Lecture Notes


Tue., Dec. 4 - Hurricanes, information about the Final Exam, last day of classes
Thu., Nov. 29 - Quiz #4
Tue., Nov. 27 - Lightning
Tue., Nov. 20 - Tornadoes

Thu., Nov. 15 - Thunderstorms, microbursts
Tue., Nov. 13 - Draining sinks, thermal circulations, one- and 3-cell models of global scale circulation
Thu., Nov. 8 - Coriolis force, upper level winds, surface winds
Tue., Nov. 6 - Upper level charts, Newton's laws of motion, pressure gradient force

Thu., Nov. 1 - Quiz #3
Tue., Oct. 30 - Cold clouds, ice crystal process, types of precipitation, weather radar
Thu., Oct. 25 - 10 cloud types, precipitation processes, collision-coalescence process
Tue., Oct. 23 - Scattering of light, haze and fog, cloud in a bottle, cloud identification and classification, satellite photographs
Thu., Oct. 18 - Humidity problem examples, drying moist air, rain shadow effect, measuring humidity, dew and frost,
condensation nuclei
Controls of Temperature
Tue., Oct. 16 - Controls of temperature, Pohnpei island, humidity variables introduction, energy in sunlight, water vapor saturation
Sun path diagrams - Path of the sun in the sky on the equinoxes and solstices

Thu., Oct. 11 - Quiz #2
Tue., Oct. 09 - Causes of the seasons,
Thu., Oct. 04 - Filtering effect of the atmosphere, atmospheric greenhouse effect, effects of clouds
Tue., Oct. 02 - Electromagnetic spectrum, emission rules, radiative equilibrium
Thu., Sep. 27 - Latent heat energy transport, static electricity, electromagnetic radiation
Tue., Sep. 25 -
Chap. 2 intro., energy, temperature, heat, specific heat, temperature scales,
conduction, convection, wind chill

Thu., Sep. 20 - Quiz #1
Tue., Sep. 18 - Vertical forces on air parcels, upper-level charts
Thu., Sep. 13 - Pressure gradient & wind speed, warm & cold fronts, ideal gas law, Charles' Law
Tue., Sep. 11 - Station model notation, surface weather maps, ideal gas law
Thu., Sep. 6 - Mercury barometer, average and extreme sea level pressures, Auguste Piccard's trip to the
stratosphere
Tue., Sep. 4 - Sea level pressure, pressure and density changes with altitude, upward pressure force demonstration
Thu., Aug. 30 - Ozone layer thinning, ozone hole, acid rain, troposphere & stratosphere; mass, weight & density
Tue. Aug. 28 - Carbon monoxide, tropospheric ozone and photochemical smog, sulfur dioxide, stratospheric ozone
Thu. Aug. 23 -
Greenhouse gases and air pollutants, CO2 and global warming, Experiment #1
Tue. Aug. 21 - First day of classes, composition of the atmosphere, dew point temperature