NATS 101 Section 54
Syllabus and Readings
THIS IS ONLY A GUIDE TO THE LECTURES AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. CHECK BACK PERIODICALLY.
EOM denotes Essentials of Meteorology. Links are enrichment and are not required reading. EOM chapters are required reading.
| Lecture/Topic | Month | Day | EOM 4th Ed. | 3rd Ed. | Links/Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course information and composition and structure of the atmosphere PowerPoint PDF | Aug | 23 | Check out global water vapor patterns (takes time to load!) and Radio Transmission to learn more about how radio signals are sent through the atmosphere. | ||
| More on composition and structure of our atmosphere PowerPoint PDF | 25 | Ch 1 pp. 1-13 | Ch 1 pp. 1-12 | Through Brief Review. Also see Earth's Atmosphere for movie on atmospheric composition. | |
| Ch 12 pp. 317-325 | Ch 12 pp. 313-321 | Up to, but not including Stratospheric Ozone | |||
| Elements of weather and climate PowerPoint PDF | 30 | Ch 1 pp. 13-22 | Ch 1 pp. 13-21 | About Temperature and Tucson as a heat island | |
| Ch 12 pp. 325-327, p. 330 | Ch 12 pp. 321-323, p. 324 | Up to, but not including, Air Pollution Trends and Patterns. Also, see Living With A Variable Sun article for more on temperature structure of earth and about how the upper atmosphere works. | |||
| Temperature, Heat, and Radiation PowerPoint PDF |
Sep | 1 | Ch 2 pp. 25-34 | Ch 2 pp. 24-34 | Up to but not including Balancing Act-Absorption, Emission, and Equilibrium. Also see Heat. |
| Earth's Energy Budget and the Greenhouse Effect PowerPoint PDF |
6 | Ch 2 pp. 35-39 | Ch 2 pp. 34-39 | Up to but not including Incoming Solar Energy. The greenhouse effect is also described here. I highly recommend these movies as well: Earth's Energy Balance and The Greenhouse Effect. | |
| The Seasons, Quiz 0 PowerPoint PDF |
8 | Ch 2 pp. 40-53 | Ch 2 pp. 39-51 | See Seasons of the Year for more on why we have seasons. | |
| Daily Temperature Variations and Controls of Temperature PowerPoint PDF |
13 | Ch 3 pp. 55-64 | Ch 3 pp. 53-62 | Up to but not including Air Temperature Data. | |
| Temperature Data, Thermometers PowerPoint PDF |
15 | Ch 3 pp. 65-75 | Ch 3 pp. 62-73 | If you have not already done so, check out About Temperature. Also see "Gas Molecule Behavior" link under Learning Tools on Weather, Climate and Learning Links page. | |
| The Water Cycle, Humidity PowerPoint PDF |
20 | Ch 4 pp. 77-90 | Ch 4 pp. 75-87 | Up to but not including Fog. | |
| Quiz 1 | 22 | Ch 4 pp. 90-109 | Ch 4 pp. 87-107 | Also see "Cloud Atlas" link under Learning Tools on Weather, Climate and Learning Links page. | |
| Clouds and Stability PowerPoint PDF |
27 | Ch 5 pp. 111-117 | Ch 5 pp. 109-115 | Up to but not including Cloud Development and Stability. | |
| Cloud Development and Stability PowerPoint PDF |
29 | Ch 5 pp. 117-127 | Ch 5 pp. 115-126 | Up to but not including Precipitation Types. Stability is discussed here, including some useful diagrams. Don't worry about the physical laws discussed, just focus on the lapse rate definitions. Note that the dew point lapse rate is the same as the lines of constant mixing ratio that we discussed in class. Also, I highly recommend you download and read this lesson on stability and answer the questions at the end of the document. Again, just focus on what we talked about in class, unless you are comfortable with the extra information the lesson provides. | |
| Precipitation Formation and Type PowerPoint PDF |
Oct | 4 | Ch 5 pp. 127-139 | Ch 5 pp. 126-137 | The Precipitation Type webpage provides facts about the various precipitation types and has a movie animating the process undergone to form each type. |
| Atmospheric Pressure PowerPoint PDF |
6 | Ch 6 pp. 141-149 | Ch 5 pp. 139-147 | Up to but not including Why the Wind Blows. Also, review page (slide) 11 from lecture 2. | |
