Welcome to the GEOS 120, Weather, webpage for the Spring 2014 semester.
Spring 2014 Lectures: MWF, 12:00 - 12:50 PM. Location: Physical Science Building room 301
Syllabus
Required Book: Meteorology Today, 10th Edition, by C. Donald Ahrens
What actually happened:
Wed., 22 Jan., Handout & review syllabus; Lecture: Began Chapter 1: Earth and its atmosphere
Fri., 24 Jan., Lecture: Complete Chapter 1
Mon., 27 Jan., Quiz #1 on Chapter 1; Lecture: Begin Chapter 2: Energy, warming of the Earth
Wed., 29 Jan., Homework #1 due. Lecture: parcel, convection, advection, radiant energy, Stefan-Boltzman, Wien's law, begin greenhouse gases absorption spectra
Fri., 31 Jan., Last day to add or drop classes without special permission of instructor. Lecture: Greenhouse gases, greenhouse effect, albedo, scattering.
Mon., 03 Feb., Quiz #2 on Chapter 2; Lecture: Begin Chapter 3: Seasonal and Daily Temperatures: what causes seasons and diurnal temperature cycle
Wed., 05 Feb., Homework #2 due. Lecture: Chapter 4: Atmospheric Humidity
Fri., 07 Feb., Quiz #3 on Chapters 3 and 4. Lecture: Conclude Chapter 4 and begin Chapter 5: Dew, Fog, and Clouds
Mon., 10 Feb., Homework #3 due. Lecture: continue Chapter 5: complete fogs; begin clouds
Wed., 12 Feb., Exam #1 on Chapters 1–4
Fri., 14 Feb., Census date: no adding or dropping or changing of grade option beyond this date without a serious or compelling reason approved by the instructor, chair, and dean.
Fri., 14 Feb., Lecture: Chapter 5: Types of Clouds, turbulent and laminar flows, satellite, radar, lidar observations of clouds
Mon., 17 Feb., Quiz #4 on Chapter 5. Lecture: Begin Chapter 6: Stability and Cloud Development
Wed., 19 Feb., Homework #4 due. Lecture: Chapter 6.
Fri., 21 Feb., Lecture: Chapter 6.
Mon., 24 Feb., Quiz #5 on Chapter 6. Lecture: Begin Chapter 7: Precipitation
Wed., 26 Feb., Homework #5 on Chapter 6 due. Lecture: Chapter 7 continued: Collision and Coalescence Process; Ice-crystal (Bergeron) Process.
Fri., 28 Feb., No lecture. Work on Special Assignment.
Mon., 03 Mar., Quiz #6 on Chapter 7.
Wed., 05 Mar., Lecture: Begin Chapter 8 on Air Pressure and Wind (Simple two column model for understanding how horizontal pressure gradients arise.)
Fri., 07 Mar., Lecture: Finish Chapter 8 on Air Pressure and Wind (Pressure gradient, Coriolis, centripetal, and friction forces; geostrophic and gradient wind.)
Mon., 10 Mar., Quiz #7 on Chapter 8. Lecture: Begin Chapter 9 on Wind: Small Scale and Local Systems. Pages 229-233. Planetary boundary layer and turbulence.
Wed., 12 Mar., Lecture: Chapter 9. Wind near the surface of the earth: land and sea breeze, Aeolian processes, mountain-valley winds, downslope winds, haboobs, and dust devils.
Fri., 14 Mar., Exam #2 on Chapters 5--8.
Mon., 17 Mar., Spring break - no classes
Wed., 19 Mar., Spring break - no classes
Fri., 21 Mar., Spring break - no classes
Mon., 24 Mar., Quiz #8 on Chapter 9. Return exam #2. Lecture: Finish Chapter 9 and begin Chapter 10: Global wind systems: one-cell and three-cell models.
Wed., 26 Mar., Chapter 9 Homework due. Lecture: Chapter 10. semi-permanent highs/lows; tropopause jet streams; polar vortex; Rossby waves, air-sea interactions, Ekman, ENSO.
Fri., 28 Mar., Lecture: Chapter 11: Airmasses and Fronts
Mon., 31 Mar., Cesar Chavez Day - no classes
Wed., 02 Apr., Quiz #9 on Chapter 10. Lecture: Begin Chapter 12. Polar front cyclone model; cyclogenesis; upper air support for surface pressure systems; convergence/divergence.
Fri., 04 Apr., Homework on Chapter 10 and 11 due. Lecture: Continue Chapter 12: Rossby waves, shortwaves, barotropic, baroclinic, temperature advection, vorticity.
Mon., 07 Apr., Quiz #10 on Chapters 11 and 12. Lecture: Review Chapter 12 and begin Chapter 13: Weather Forecasting: Richardson, Von Neumann, ENIAC, numerical weather prediction
Wed., 09 Apr., Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET). Chapter 12 Homework Due. Lecture: Finish Chapter 13: Dines, Charney, Smagorinsky, Lorenz, chaos, pattern predictibility, statistical results from pattern forecasts.
Fri., 11 Apr., Lecture: Begin Chapter 14: Thunderstorms and tornadoes. Ordinary & multicell storms, anvils, overshooting tops, downbursts, gust fronts, microbursts, outflow boundaries, shelf clouds, roll clouds.
Mon., 14 Apr., Quiz #11 on Chapters 13 and 14. Lecture: Squall lines, mesoscale convective systems and complexes, supercells, mesoscale vortex, wall cloud, tornado
Wed., 16 Apr., Homework on Chapters 13 and 14 due. Lecture: complete Chapter 14 (waterspouts, lightning, thunder, flashfloods) and Chapter 15: Hurricanes.
Fri., 18 Apr., Exam #3 (Chapters 9--14)
Mon., 21 Apr., Lecture: Begin Chapter 16: Earth's Changing Climate: Age of Earth, climate proxies, core samples, oxygen isotope ratio, glaciers, icesheets, ice ages, PETM.
Wed., 23 Apr., Lecture: Continue Chapter 16: thermohaline circulation, flywheel, feedbacks, tectonics, volcanoes, Milankovitch cycles, sunspots.
Fri., 25 Apr., Quiz #12 on Chapters 15 and 16. Lecture: Finish Chapter 16. Recent (1750 - present) global trends; fossil fuels, James Hansen videos: One and Two.
Mon., 28 Apr., Homework on Chapters 15 and 16 due. Lecture: Chapter 17: Climates of the world; micro-, meso-, maco- climates; urban heat island; evapotranspiration; tundra; boreal forests; deserts.
Wed., 30 Apr., Quiz on Chapter 17. Lecture: Begin Chapter 18: Air Pollution. The Great Smog, Brown clouds, CO, SO2, VOCs, NOx, ozone.
Fri., 02 May, Homework on Chapters 17 due. Lecture: Complete Chapter 18: Air Pollution. PM, tropospheric vs stratospheric ozone, CFCs, AQI, acid rain. Factors that effect air pollution.
Mon., 05 May, Review week (no new material). Lecture: Review Chapters 1-6.
Wed., 07 May, Review week (no new material). Quiz on Chapter 18. Lecture: Review Chapters 6-12.
Fri., 09 May, Review week (no new material). Chapter 18 homework due. Lecture: Review Chapters 13-18.
Wed., 14 May, FINAL EXAM: 12:00 - 1:50 PM
Dr. Mayor's page
CSU Chico Atmospheric Lidar Research Group