NATS101 Intro to Weather and Climate

Natural Sciences 101, Section 5, Fall 2009

Introduction to Meteorology and Climate

Last updated: August 23, 2009 06:00 pm

Still a few trickling in on the Class LISTSERV

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) TBD PM: TBD. (2) TBD: 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 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 nats101s5 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: 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”, and a comprehensive final examination. Scheduled quizzes 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!

Pop-quizzes will consist of 1 or 2 questions. The format of the questions will be same as for the regularly-scheduled quizzes: multiple choice and/or short answer questions. They will count the same as regular quiz questions, and 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. Answers will only be accepted the clickers!

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. Some will be taken verbatim from the old quizzes. If your score on the final exceeds the average of your six best quizzes, the quizzes will comprise 60% and the final the remaining 40% of your course grade. Otherwise the quizzes will comprise 75% and the final the remaining 25%. Any student with an average of 90% or better on all seven quizzes 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/2005-06/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.).

Course Withdrawal: Last day to drop the course without it appearing on your record is September 14, 2007. Last day to drop the course with a "W'' grade is October 12, 2007. To receive a W, your average grade at the time you drop must equal or exceed 55%.

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!

Week

Tuesday

Thursday

Aug 24 – Aug 28

Introduction:

Why study the atmosphere?

Vertical structure of the atmosphere

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
Aug 24 – Aug 28		1-22, A: 425-427, C: 431-432
Sep 1 - 5	25-34	35-42, QUIZ 1
Sep 8 – Sep 12	42-52, 55-64	77-89, B: 430, D: 433-436
Sep 15 – Sep 19	89-100	100-108, QUIZ 2
Sep 22 – Sep 26	109-118	121-134, 141-148
Sep 29 – Oct 3	148-149 include Focus on Special Topic: Isobaric Maps	150-157, QUIZ 3
Oct 6 – Oct 10	155-158	167-181
Oct 13 – Oct 17	181-189, 343-349	189-197, QUIZ 4
Oct 20 – Oct 24	201-212	212-219
Oct 27 – Oct 31	219-228, 231-248	QUIZ 5
Nov 3 – Nov 7	373 - 399	NY Times 10/23/06 J. Hansen 2005 article
Nov 10 – Nov 14	Global Warming Kenya NY Times 11/05/06 Antarctic Ice Shelf Research Budgets Falling Climate Change in West Kenya Climate Meeting Future GHG levels Scientists Muzzled Utah Water Issues Warming & Economy Northwest Passage	QUIZ 6
Nov 17 – Nov 21	231-254	257-271
Nov 24 – Nov 28	272-276
Dec 1 – Dec 5	276-291	292-300, QUIZ 7
Dec 8 - 9	300-315

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
Aug 24 – Aug 28		Pg 22: 1.2, 3, 10, 14
Sep 1 - 5	2.1-2.4, 2.7, 2.9,2.10	2.11,2.12
Sep 8 – Sep 12	2.15, 2.16, 2.18, 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 3.6, 3.14	4.1, 4.2, 4.5, 4.6, 4.9, 4.10
Sep 15 – Sep 19	4.3, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16	See review for Quiz 2
Sep 22 – Sep 26	5.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7	5.14, 16, 17, 6.1, 7, 8
Sep 29 – Oct 3	6.9, 6.10, 6.12, 6.13, 6.17, 6.19, 6.22
Oct 6 – Oct 10	6.23, 6.24	7.3, 7.4, 7.5
Oct 13 – Oct 17	7.11, 7.12, 7.13	7.17, 7.18
Oct 20 – Oct 24	8.1, 8.11	8.12, 8.13
Oct 27 – Oct 31	8.14, 8.15, 8.17
Nov 3 – Nov 7	14.1, 14.3, 14.5, 14.8, 14.11
Nov 10 – Nov 14	14.12-14.20
Nov 17 – Nov 21	9.3-6, 9.11, 9.15, 9.18	10.1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16
Nov 24 – Nov 28	10.17-10.20
Dec 1 – Dec 5	10.21-10.29
Dec 8 - 9	11.1-11.19