Lecture Notes
These notes will normally
appear 12 to 24 hours after class has met.
You should always read through them
even if you were in class.
They're often put together is a hurry,
so keep an eye out for typos.
May 05 - Last day of class,
information about the Final Exam, hurricanes
Apr. 28 - Tornadoes Pt. 2 damage,
lightning
Apr. 23 - Tornadoes Pt. 1
characteristics
Apr. 21 - Thunderstorms, gust
fronts, microbursts
Thermal circulations -
Optional reading
Apr. 16 - Surface winds in the
northern & southern hemispheres, water
draining from sinks & toilets; 3-cell model of
global scale wind and pressure belts
Cause of the
Coriolis force
Apr. 14 - Newton's
1st law of
motion,
pressure
gradient and
Coriolis
forces, upper
level and
surface winds
in the
northern &
southern
hemispheres
Apr. 09 - Quiz #3 (music: Sigur Ros
"Festival",
"Gooan
Daginn",
"Olsen
Olsen", "Von"
Apr. 7 - Cold clouds, the ice crystal
process, types of precipitation
Apr. 2 - Identifying and name clouds,
precipitation producing processes
Mar. 31 - Condensation nuclei, cloud
in a bottle, cloud types - altitude and appearance
Mar. 26 - Humidity
problems, drying moist air, the rainshadow effect,
measuring humidity, heat index, the drinking bird?
Saturating
the air with water vapor - suggested reading
Mar. 24 - Realistic energy balance on
the earth, effects of clouds on high and low temperatures,
global warming misconception, introduction to humidity
variables
Spring Break
Mar. 12 - Quiz #2 (music: Playing for
Change "Groove
in G", Ballyhoo! "She Wants
to Destroy Me", "Overnight
Sensation", "Walk
Away", "Battle
Cry",
"Cali
Girl", The
Specials "A
Message to You, Rudy")
Mar. 10 - Light
emitted by the earth & sun, radiative equilibrium,
filtering effect of the atmosphere, the atmospheric
greenhouse effect
Mar. 5 - Electromagnetic
radiation, rules governing the emission of EM
radiation, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and color
temperature
Mar. 3 -
Energy transport by conduction, convection, and latent heat
Upper level charts Pt.
3 - Supplementary reading
Upper level charts Pt.
2 - Supplementary reading
Upper level charts Pt.
1 - Required/suggested reading
Feb. 26 - Upper
level charts (brief mention), introduction to
energy and energy transport, measuring the energy
needed to evaporate liquid nitrogen
Feb.
24 - Weather changes associated with warm and cold
fronts, locating warm and cold fronts on a surface weather map
Feb. 19 - Quiz #1 (music: Andrea
Bocelli, Laura Pausini "Dare
To Live", Andrea
Bocelli, Elisa "La
Voce del Silenzio",
Elisa "Dancing"
Feb. 17 - Surface weather maps, high
and low pressure centers, pressure gradients, warm and cold
fronts
Feb. 12 - The station model notation,
Galileo thermometers and lava lamps
Feb. 10 - Charles law; forces that
cause air to rise and sink; Archimedes principle; Auguste,
Jacques, & Bertrand Piccard
Feb. 05 - The ideal gas law, Practice
Quiz
Feb. 03 - Rate of
pressure decrease with altitude; air pressure pushes
upward, downward, & sideways; air
density changes with altitude;
principle of the mercury barometer; and
troposphere & stratosphere (maybe)
Jan.
29 - Mass, weight, density, and pressure
Jan. 27 - Air
quality index, carbon monoxide poisoning, sulfur dioxide
& London-type smog, acid rain, particulate matter
Jan. 22 - Air
pollutants, carbon monoxide, ozone and photochemical smog,
scattering of light
Jan. 20 - Origin
& evolution of the earth's atmosphere; oxygen
and ozone;
photosynthesis, stromatolites and banded iron
formation; trace gases and pollutants
Jan. 15 - First day
of class, composition of the atmosphere, dew point temperature