Courses

ATMO 105 Introductory Meteorology (2-5 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: A lecture and laboratory course introducing students to the atmospheric environment in which we live. Designed to give a better understanding of clouds, precipitation, wind systems, tornadoes, jet streams, weather forecasting, and our atmosphere in general.

• Text: C. Donald Ahrens, Meteorology Today: The Atmosphere in Action.

              ATMO 220 Unusual Weather (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: An introductory lecture course which surveys the general principles and techniques of atmospheric science and illustrates their application through discussions of unusual weather phenomena such as blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, and chinooks, of the effects of air pollution on weather, and of intentional human alteration of the atmosphere.

ATMO 321  Climate and Climate Change (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: A lecture course designed to introduce students to the nature of Earth's physical climate.  Topics include the basic scientific concepts underlying our understanding of our climate system with emphasis on energy and water balances and their roles in evaluating climate change, the impact of climate on living organisms and the human environment, and past and potential future climates and their impacts on humans will be evaluated.

• Text:  William F. Ruddiman (2000).  Earth's Climate:  Past and Future.

ATMO 505 Weather Forecasting (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: A lecture and laboratory course on the theory and techniques of weather forecasting. Students will receive instruction on numerical weather prediction, map analysis and interpretation techniques. Current data, 24 hr, 48 hr, 3 and 5 day numerical--forecasts received from the National Meteorological Center will be interpreted and modified in the laboratory to make daily weather forecasts.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 105 and 220.

• Succeeding Courses: ATMO 605 and 630.

• Text: Dusan Djuric (1994), Weather Analysis.

ATMO 521 Microclimatology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: This course will acquaint the student with the earth--atmosphere boundary layer environment. Energy and mass exchanges will be used to examine natural and altered boundary layer climate. The effect of the nature of the earth's surface on the boundary layer will be discussed. Also included are the influence of atmospheric properties on plants and animals.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 105, MATH 121 or 116

• Succeeding Courses: None

• Text: T.R. Oke (1987), Boundary Layer Climates.

• Suggested Syllabus: Scales of motion, boundary layer structure, surface energy budget, winds in the boundary layer, climates over non-vegetated surfaces, effects of vegetation, climates of animals, nonuniform terrain, human effects on microclimate.

          ATMO 525 Air Pollution Meteorology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: A junior or senior level course dealing with the air pollution problem. Sources of pollutants in the atmosphere will be discussed and atmospheric processes and conditions related to pollution episodes will be studied. Pollution concentrations downwind from sources will be studied in relationship to national primary standards. Methods of calculating pollution concentrations from standard mathematical models will be included.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 105, MATH 121, and EECS 138.

• Succeeding Courses: None

• Text: Eagleman (1991), Air Pollution Meteorology.

• Suggested Syllabus: The air pollution problem, pollution history and episodes, calculating mixing depth and air pollution potential, air quality and chemistry (their effects on inert material, plants, and animals), air quality standards and measurements, atmospheric effects, radiation and pollution, temperature distributions and stability, atmospheric precipitation, horizontal wind and pollution, air masses, storms and general circulation, effects of pollutants on the atmosphere, calculating air pollution levels, meteorological and pollution instruments, sources and air pollution instruments, sources and air pollution climatology, urban climatology, modification of the troposphere and stratosphere.

       ATMO 605 Forecasting Practicum -- Radio (2 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: This class provides experience in the analysis and presentation of weather forecasts. Students will become familiar with several meteorological data processing programs running on UNIX Workstations by completing weekly lab exercises. A complete weather forecast will be made several times each week for the weather line, the campus radio station (KJHK), and/or the campus newspaper (UDK). May be repeated up to a total of 2 semesters. Credit for ATMO 605, 606, and 607 is limited to a total of eight hours, six of which may be counted toward a degree in Atmospheric Science.

• Prerequisites: ATMO 505.

• Succeeding Courses: ATMO 606, 607.

       ATMO 606 Forecasting Practicum -- TV (2 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: Practical experience in the analysis and preparation of weather forecasts. Students will use current meteorological data from the National Weather Service network to prepare forecasts for use on TV. May be repeated two times for credit. Credit for ATMO 605, 606, and 607 is limited to a total of eight hours, six of which may be counted toward a degree in Atmospheric Science.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 605.

• Succeeding Courses: None

       ATMO 607 Forecasting Intern -- NWS (2 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: Practical experience working in a National Weather Service forecasting center in analyzing weather data and preparing weather forecasts. May be repeated two times for credit. Credit for ATMO 605, 606, and 607 is limited to a total of eight hours, six of which may be counted toward a degree in Atmospheric Science.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 605.

