Announcements:

Monday, May 9:

Final class grades including the final exam are posted under the Grades link. Please check your grade. If you see a problem let me know ASAP, as I will submit official grades in a couple of days. I wish you all a nice summer break!

Saturday, April 30:

Class Grades not including the final exam are posted under the Grades link. The letter grade shown is the grade you will get in the class if you do not take the optional final exam. The grade is based on your weighted class average using the gradescale A: 88 and higher, B: 77 and higher, C: 66 and higher, D: 53 and higher, E: lower than 53. The score shown in the column "To Raise Grade" tells you what you need to score on the final exam to raise your letter grade one letter higher than is currently shown. You can scroll down on this page to see discussion of how the optional final exam affects your class grade. If you have any questions about the grading or the final exam, then please ask them in class on Monday. After discussing the grades at the beginning of class on Monday, we will spend the remainder of Monday and Wednesday's class preparing for the final exam. I suggest that you bring your four inclass exams with you to class next week. If you are satisfied with your grade and have no interest in taking the final exam, then you do not need to attend class next week and I wish you a nice summer.

Tuesday, April 22:

Grades for the Global Warming Opinion Essay are posted under the Grades link.

Thursday, April 21:

A practice quiz covering reading the graph of solar declination, calculation of solar angle at noon, and determining the relative length of day at different latitudes has been placed on the course D2L pages under the quizzes link.

Monday, April 18:

Homework #4, Global Warming Essay is posted under the Homework Tab. This is the last homework assignment for the semester. It is due in class next Monday, April 25.

Thursday, March 31:

Exam 3 is next Wednesday. Monday's class will be a review for the exam. It would be to your benefit to begin studying for the exam, before coming to class on Monday. You can use last year's exam 3 and the topic breakdown for the questions for this year's exam 3, which are both available under the Old Exams link.

Tuesday, March 22:

Grades for the research paper are posted under the Grades link. If you have an 'X' for a grade, it means that you have not uploaded your paper to the class D2L website. You will not get a grade for the paper until this is completed. The last column in the grade sheet is your current weighted class average. At this point 63% of the total class grade has been completed. Keep in mind that the final exam can be used to replace your lowest exam score, which can significantly increase your weighted class average, especially if you did poorly on an exam.

Monday, February 29:

A breakdown of the exam 2 questions by topic is available under the Old Exams link.

Thursday, February 18:

Homework #3, Humidity, Phase Change, and Stability Problems has been posted under the Homework link. The homework is due in class on Wednesday, March 2, which is the class before the second exam. You may ask questions about the homework problems at the beginning of each class period.

In addition, a new practice quiz covering stability tables has been placed on the course D2L pages. The practice quizzes may help you to understand how to answer some of the homework questions.

Friday, February 12:

An analysis guide for the 500 mb homework (homework #1) has been placed under the Homework link.

Thursday, February 11:

A practice quiz covering relative humidity and dew point temperature calculations has been placed on the course D2L pages under the quizzes link.

Thursday, February 11:

Exam 1 grades are posted under the Grades link. You can pick up your graded exam in class tomorrow.

Friday, February 5:

If you submitted the optional research paper topic to D2L, I have provided feedback for you on D2L. You should read the feedback before working further on your paper. In some cases, the topic statement is unacceptable and you are asked to resubmit a revised topic statement.

Thursday, February 4:

A breakdown of the number of questions on exam 1 by topic has been placed under the Old Exams link. Also remember that there are several practice quizzes covering some of the exam 1 material available on D2L.

Monday, February 1:

All of the 500 mb maps required to complete Homework #1 are available.

Thursday, January 28:

Homework #2, Properties of Gases, Vertical Structure, Winds, and Phase Change Problems has been placed under the homework link. The homework is due on the day of the first exam, Wednesday, February 10. You need to be working on this homework at the same time you are working on homework #1, the 500 mb homework. By the end of lecture tomorrow, we will have covered the material for questions 1 - 4. We will cover the material for the remaining problems during lecture next week.

