Welcome to the GEOS 501, Dynamic Meteorology, webpage for the spring 2012 semester.
This page will be updated every few days as the course progresses...


Spring 2012 Lectures: MWF, 11:00 - 11:50 AM. Location: Physical Science Building 225

Required Books:
Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics by John Marshall and R. Alan Plumb, MIT.
An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology, 4th Edition by James R. Holton, University of Washington.
Mid-Latitude Atmospheric Dynamics: A First Course by Jon E. Martin, University of Wisconsin

Click here for a PDF of the Syllabus.

1/23 - Lecture: Defn. of dynamic meteorology; fluids; liquid vs. gas; kinetic theory vs continuum; Knudsen number; Fick's law.
1/25 - Lecture: Fourier's Law; 3 types of stress; pressure.
1/27 - Lecture: Partial derivative; shear stress; absolute or dynamic viscosity; stress tensor.
1/30 - Monday: Quiz #1. Lecture: Laminar and turbulent flows; Reynolds decomposition of time-series data; calculation of covariances.
2/01 - Lecture: Reynolds stresses.
2/03 - Lecture: Review of concepts thus far and Newton's laws.
2/06 - Monday: Quiz #2. Lecture: Material derivative; body forces vs. surface forces.
2/08 - Assignment #1 due. Lecture: Begin development of Navier-Stokes eqns: terms resulting from surface forces.
2/10 - Lecture: Continue development of Navier-Stokes for compressible viscous fluids.
2/13 - Monday: Quiz #3. Lecture: Navier-Stokes; terms that result from surface forces. Assign Homework #2.
2/15 - Lecture: Review of vector calc concepts; derive total derivative; use of total derivative concept to solve an example problem.
2/17 - Assignment #2 due. Lecture: Review for exam.
2/20 - Exam #1
2/22 - Lecture: Review of total derivative; 3 forms of Navier-Stokes so far: vector, component, and tensor; Begin body forces: Gravity
2/24 - Lecture: Gravitation; shape of earth; effect of centripetal on gravity; geopotential; geopotential height.
2/27 - Monday: Quiz #4. Lecture: Begin rotation. Review of vector cross-product and determinants.
2/29 - Assignment #1 optional bonus due. Lecture: Begin development of Coriolis term.
3/02 - Lecture: Continue development of Corilois term for vector eqn. of motion; centrifugal force; effective gravity. Begin spherical coordinates.
3/05 - Monday: Quiz #5. Hand out copies of Holton 4e. Lecture: continue spherical coordinates.
3/07 - Lecture: Total differentiation of a vector in a rotating system (Holton 2.1.1)
3/09 - Class cancelled.
3/12 - Monday: Quiz #6. Hand out review sheet for exam. Lecture: Coriolis and curvature terms in component form.
3/14 - Lecture: Derivation of inertial oscillation trajectory; inertial period.
3/16 - Exam #2
3/19 - Spring Break. No class.
3/21 - Spring Break. No class.
3/23 - Spring Break. No class.
3/26 - Lecture: Discussion of force/volume and force/mass; Review of vector and component forms of the equation(s) of motion.
3/28 - Quiz #7. Lecture: horizontal deflections due to Coroilis; Scale analysis for horizontal eqns of motion. Geostrophic wind.
3/30 - Cesar Chavez Day. No class.
4/02 - Assignment #4 due. Hand out copies of Jon Martin's book. Lecture: Begin thickness and thermal wind.
4/04 - Quiz #8. Lecture: Continue thickness and thermal wind.
4/06 - Lecture: Scale analysis of vertical eqn of motion; hydrostatic eqn; ideal gas law; derivation of hypsometric eqn.
4/09 - Quiz #9. Lecture: Vector and component forms of geostrophic wind eqn. Derivaton of the thermal wind eqn.
4/11 - Lecture: Various forms of thermal wind eqn.; discussion of pressure, thickness, and thermal wind.
4/13 - Lecture: Natural coordinates; thermal wind in natural coordinates; Assignment #5 given.
4/16 - Monday: Quiz #10. Lecture: Carl-Gustav Rossby, Rossby wave, Rossby number, vorticity.
4/18 - Assignment #5 due. Lecture: relative vorticity, absolute vorticity, potential vorticity.
4/20 - Lecture: Potential vorticity, beta plane approximation, f-plane approximation, Rossby parameter, potential temperature.
4/23 - Monday: Exam #3
4/25 - Lecture: Conservation of absolute vorticity; Rossby wave phase speed.
4/27 - Lecture: Primitive equations; Reynolds averaging; discussion of Rossby waves and modeling, pattern predictability, statistical results from pattern forecasts.
4/30 - Lecture: Boussinesq approximation; topographically forced Rossby waves.
5/02 - Lecture: Barotropic atmosphere; Barotropic instability; Taylor-Proudman theorem; Taylor-Proudman columns
5/04 - Lecture: Taylor-Proudman columns; Vagn Walfrid Ekman; Ekman spiral & Ekman layer in atmosphere and ocean, Ekman pumping
5/07 - Begin review week. Temporary room change.
5/09 - Review week.
5/11 - End review week.
5/14 - Monday, Final Exam

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

This page updated 2/6/2012.