• Succeeding Courses: None

       ATMO 630 Synoptic Meteorology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: Enable the undergraduate student to analyze the structure and dynamics of large-scale extratropical weather systems. Applications for weather forecasting are included.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 505, 640, MATH 122, EECS 138

• Prerequisite for: ATMO 650.

• Text: T.N. Carlson, Midlatitude Weather Systems.

• Suggested Syllabus: Review of basic units and equations, vorticity and vertical motion, quasi-geostrophic theory, barotropic and baroclinic waves, structure and life-cycle of mid-latitude cyclones, kinematics and dynamics of fronts.

       ATMO 634 Physical Climatology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: In order to better understand climate and climate controls, students will form spatial and temporal averages of those atmospheric and earth-surface variables whose values specify instantaneous conditions and use these averages with the physical laws which govern atmospheric processes to study the long term, global distributions, cycles, transfers and budgets of quantities such as: angular momentum, available potential energy, kinetic energy, radiation and water vapor.

• Prerequisites: ATMO 640

• Text: Peixoto and Oort, Physics of Climate.

       ATMO 640 Dynamic Meteorology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: This course will introduce the student to the fundamentals of fluid dynamics necessary for understanding large scale atmospheric motions. Fundamental physical laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy are examined and applied to atmospheric flows. Rotation in the atmosphere is examined quantatively in terms of both circulation and vorticity.

• Prerequisite: MATH 123, PHSX 211, EECS 138

• Prerequisite for: ATMO 660

• Corequisite: MATH 320

• Text: J.R. Holton (1992), An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology.

       ATMO 642 Remote Sensing (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: This course is designed to prepare students to effectively use remotely sensed data in operational or research settings for further work in this field. Topics include radiation and radiation transfer applied to active and remote sensing; radiative properties of space, sun, earth and atmosphere; instrument design considerations and operational characteristics; inversion methods for temperature or concentration profiling; surface temperature measurement; cloud top height determination; rain rate and wind velocity measurement; severe weather detection; satellite photograph interpretation.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 680, EECS 138

• Texts: Stephens, Remote Sensing of the Lower Atmosphere; Various operations manuals from NWS and USAF.

       ATMO 650 Advanced Synoptic Meteorology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: An advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level analysis weather systems. Emphasis is placed on mesoscale weather systems. Applications to weather forecasting are included.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 630, 660, MATH 123

• Succeeding Course: None

• Text: P.S. Ray, ed. Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting.

• Suggested Syllabus: Scales of weather systems, objective analysis, isentropic analysis, vertical wind shear, symmetric instability, precipitation bands, influence of mountain and coastal features, types of thunderstorms and thunderstorm systems, features influencing thunderstorm development, heavy precipitation, mesoscale weather forecasting.

       ATMO 660 Advanced Dynamic Meteorology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: This course covers advanced concepts of atmospheric motions from microscales through synoptic scales. Quasi-geostrophic theory is covered by developing the quasi-geostrophic momentum and thermodynamic energy equations and then deriving the quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity equation and the omega equation. Linear wave theory is introduced to analyze atmospheric waves and is applied to develop a baroclinic instability model. Modern numerical prediction methods are introduced and students apply techniques learned to develop computer algorithms.

• Prerequisite: ATMO 640, MATH 320, and PHSX 212

• Text: J.R. Holton (1992), An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology.

       ATMO 680 Physical Meteorology (3 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: This course is designed to enhance the student's understanding of atmospheric processes through the study of these processes at molecular through micro scales. Topics include the properties and behavior of gases; transfer processes; phase change; solar and earth radiation; cloud drop, ice crystal and precipitation formation; atmospheric electricity; stratospheric chemistry.

• Prerequisite: MATH 123, PHSX 212.

       ATMO 690 Special Problems (2 hr.)

• Objectives, Topics, and Level: This course provides the student with an opportunity for independent work in meteorology beyond the content of the regularly scheduled courses. Done under the guidance of a faculty member, the problem should be of mutual interest to the student and the faculty member; the nature of the work should be carefully discussed by both before enrollment.

• Prerequisite: Nine credit hours in meteorology.

       ATMO 697 Seminar for Seniors (1 hr.)

• Prerequisite: Senior standing in Atmospheric Science.

       ATMO 699 Special Problems (2 hr.)

• Prerequisite: Twelve credit hours in meteorology.