Announcements:

Monday, May 11:

Final Class Grades including the final exam are posted. Please check over your grade. I will wait a day or two before submitting official grades. I wish all of you a nice summer break.

Sunday, May 3:

Grades not including the optional final exam are posted. Your letter grade is the grade you will get in the class if you do not take the final exam. The next column tells you what you would need to score on the final exam to raise your grade one letter higher than it currently shows. The letter grade scale is based on the class average, which is your weighted class average without the final exam. The scale is A (88%), B (77%), C (65%), D (50%), E (<50%). The grade scale does not change if you take the final exam. Your homework average is the sum of the five homework soores divided by 400. This counts 24% of your weighted class average. The paper is the research paper and counts for 16% of your weighted class average. Each of the 4 exams counts for 15% of your weighted class average. Please read the course information below on this page to see how taking the final exam will impact your grade.

If you are satisified with your grade and do not want to take the final exam, then there is no need for you to come to class, although you may wish to pick up your graded material. If you have any questions about the grading or are considering taking the final exam, then you should come to class this week as I will discuss how to prepare for the final and review. The final is comprehensive and will be the same format as the previous exams. Please bring your previous exams with you to class.

Tuesday, April 28:

This is a reminder that there is a practice quiz on D2L concerning seasonal changes, which includes example calculations of solar angle at noon and variations in the length of day for different latitudes and times of the year. Each time you submit the quiz, you are provided with an explanation for the answers. This should help to prepare you for similar questions on the fourth exam.

Wednesday, April 22:

(1) Students who come to class on Monday, April 27 and fill out the course evaluation will receive 4 points extra credit on their highest exam score. You are expected to turn in your global warming essay on Monday, so plan on staying for the short lecture and course evaluation to get the extra credit.

(2) There is a practice quiz on D2L for seasonal changes, which contains questions and answers on topics that include the solar declination, calculations of the solar angle at noon, and relative variations in length of day during the year.

Thursday, April 16:

Homework #5 (Global Warming Essay) is posted under the "homework" link. This will be the last homework assignment. I would prefer that you wait until after next Monday's lecture (April 20) before starting to write your paper when I will finish the material on possible climate change due to human emissions of greenhouse gases and talk about the paper. The paper is due in class on Monday, April 27.

Tuesday, April 7:

Grades for the paper revisions have been posted. If your score is red, it means that I did not get a revision from you, even though one was expected based on your score on the first submission. If you have an 'X', it means that I have a graded revision, but am waiting for you to upload a copy of your revised paper to the D2L dropbox.

Friday, April 3:

A topic outline for exam 3 as well as the relevant questions from last year's exams are posted under the Old Exams link to help you prepare for the exam on Wednesday.

Tuesday, March 3:

The research papers will be returned to you this week. Comments about your papers are provided in D2L in the feedback box under the dropbox for this assignment as well as handwritten on your submitted hardcopies. Instructions for the revision and the due date are posted under the homework link. You are expected to turn in a printed hardcopy of the revised paper as well as the marked up hardcopy of your original paper in class. In addition, you must upload an electronic copy of the revised paper to the same D2L dropbox that you used for your first draft.

Wednesday, February 18:

Homework #4 is posted under the "homework" link. Please read over the assignment. You should begin the assignment as soon as you can. We have already covered material necessary to complete questions 1 - 5. We will cover the material necessary to complete the remaining questions by early next week. You are expected to turn in a hard copy in class on the due date. There is no D2l component for this homework.

Monday, February 16:

A practice "quiz" is available on D2l that contains examples for calculations of relative humidity and dew point temperature. It also has two examples for filling in stability tables. After you submit your quiz, you will have access to a submission view showing the answers with explanations.

Friday, February 13:

Grades for exam 1 have been posted.

