Natural Sciences 101, Section 5, Fall 2009

Introduction to Meteorology and Climate

Last updated: August 25, 2009 10:30 am

Bring your interwrite PRS^RF clickers to first class

Quick guide to setting up your clicker: word pdf

Class Hours and Location: Section 5: 2:00 PM – 03:15 AM (T,Th) in ILC 120.

Review Sessions on Wednesday before Thursday quiz. (1) Time: TBD PM, Location: TBD. (2) Time: TBD, Location: TBD

Instructor: Dr. E. Robert Kursinski (kursinski@atmo.arizona.edu, PAS 580, 621-2139, 621-6831).

Teaching Assistant: Diana Stovern (dstovern@atmo.arizona.edu, Office: PAS TBD, Telephone: TBD)

Adam Gray (agray@atmo.arizona.edu, Office: PAS TBD, Telephone: TBD)

Office Hours: Dr. Kursinski: W TBD and by appointment. D. Stovern: TBD and by appointment, A. Gray: TBD and by appointment.

Class listserv: Please add yourself to the class listserv in order to receive important email updates outside of class. To add yourself, send a one-line email to the address: listserv@listserv.arizona.edu. The one line should read

Subscribe nats101s5fall09 firstname lastname where you substitute your first and last names for firstname and lastname.

Required Text: Essentials of Meteorology-An Invitation to the Atmosphere, 5^th Ed. (ISBN 0-534-42264-0) by C. Donald Ahrens

Highly Recommended: Study Guide for Essentials of Meteorology, 4^th Ed. (ISBN 0-534-42266-7) by C. Donald Ahrens. Available by order at bookstore or online.

Other Required Material: interwrite PRS^RF clickers, used for daily student-to-instructor feedback, attendance (see below), etc.

Course Description: An introduction to the science of weather and climate, including (time permitting) atmospheric composition, energy balance, wind systems, genesis of fronts and cyclones, precipitation processes, clouds, severe weather, weather prediction, climate and global warming and optical phenomena. Emphasis will be given to phenomena that have strong impacts on human activities and economic livelihood such as tornadoes, hurricanes, El Nino, global warming, ozone depletion, and air pollution. The fundamental importance of physics, chemistry and mathematics to the atmospheric sciences will be explored.

Grading Policy: Final grade will be based on scores from your six best regularly-scheduled quizzes, impromptu “pop quizzes”, a lab and a comprehensive final examination. Scheduled quizzes (~every other Thursday) will consist of approximately 20 total questions that are multiple choice and/or short answer. Extra credit questions may appear on some quizzes. Each quiz will cover new material presented up through the end of the latest lecture period. There will be seven quizzes during the term. The quiz dates are given on the schedule below. Students who arrive late on quiz/exam dates, where late is defined as arriving after the first student turns in her/his quiz/exam, will not be not allowed to take the quiz/exam. Because the lowest score among the seven quizzes will be excluded from the course grade, there will be NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES. Bring your CAT CARD on quiz days!

LABS: Each student will do one lab this semester. There are two labs to choose from, 1. Determine how much oxygen is in the air and 2. Determine the latent heat of the melting of ice. You will take equipment with you for two weeks to make the measurements, then return it, receive more information on how to analyze the results, write up your results and hand them in. We will break the labs up into 3 or 4 groups on each lab so that at any time about 15% of the class is working on Lab 1 and another 15% are working on Lab 2. Further instructions and a more detailed schedule will follow.

Pop-quizzes will consist of one to a few questions. The format of the questions will be primarily multiple choice questions answered via the clickers. They will be added to your total quiz score. As incentive to “keep up with the program”, pop quizzes may include material that is contained in the reading assignment for that day’s lecture.

The final will be Thursday December 17, 2009 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. in ILC 150. No Exceptions. Bring your CAT CARD to the final! The final will consist of multiple-choice questions and/or short answer questions. Many will be taken verbatim from the old quizzes.

The lab will count 20% of your grade. If your score on the final exceeds the average of your six best quizzes, the quizzes will comprise 50% and the final the remaining 30% of your course grade. Otherwise the quizzes will comprise 60% and the final the remaining 20%. Any student with an average of 90% or better on all seven quizzes and their lab will be exempt from the final and will receive an "A'' for the course. There will be NO EXTRA CREDIT PROJECTS. No Exceptions…so plan accordingly!

