Welcome to the GEOS 400, Physical Meteorology, webpage for the Spring 2015 semester.

Spring 2015 Lectures: MWF, 10:00 - 10:50 AM. Location: Physical Science Building (PHSC) 130

Syllabus

Required Book: Fundamentals of Weather and Climate, 2nd Edition, by Robin McIlveen
Recommended Books: A First Course in Atmospheric Thermodynamics by Grant W. Petty.
A First Course in Atmospheric Radiation-2nd edition by Grant W. Petty.

Tenatative schedule:

Wed., 21 Jan., Review of syllabus and semester plans. Discussion of state variables.
Fri., 23 Jan., Charles' Law; Boyle's Law; Derive ideal gas law (Eqn. of State).
Mon., 26 Jan., Begin derivation of pressure from kinetic theory of gases. Avogadro's law.
Wed., 28 Jan., Continue derivation of pressure from kinetic theory of gases.
Fri., 30 Jan., Complete derivation of pressure (ideal gas law) from kinetic theory of gases. Composition of dry air.
Mon., 02 Feb., Dalton's law. Derivation of the specific gas constant for dry air mixture
Wed., 04 Feb., Heat capacity, specific heat capacity, enthalpy, review of first law of thermo
Fri., 06 Feb., Equation of state for water vapor. Derivation of virtual temperature.
Mon., 09 Feb., Review of first law; derive Poisson's Eqn and potential temperature.
Wed., 11 Feb., Review barometric law; scale height; lapse rate; derive dry adiabatic lapse rate.
Fri., 13 Feb., Derive autoconvective lapse rate. Discussion of static stability.
Mon., 16 Feb., Review of static stability; Sound (acoustic) waves; Begin shallow and deep water waves.
Wed., 18 Feb., Review of sound and water waves. Begin internal gravity waves. Introduce Brunt-Väisälä frequency.
Fri., 20 Feb., Derivation of Brunt-Väisälä frequency (and period).
Mon., 23 Feb., Internal gravity waves (IGWs). IGWs generated by convection.
Wed., 25 Feb., Tyson Randall lecture on canopy waves
Fri., 27 Feb., Masaki Hamada lecture on sound (acoustic) waves
Mon., 02 Mar., Waves in stratified flow. Video
Wed., 04 Mar., Begin Chapter 8 of McIlveen 2e: Radiation. The sun, total solar irradiance, flux density, EM spectrum.
Fri., 06 Mar., Planck's law, Wein's Law, emissivity.
Mon., 09 Mar., Radiation: incident, reflected, absorbed, transmitted. Albedo, Kirchhoff's law, LTE, Stefan's law, blackbody, graybody.
Wed., 11 Mar., Review for mid-term exam.
Fri., 13 Mar., Mid-term exam.
Mon., 17 Mar., Spring break - no classes
Wed., 17 Mar., Spring break - no classes
Fri., 20 Mar., Spring break - no classes
Mon., 23 Mar., Return graded mid-terms. Lecture: Section 8.2 on pages 285-287: Earth's Energy Balance.
Wed., 25 Mar., Section 8.3 and 8.5 on pages 288-295. Atmospheric windows, greenhouse gases (GHGs), greenhouse effect.
Fri., 27 Mar., Review EM spectrum. Section 8.4: upward cascade of terrestrial radiation. Introduce radiative-convective equilibrium.
Mon., 30 Mar., No class. Instructor in field.
Wed., 01 Apr., Sections 8.4.3, 8.5, and 8.6. Radiative-convective equilibrium; terrestrial radiation at top of atmosphere; begin scattering.
Fri., 03 Apr., Assignment #2 due. Lecture: Scattering: non-dimensional size parameter; Rayleigh and Mie scattering; direct and diffuse components of solar radiation.
Mon., 06 Apr., Classes canceled due to power outage.
Wed., 08 Apr., pyranometer, pyrgeometer, pyrheliometer, continue discussion of processes involved in scattering: reflection, refraction and diffraction.
Fri., 10 Apr., SETs. Return assignment #2. Lecture: refraction, Snel's law, index of refraction, diffraction. Assigned: Problems 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.6, 8.8. Due 4/17.
Mon., 13 Apr., Review Fig. 2.11 on P. 181 of IPCC AR5 and compare with Fig. 8.8 in McIlveen 2e. Then, complex index of refraction, absorption coefficient, and Beer's Law.
Wed., 15 Apr., Review Fig. 8.9 in McIlveen 2e. Then, meridional versus zonal; absorption cross-section, attenuation, extinction coefficient.
Fri., 17 Apr., Homework due. Finish general form of Beer's law; optical depth; transmittance, inverse square law.
Mon., 20 Apr., Lecture: Conduction. Fourier's law of conduction; thermal conductivity. (Section 8.9 in McIlveen 2e.)
Wed., 22 Apr., Why thermal conductivity is critical in surface-atmosphere energy exchange: the viscous sublayer.
Fri., 24 Apr., Surface energy budget over a diurnal cycle: net radiation flux
Mon., 27 Apr., Surface energy budget: partitioning of surface radiative energy surplus or deficit into sensitve and latent fluxes. Begin storage of thermal energy (heat) in soil.
Wed., 29 Apr., Surface energy flux convergence and divergence and temperature change for bare soil and water. Begin discussion of ocean surface.
Fri., 01 May, Surface energy budget over water; evaporation rate; latent heat flux; pan evaporation; begin flux measurements by eddy covariance.
Mon., 04 May, Comparison of molecular and turbulent transport formulations; eddy covariance method; and bulk flux parameterizations.
Wed., 06 May, Discussion of bulk flux parameterization coefficients.
Fri., 08 May, SI radiometry quantities; solid angle; Review for Final exam.
Weds. 13 May, 10:00 - 11:50 AM: Final Comprenshvie Exam

Dr. Mayor's page
CSU Chico Atmospheric Lidar Research Group

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