Announcements:

Thursday, May 9:

Class grades including the final exam are posted under the grades link. Please check to make sure your grade is correct. Please let me know if there are any mistakes/problems ASAP. I will wait until tomorrow to send in official grades. I wish you all a nice summer!

Friday, May 3:

I just realized that I have given you the wrong date for the final exam. The final should be from 10:30 - 12:30 on Wednesday, May 8, not on Monday, May 6. I think the classroom will be open on Monday from 10:30 - 12:30, so if you want to take the exam Monday, you still can as long as there is not another class in the classroom. If you would rather take the exam at its regularly scheduled time, then come to the classroom on Wednesday at 10:30. I am sorry for this mistake.

Monday, April 29:

The class grades have been updated under the grades link. Explanation of columns: HW Ave is your homework average (sum of homeworks/4); Class Ave is your weighted class average [(sum HW Ave, Term EC, Paper, Exams)/5]; Letter is the letter grade you will get in the class if you do not take the final exam; To raise Grade is the score you need on the final exam to raise your letter grade by one letter. The gradescale is A(88), B(77), C(65), D(50), E(<50). The final exam is completely optional. If you take the final exam, it will replace the lowest of you three exam scores, even if it is lower.

Tuesday, April 23:

Exam 3 is Friday. I will be in the classroom by 11:30. You can begin the exam early, anytime after 11:30. There is another class in the same room at 1:00. We will need to be out of the room before that, so you will not be able to stay after class to work on your exam. This is meant for students who are worried about having enough time to complete the exam. If you do not want to come early or cannot make it early that is fine, you can start the exam when you arrive.

Friday, April 12:

The last homework, Global Warming Essay, is posted. A printed copy of the assignment is due in class on Monday, April 22.

Monday, April 1:

Grades for homework 4 and exam 2 are posted. The exams will be returned to you in class on Wednesday.

Friday, March 22:

I placed a topic outline for exam 2 under the Old Exams link.

Wednesday, March 20:

The due date for homework 4 has been moved back to Monday, March 25.

Monday, March 11:

I am posting grades for the term paper. You need to turn in a hard copy of the paper as well as submit (upload) a copy to turnitin.com. Until you do both, you will not be given a grade for your paper. There is a late submission folder on turnitin.com for those who did not submit a copy of their paper.

Thursday, February 28:

There will be no class on Friday, March 8.

Wednesday, February 27:

A reminder that the Cap and Trade term paper is due in class next week on Wednesday, March 6. Instructions for how to upload a copy of your term paper to turnitin.com are provided under the homework link. This must be done by Friday, March 8, and counts as part of your grade.

Thursday, February 21:

Homework assignment 4 is available under the homework link. You may ask quesions about the assignment during class. We have already covered the material necessary to answer most of the questions. The assignment is not due until after spring break so as not to interfere with your term paper assignment. However, I strongly suggest that you do not wait until after spring break to begin working on the homework.

Friday, February 8:

I placed a topic breakdown for the questions on exam 1 under the Old Exams Link.

Thursday, January 31:

Homework assignment 3 is available under the homework link. You may ask quesions about the assignment during class. In addition, all the maps needed to complete homework #2 are now available.

Tuesday, January 22:

Homework assignment 2 is available under the homework link. Please read it over. You may ask quesions about the assignment during class.

Thursday, January 17:

The first grade roster is posted under the Grades link. This includes homework 1 submissions as of 5 PM today. Please make sure you can find your class ID. If you forgot your ID or wish to change it, please send me and email. Two students chose meow, which may be confusing, although one is capitalized. There are 16 students registered for the class who have not submitted homework 1.

Thursday, January 10:

The class will now meet in Harvill 210

Wednesday, January 9:

Welcome to Atmospheric Sciences 336. Please periodically check this area for class announcements.

Course Objectives:

This course examines basic weather phenomena, climate variability and climate change, and their associated effects on people. The possibility and implications of human-caused changes in the climate system are also discussed.

Web page:

http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/spring13/atmo336/home.html

Course Hours/Location:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday   12:00 - 12:50  
Harvill Building, Room 210.