Monday, February 9:

The due date for homework #3 has been changed to midnight tomorrow, Tuesday, February 10. Please read the announcement below about the quiz submission. In addition to what it says below, it is possible that the order of the answers presented on multiple choice questions will change each time you begin a new attempt. The questions themselves will not change. Therefore, make sure you actually select the right answer on attempts 2 and 3 and do not just copy the letter answer from your previous try.

Thursday, February 5:

The instructions for homework 3, which is provided as a quiz on D2l, say that you can submit the homework (quiz) up to three times. After submissions 1 and 2, you should be able to see the score you received on the autograded questions. To do this go to the quizzes section. There should be a downward pointing triangle next to the quiz for homework 3. Click on the triangle and select the submission view for submission 1 or 2. You should see the questions, your answers, and your score and out of score for the multiple choice and fill in the blank questions. There will be zeros for the long answer questions, since those are not autograded. You can try to fix the questions you got wrong and resubmit.

There is an issue, however, because D2l does not save your answers from the previous attempt. So on your second and third attempts, you begin with a blank quiz. You need to copy and paste your answers to the long answer questions from your first submission view into your final submission. Your final submission will be graded, so make sure you have answers filled in for all the parts on the last submission you make. You should be able to copy and paste. Just open your submission view at the same time as your next quiz attempt and copy your long answers to the lastest quiz. If the keys that you normally use for copy and paste do not work, try using {control}c to copy and {control}v to paste. I found that to work on D2l with several different browsers. Sorry about the inconvenience. I am sometimes surprised how D2l works.

Thursday, January 22:

Homework #2 is posted under the "homework" link. Please read over the assignment. You should begin the assignment as soon as you can. Much of it can be done immediately. You may ask questions about the homework in class before lecture begins.

The first Grades Roster has been posted under the "grades" link. Make sure you can find the class ID you selected. If you forgot your ID or want to change it, please send me an email. There are currently 10 students registered for the class who have not completed homework #1. If you are one of those students, please submit homework 1 as soon as possible.

Thursday, January 15:

Homework #3 has been placed on the course D2L pages under the "quizzes" link. Please login the the course D2L pages to make sure you can find it. The homework is based on the reading material that will be covered on exam 1. You may ask questions about homeworks in class before the regular lecture begins. Note that homework #2 has not be assigned yet.

Wednesday, January 14:

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:

Most of the course material is located at

http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/spring15/atmo336/home.html

There will also be material placed on D2L, so you should login to the D2L pages for this class.

Course Hours/Location:

Monday, Wednesday, & Friday   10:00 - 10:50  
Education Building (EDUC), Room 353.

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:

Matthew King
Email: making@atmo.arizona.edu
Office: Physics and Atmospheric Sciences (PAS) Building
Office Hours: 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 lectures 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. Please see Academic Integrity Policies for University of Arizona Students.

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 24% of your final grade. Individual homework assignments may not be weighted equally in determining your overall class homework grade. Expect about 4-5 homeworks to be assigned during the semester (not including the simple homework #1, which is due after the first week of class). Some of the homework assignments will be given as quizzes on the class D2L pages.

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 research paper and perhaps some of the homework assignments will be filtered through Turnitin.

The homework link on this page will contain instructions for all homework assignments and let you know if there are active D2L homework assignments. Homework assignments turned in late will incur a grade reduction of 10% per day.

Research Paper:

A short research paper on the subject of carbon cap and trade will be required for each student. Information about the paper is available under the homework link . I will discuss the research paper in lecture during the second week of classes. Please read over the assignment sometime before that.

The research paper will account for 16% of your final class grade. It is due on or before February 20, which is after the fifth week of the semester. We will try to return the papers with feedback within three weeks or just prior to spring break. Depending on your initial grade and feedback, you will be given one chance to revise your paper and resubmit for a higher grade. Expect to have 2-3 weeks to revise your paper, if necessary. 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.

Exams:

There will be 4 in-class exams and a final exam. Exam grades account for 60% of your final grade. Each in-class exam will account for 15% 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 Friday, May 8 from 10:30 - 12:30 in the regular classroom, EDUC 353.

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%).