | |||
| Monday, February 28 | Dynamics: fundamental forces | Holton 1.4 | |
| Wednesday, March 2 | Effective gravity, Coriolis force; Equations of motion and scale analysis |
Holton sect. 1.5.1, 1.5.2, 1.5.3, 2.1, 2.4, and the end part of 2.3 | |
| Week 8 | |||
| Monday, March 7 | Review of thermodynamics and radiation | ||
| Wednesday, March 9 | Midterm | Midterm Notes | |
| Week 9 | |||
| Monday, March 14 | Scale analysis, geostrophic approximation, approximate prognostic equations, continuety equation |
Holton 2.4, 2.5 | |
| Wednesday, March 16 | Thermodynamic energy equation. Equations in isobaric co-ordinates. Thermal wind balance | Homework 4 - (due Fri 4/1) | Holton 2.6, 1.6.2, 3.1, 3.4 |
| Week 10 - Spring Break | |||
| Monday, March 21 | No class | ||
| Wednesday, March 22 | No class | ||
| Week 11 | |||
| Monday, March 28 | (More) Balanced flows. | Holton 3.2 | |
| Wednesday, March 30 | No class - make-up Friday, 4/1 | ||
| Friday, April 1 | Planetary boundary layer: Introduction, Ekman layer | Holton 5.3.4, first part of 5.4 |
|
| Week 12 | |||
| Monday, April 4 | Planetary boundary layer: ocean surface Ekman layer; Reynolds Averaging; flux-gradient theory | Homework 5 - (due Fri 4/15) |
Holton 5.1.2, 5.3.2 |
| Wednesday, April 6 | Planetary boundary layer: mixing length hypothesis, surface layer. | The MIT rotating tank movies We looked at expts GFD X,VIII, XI, XIV (Ekman layers, Thermal Wind, General Circulation, and Thermohaline circulation) |
Holton 5.3.3, 5.3.5 and part of 5.3.1 |
| Week 13 | |||
| Monday, April 11 | |||
| Wednesday, April 13 | Circulation and vorticity | Holton 4.1, 4.2 | |
| Friday, April 15 | Potential Vorticity; Quasigeostrophic equations | Holton 4.3, 6.2 | |
| Week 14 | |||
| Monday, April 18 | Quasigeostrophic analysis: interpretation of the QC vorticity equation, and the Geopotential tendency equation | Homework 6 - (due Mon 5/2) | Holton 6.2.2,6.3 |
| Wednesday, April 20 | No class - make-up Friday, 4/22 | ||
| Friday, April 22 | QG potential vorticity, Omega equation | Holton 6.3.2, 6.4.1, and handout from Holton 3rd edition | |
| Week 15 | |||
| Monday, April 25 | Atmospheric waves: basics, shallow water gravity waves | Reading: Holton 7.1, 7.2, 7.3.2 | |
| Wednesday, April 27 | Internal waves | Holton p196-197, and class notes. | |
| Week 16 | |||
| Monday, May 2 | Free and forced Rossby waves | Holton 7.7 | |
| Wednesday, May 4 | Final day slides | ||
| Note on office hours - For the remainder of the semester Professor Chiang's office hours will be: Friday, May 6, 9:30-11 Monday, May 9, 9:30-12 |
|||