Instructor:

Dr. Dale Ward, Lecturer / Research Scientist
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Email: ward@atmo.arizona.edu (Best way to contact me)
Office: Physics and Atmospheric Sciences (PAS) Building, Room 566D.
Office Hours: Thursdays 1PM - 2PM or by appointment.

Teaching Assistant:

Megan Jares
Email: jares@atmo.arizona.edu
Office: Physics and Atmospheric Sciences (PAS) Building, Room 526
Office Hours: Mondays 4PM - 5PM or by appointment.

Class Notes / Important Dates:

There is no textbook for this course. Lectures will be based on the reading material posted under the Lectures Link and additional material that will be distributed during lectrues throughout the semester. I expect that each student read over the relevant reading material before the lecture is presented in class. This is important because the you will be famaliar with what I discuss in lecture and better able to understand it.

Important dates, such as homework deadlines, exam dates, etc., will be posted in the class calendar.

Academic Integrity:

The University of Arizona's Code of Academic Integrity, Code of Conduct, and Student Code of Conduct will be strictly followed. All students are responsible for knowing the codes and abiding by them. See http://web.arizona.edu/~dos/uapolicies. You can submit complaints about fellow students online at http://dos.web.arizona.edu/uapolicies/index.html. Your submission will be completely anonymous and I will investigate the allegations.

Accessibility and Accomodations:

It is the University's goal that learning experiences be as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability, please let me know immediately so that we can discuss options. You are also welcome to contact Disability Resources (520-621-3268) to establish reasonable accommodations.

Grading:

Homework:

Homework assignments will be given periodically during the semester. These will consist of short written papers and brief problem sets. The sum total of all homework accounts for 20% of your final grade. Individual homework assignments may not be weighted equally in determining your overall class homework grade. Expect about four homeworks to be assigned during the semester (not including the simple homework #1, which is due after the first week of class).

Your homework assignments will be graded on the quality and clarity of your English as well as their content. No cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, or plagiarism will be tolerated (see University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity). The term paper and perhaps some of the homework assignments will be filtered through Turnitin.

All homework assignments will be available on the class web page. Homework assignments turned in late will incur a grade reduction of 10% per day.

Term Paper:

A term paper on the subject of the United States adopting a carbon cap and trade policy will be required for each student. Information about the paper is available under the homework link . I will discuss the term paper in class on Wednesday, January 16. Please read over the assignment sometime before coming to class on January 16.

The term paper will account for 20% of your final class grade. It is due on March 6, which is just before spring break and approximately the midway point in the semester. I strongly suggest that you begin to work on your paper long before the due date. The paper accounts for a significant portion of your final grade. As an incentive to begin early, there is an optional assignment, which is due on January 30, in which I ask you to specify your topic and provide a preliminary list of references. You can earn up to 5% extra credit on your term paper for this assignment. Information is available under the homework link .

Exams:

There will be 3 in-class exams and a final exam. Exam grades account for 60% of your final grade. Each in-class exam will account for 20% of your final grade. The exams will consist of a mixture of multiple choice and short answer questions. The in-class exams are not comprehensive in that the questions concentrate on material covered since the last exam. However, it is expected that you are familiar with some of the basic concepts covered early in the semester.

Questions from previous exams will be made available on the class web pages.

Final exam is Monday, May 6 from 10:30 - 12:30 in the regular classroom, HARVILL 210.

Exam Policy:

You are expected to study and understand material covered in class during lecture as well as to read the relevant material from the class notes. Exam questions will be taken from both the in-class lectures and the reading material included in the class web pages.

Please contact the instructor (preferrably via e-mail) as soon as possible if for an unexpected reason you are unable to be in class for an exam. A make-up exam will be arranged with sufficient proof. No make-up exam will be given unless you notify the instructor BEFORE missing the exam in class. In general, I would prefer make-up exams to be taken before the exam is given in class.

Grade Scale:

Your final grade will be curved and therefore depends on everybody else's grades. However, the grade scale will not be any more difficult than A(90%); B(80%); C(70%); D(60%).