Course Grading Scale
A	B	C	D	E
90% or higher	89.99-80.0%	79.99-65.0%	64.99-55.0%	Below 55.0%

Expectations: The reading assignments for each day's lecture are listed below. You are expected to complete the assigned reading before the lecture. Please ask questions about the material during lecture, office hours or review sessions. Per University policy, every student is expected to devote a minimum of two hours outside of class to studying, reading, etc. for every contact hour in classroom. See http://catalog.arizona.edu/2004-05/policies/enrpol.htm#unit.

Attendance Policy: Attendance is mandatory. I will tally attendance during the semester. After three unexcused absences, you will be issued an administrative drop (prior to the end of week 8) in accord with University of Arizona (UA) policy. http://catalog.arizona.edu/2009-10/policies/classatten.htm. Bottom line: Just come to class.

Academic Integrity: The UA Code of Academic Integrity, Code of Conduct and Student Code of Conduct are strictly followed. All students are responsible for knowing the codes and abiding by them. http://w3.arizona.edu/~studpubs/policies/ppmainpg.html. You can submit complaints about fellow students online at http://dos.web.arizona.edu/uapolicies/index.html.

Literacy Requirements: There is a science literacy requirement for this course. For instance, we use scientific notation for writing numbers (especially for rather large or small ones). We specify units for all physical quantities (e.g. meters for height, etc.).

Natural Sciences 101, Section 5, Fall 2009

Introduction to Weather and Climate

Schedule of Topics and Links to Lecture Slides

All Subject to Change, So COME to Class!

http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/fall09/nats101s5/lecture01erk.htm

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
Aug 24 – Aug 28	Introduction: Why study the atmosphere? Vertical structure of the atmosphere Notes.ppt Notes.htm
Sep 1 - 5
Sep 8 – Sep 12
Sep 15 – Sep 19
Sep 22 – Sep 26
Sep 29 – Oct 3
Oct 6 – Oct 10
Oct 13 – Oct 17
Oct 20 – Oct 24
Oct 27 – Oct 31
Nov 3 – Nov 7
Nov 10 – Nov 14
Nov 17 – Nov 21
Nov 24 – Nov 28		Thanksgiving
Dec 1 – Dec 5
Dec 8 - 9

Natural Sciences 101, Section 5, Fall 2009

Introduction to Weather and Climate

Required Reading Assignments for Above Lectures

Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere 4^th Ed.

by C. Donald Ahrens

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
Aug 24 – Aug 28		1-22; 435-437 (Appendix A), 441-442 (Appendix C)
Sep 1 - 5		QUIZ 1
Sep 8 – Sep 12
Sep 15 – Sep 19		QUIZ 2
Sep 22 – Sep 26
Sep 29 – Oct 3		QUIZ 3
Oct 6 – Oct 10
Oct 13 – Oct 17		QUIZ 4
Oct 20 – Oct 24
Oct 27 – Oct 31		QUIZ 5
Nov 3 – Nov 7
Nov 10 – Nov 14		QUIZ 6
Nov 17 – Nov 21
Nov 24 – Nov 28		Thanksgiving
Dec 1 – Dec 5		QUIZ 7
Dec 8 - 9

Natural Sciences 101, Section 05, Fall 2009

Introduction to Weather and Climate

Questions for Review to Accompany Lectures and Reading

Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere 4^th Ed.

by C. Donald Ahrens

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
Aug 24 – Aug 28		1.2, 1.3, 1.10, 1.14, 1.18, 1.19, 1.21, 1.22
Sep 1 - 5
Sep 8 – Sep 12
Sep 15 – Sep 19
Sep 22 – Sep 26
Sep 29 – Oct 3
Oct 6 – Oct 10
Oct 13 – Oct 17
Oct 20 – Oct 24
Oct 27 – Oct 31
Nov 3 – Nov 7
Nov 10 – Nov 14
Nov 17 – Nov 21
Nov 24 – Nov 28		Thanksgiving
Dec 1 – Dec 5
Dec 8 - 9