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Introduction to Weather and Climate An introduction to the science of weather processes and climate, including the genesis of fronts and cyclones, precipitation processes, the wind systems of the world, severe storms, and weather forecasting. Special emphasis will be given to natural phenomena which have strong impacts on human activities including tornadoes, hurricanes, El Nino, global warming, ozone depletion, and air pollution. The fundamental importance of physics, chemistry, and mathematics to atmospheric science will be stressed.
Class Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 - 1:45 PM, Room: ILC
140
Required Textbook: Essentials of
Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere, 4th edition by Donald C. Ahrens, 2004, West Publishing Company (3rd edition is also acceptable)
Course Webpage: http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/fall05/nats101s54/NATS101s54.html
Instructor: Yolande Serra (524 PAS, 621-6619, serra@atmo.arizona.edu)
Office Hours: Tue. 4:00-5:00 PM, 524 PAS, or by appointment.
Teaching Assistant: Jason Criscio, 526 PAS, 621-6843, criscio@atmo.arizona.edu
Lectures:
Frequent attendance is encouraged. To keep track of attendance students are requested to bring 3x5 index cards to class with them. On occasion, you will be asked to write your name on the card and then list what part of the lecture you liked and what part was confusing to you. You will drop these off at the front of the room before leaving. Please do not talk during lectures. Brief discussion with your neighbors is fine, but extended conversations are disruptive to your fellow classmates.
Student Responsibilities:
You are expected to follow the University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity (http://w3.arizona.edu/~studpubs/policies/cacaint.htm) and to treat fellow students, teaching assistants, and the instructor with courtesy and respect. Participate actively in the learning process by reading textbook assignments as they are given, thinking about what you are writing as you take notes in class, completing and turning in assignments on time, and asking questions about confusing class or textbook material.
This course is participating in SuccessNet (http://successnet.arizona.edu), a pilot program at the UA designed to steer struggling students to appropriate support before they fall too far behind and are in serious academic trouble. If you are not doing well on the assignments and quizzes and your attendance is low, your name will be entered into the SuccessNet system. You will then be contacted by an academic advisor who will help you get the support you need to get you back on track. You can also help yourself by coming to office hours to obtain the help you need. If this is not enough, you can also seek help from the University Learning Center (http://www.ulc.arizona.edu). The ULC provides tutoring and other resources to help you manage your academic program.
Quizzes: A quarter to a third (see "Grading" below) of your grade will be based on four quizzes given during the semester. The quizzes will contain a mixture of multiple choice, short answer, and discussion-type questions. Most of the questions will be over material covered since the preceding quiz, some questions may test you on basic concepts from earlier in the semester. There may also be questions covering material in the textbook that wasn't covered in class. Makeup quizzes are given only in special circumstances and the makeup quiz must be taken before graded quizzes are returned in class and posted on the course website. Completion of a short supplementary assignment may be required in order to have the right to take a make up quiz. Please bring a picture ID with you on quiz days.
Writing Assignments: There will be four writing assignments due throughout the semester. In some cases you will be able to revise and resubmit your work after having received feedback from the instructor, however late assignments will not be accepted. The percentage grade that you receive on these assignments will have the same weight as the quizzes.
Homework Assignments: There will be four homework assignments due throughout the semester. Late homeworks are not accepted as the solutions will be posted on the course webpage on the due date of the assignment. The percentage grade that you receive on all four assignments will have the same weight as the quizzes.
Final Exam: Scheduled for Tuesday December 13, from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm in ILC 140 (be sure to double check the UA Final Exam Schedule [www.registrar.arizona.edu/schedules/finals.htm] to confirm this date and time). The final exam will contain about 50 questions that cover the entire course. The questions will be similar to those given on the quizzes.
Grading: There are two options for determining your final grade.
Option 1: If your average grade (3 best quizzes, 3 best homework assignments, and 2 best writing assignments (out of 1-3)) plus any extra credit (except writing assignment 4) is 90.0% or more, you won't have to take the final exam. [Note: 89.9% is not the same as 90.0%.]
Option 2: If you don't meet the requirement above, your 3 best quiz scores, 3 best homework assignments, and 2 best writing assignments (out of 1-3) will be used, together with all extra credit (including writing assignment 4), to determine 75% of your grade. The remaining 25% of your grade will be your final exam score.
Letter grades are determined using the following scale:
A: 90.0% or more B: 80.0% to 89.9% C: 70.0% to 79.9% D: 60.0% to 69.9%
E: less than 60.0%
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