Three new practice quizzes for exam 1 material have been placed on D2L. The quizzes cover skew-T diagrams, surface pressure and winds, and phase changes of water. The skew-T practice quiz will help you to answer one of the homework problems. We will cover the topics of the practice quizzes during lecture next week. Practice quizzes can be used as self-evaluation and learning exercises to help you prepare for some of the material covered on the first exam. The quizzes carry no point value and are not required.

Monday, January 25:

The first grades roster is 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 the class registration form. If you are one of those students, please submit the class registration form as soon as possible.

Friday, January 22:

Homework #1, 500 mb map analysis and forecasting has beeen placed under the homework link. You should read the assignment and begin working on it. You may ask questions about the homework in class next week.

Tuesday, January 19:

The classroom for the course has been changed to ILC 125. This was not my decision. Our class was too small to stay in the original classroom. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Wednesday, January 13:

A practice quiz covering 500 mb maps is available on D2L. This is a self-evaluation and learning exercise to help you prepare for some of the material covered on the first exam. The quiz carries no point value and is not required.

Wednesday, January 13:

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. A more detailed description of the course and specific learning ojectives is provided in the course syllabus.

Web page:

Most of the course material will be placed on the course web pages, home is http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/spring16/atmo336/home.html There will also be a few activities done on the course D2L pages. All students registered for this course should have access to the D2L page for ATMO336, Section 001.

Course Hours/Location:

Monday, Wednesday, & Friday   10:00 - 10:50  
Integrated Learning Center (ILC) Building, Room 125.
Link to Campus Map

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. Link to Campus Map
Office Hours: Tuesday 1 - 2 PM or by appointment.

Teaching Assistants:

Thomas Whipple
Email: twhipple@email.arizona.edu
Office: Harshbarger Building, Room 228B. Link to Campus Map
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 1 - 2 PM or by appointment.

Raj Mukherjee
Email: rajarshi316@email.arizona.edu
Office: Physics and Atmospheric Sciences (PAS) Building, Room 476
Office Hours: Friday 2 - 3 PM 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. 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 or pregnency, 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/Assignmnets:

Class Grades will be posted under the grades link as a spreadsheet. Currently the link points to the gradesheet from a previous class. You will will choose a class ID that will be known only to you so that you can see your grades. There is a Class Registration form posted under the homework link. You will be given 2.5% extra credit on your semester homework score for submitting the form by the due date. If you do not submit a form, there will be a blank space in the Class ID column for your grade row.

Please see the course syllabus for more detail about assignments and grading.

Homework:

Four homework assignments will be given periodically during the semester. The first is a 500 mb forecasting assignment, which will be available during the second week of the semester and due around February 4. The next two homework assignments will be short problem sets that may include simple calculations and will be due around February 10 and March 2. The last homework assignment is a short opinion essay on global warming, which will be due around April 25. The sum of all four homework assignments is worth 20% of your final class grade. A breakdown is given below.

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. Homework assignments turned in late will incur a grade reduction of 10% per day.

All homework assignments will be available on the class web page. You will be notified in class and with an announcement on the class homepage when homework assignments are posted. You will be given plenty of time to complete assignments.

Research Paper:

A research paper on the subject of the United States adopting an emission control policy will be required for each student. Information about the paper is available under the homework link . I will discuss the research paper in class during the second week of the semester. Please read over the assignment sometime before that.

The research paper will account for 20% of your final class grade. It is due on or before March 9, which is during the week before spring break. 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 by February 3, in which I ask you to specify your topic and provide a few ideas for arguments on both sides of your issue or topic question. You can earn up to 5% extra credit on your research paper for this assignment. Information is available under the homework link .

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. Exam dates are shown in the class calendar.

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

Final exam is Friday, May 6 from 10:30 - 12:30 in the regular classroom, ILC 125.

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%).