ATMO 441a/551a
Syllabus
Topics and their presentation order are
subject to reasonable change. There is insufficient time to cover every topic,
so some will be skipped or treated lightly. What appears in red is the plan. Material
from Holton chapters 1-4 will be covered initially. An overview of chapter 5
and most of chapters 6 and 7 will likely follow. Tidbits from chapters 8 and 12 could follow, time permitting.
Any other material is highly unlikely.
1. Introduction (8-22
to 9-4)
Units and scale analysis
Fundamental forces
Noninertial reference frames
and `apparent' forces
Structure of the static
atmosphere
2. The basic
conservation laws
Total differentiation
Momentum equation in rotating
coordinates
Orthogonal curvilinear
coordinates
Scale analysis
Continuity equation
Thermodynamic energy equation
Thermodynamics of the dry
atmosphere
Thermodynamics of moist air
3. Elementary
applications of the basic equations
Basic equations in isobaric
coordinates
Balanced flows
Trajectories and streamlines
Thermal wind
Vertical motion
Surface pressure tendency
4. Circulation and
vorticity
Circulation theorem
Vorticity
Potential vorticity
Vorticity equation
Barotropic (Rossby) potential
vorticity equation
Baroclinic (Ertel) potential vorticity equation
5. Planetary boundary
layer
Reynolds averaging and scale
separation
Turbulent motions and eddy
kinetic energy
Momentum equations and the
Ekman layer
Secondary circulation and
spin down
6. Synoptic-scale
motions: quasi-geostrophic theory
Quasi-geostrophic
approximations
Quasi-geostrophic height
tendency equation
Pseudo potential vorticity
Quasi-geostrophic omega
equation (vertical velocity)
Q-vector
7. Atmospheric
oscillations: linear perturbation theory
Linearization (perturbation
method)
Kinematics of waves
Simple wave types (acoustic,
shallow water waves)
Internal gravity (buoyancy)
waves
Inertio-gravity
waves
Rossby waves
Adjustment to geostrophic
balance
Nonlinear behavior
8. Synoptic-scale
motions: baroclinic Instability
Normal mode analysis for
2-layer model
Energetics
of baroclinic waves
Rayleigh Theorem
Eady
Waves
Neutral modes and
downstream development
9. Mesoscale
Circulations
10. Atmospheric
General Circulation
11. Tropical dynamics
Scale analysis of
large-scale tropical motions
Condensation heating
Equatorial wave theory
Steady forced equatorial
motions
12. Middle-atmosphere dynamics
Structure and circulation of the middle atmosphere
Zonal mean circulation of the middle atmosphere
Vertically propagating waves
Sudden stratospheric warmings
Waves in the equatorial stratosphere
Quasi-biennial oscillation
13. Numerical
Modeling and Prediction