| Upper-level Winds PowerPoint PDF |
11 | Ch 6 pp. 150-157 | Ch 6 pp. 147-155 | Up to but not including Surface Winds. Also, here is the link to the merry-go-round movie for understanding the Coriolis Effect. | |
| Quiz 2 | 13 | Ch 6 pp. 157-160 | Ch 6 pp. 155-158 | Up to but not including Measuring and Determining Winds. | |
| Surface Winds, Vertical Motions, and Wind Measurement PowerPoint PDF |
18 | Ch 6 pp. 160-165 | Ch 6 pp. 158-163 | Wind Instruments subsection is optional. | |
| Local Circulations PowerPoint PDF |
20 | Ch 7 pp. 167-181 | Ch 7 pp. 165-178 | Up to but not including Global Winds. | |
| Local and Global Circulations PowerPoint PDF |
25 | Ch 7 pp. 181-186 | Ch 7 pp. 178-184 | Up to but not including Westerly Winds and the Jet Stream. | |
| Global Circulations PowerPoint PDF |
27 | Ch 7 pp. 186-189 | Ch 7 pp. 184-187 | Up to but not including Global Wind Patterns and the Oceans. Study Guide questions for this week are here. Lecture questions from this week not already in lecture notes can be found here. | |
| Global Ocean Circulations PowerPoint PDF |
Nov | 1 | Ch 7 pp. 189-192 | Ch 7 pp. 187-190 | Up to but not including El Nino and the Southern Oscillation. Lecture questions from today are here. |
| Conveyor Belt Circulations, El Nino/La Nina PowerPoint PDF |
3 | Ch 7 pp. 192-199, Ch 14 pp. 378 | Ch 7 pp. 190-195, Ch 14 pp. 390 | In Ch. 14 read The Ocean Conveyor Belt and Climate Change under Focus on a Special Topic. Also, see NOAA PMEL El Nino/La Nina website for more animations and figures illustrating this phenomenon. Also has current conditions! Lecture questions from today's lecture can be found here. Only one of your own questions were submitted this week so no study guide is available. | |
| El Nino/La Nina, North Atlantic Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation PowerPoint PDF |
8 | Ch 7 pp. 192-199 | Ch 7 pp. 190-195 | Go over lecture notes from Tuesday, especially the material not in your book! Lecture questions from today are here. | |
| Quiz 3 | 10 | Ch. 8 pp. 212-219 | Ch. 8 pp. 208-215 | Section on Air Masses is optional. Read next section on Fronts up to but not including Middle-Latitude Cyclones. | |
| Fronts and Middle-Latitude Cyclones PowerPoint PDF |
15 | Ch 8 pp. 219-229 | Ch 8 pp. 215-225 | Read through end of chapter. | |
| Thunderstorms, Lightning and Thunder PowerPoint PDF |
17 | Ch. 10 pp. 257-266, 271-276 | Ch. 10 pp. 253-263, 267-273 | Up to but not including Mesoscale Convective Systems. Pick up at Lightning and Thunder, up to but not including Tornadoes. Lecture questions can be found here and your questions for this week's study guide can be found here. | |
| Tornadoes and Water Spouts PowerPoint PDF |
22 | Ch. 10 pp. 276-291 | Ch. 10 pp. 273-287 | Lecture questions from today are here. | |
| Tropical Weather, Introduction to Hurricanes PowerPoint PDF |
29 | Ch. 11 pp. 293-300, p. 312 | Ch. 11 pp. 289-297, pp. 307-308 | Up to but not including Hurricane Movement. Pick up at Naming Hurricanes. Lecture questions are here. | |
| Quiz 4 | Dec | 1 | Quiz will cover lectures for Ch. 8 and lectures and book for Ch. 10. | ||
| Hurricane Development and Decay PowerPoint PDF |
6 | Ch. 11 pp. 301-312, pp. 312-315 | Ch. 11 pp. 297-307, pp. 309-311 | Up to but not including Naming Hurricanes. Pick up at Summary. Study guide 3 is available here. Questions from today's lecture are here. |
| Final Exam Review Session | Dec | 7 | 6-7 PM | ILC 140 | Final exam study guide is here, answers are here. We will go over these questions or any of the other lecture, quiz or study guide questions during the review session. Review slides from last lecture highlighting each chapter are here. |
| Final Exam | Dec | 13 | 11 AM - 1 PM | ILC 140 | Final exam will cover general topics on Ch 1-8, and Ch 10-11. |