ATM S 441 - Autumn 2011

Professor Dale Durran

408 ATG, 543-7440, durrand@atmos.washington.edu
Office hours: Monday & Wednesday 2:00-3:00 or by appointment

Special Office Hours:

Thursday Dec 8, 2-3 PM

Friday Dec 9, 1:30-3 PM

Textbook: Holton, 2004: An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology, 4th Ed. Elsevier Academic Press. Errata for this text are posted here.

Overview: The purpose of the course is to obtain a thorough understanding of the basic physical processes describing atmospheric motions, with particular emphasis on midlatitude high and low pressure systems. We will consider both the fundamental governing equations, some elementary consequences of those equations and build up to a discussion of quasi-geostrophic motion.

Midlatitude cyclone on Sept. 26, 2011

Grading: The grade will be based on two midterms (25% each), a final (30%) and homework problems (20%).

Midterm 1: October 28th (Fri). Covering material on pp. 1-46. Closed book, but you can bring a 5"x 8" index card (the big ones) with equations and notes to class. Blank index cards will be handed out in class on the 26th. Values for physical constants will be provided as required on the test.

Midterm 2: November 23rd (Wed). Covering material on pp. 46-79 except material associated with (3.20)--(3.24) and Section 3.5.2. Closed book, but you can bring a second 5"x 8" index card with equations and notes to class. You can also bring your index card from the last midterm.

Final: December 12th (Mon) 8:30-10:30 AM. One-half will be comprehensive and one-half will cover material on pp. 86-106. There will be 5 or 6 questions. Closed book, but you can bring your two previous index cards along with a third new one.

Problem Set 1: On pp. 24-26 do 1.2, 1.5, 1.8

A1: On p. 26, do M1.1(a) using the scripts provided in the text. Then download these modified files: coriolis_c.m, xprim2_c.m into the same directory with the files from the text, and repeat M1.1(a) using "coriolis_c" instead of "coriolis".

How do the results shown in Figures 1 and 2 differ between these two scripts?
What is the difference in the mathematical equations solved by the original and modified scripts?
Which of the approximate equation sets is more self-consistent?

A2: On p. 26 do M1.3. Use the modified script. (Although there is little difference in the results produced by the two scripts).

A3: Set the Earth's angular velocity (omega) to zero in coriolis_c.m and compute trajectories (using the modified script) for a case with initial latitude = 60 deg, u = 100 m/s, v=0 and run time = 5 days. Explain why the curves in Figures 1 and 2 look so different.

(due Mon Oct 10th)

Problem Set 2: On pp. 24-26 do 1.12, 1.13, 1.16, 1.17. On pp. 54-55, do 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

(due Wed Oct 19th)

Problem Set 3: On pp. 54-55 do 2.5 through 2.8, 2.11. (due Wed. Nov. 2)

Problem Set 4: On pp. 79-84 do 3.1 through 3.5, M3.2, and M3.3 (due Wed. Nov. 9)

Problem Set 5: On pp. 81-83 do 3.10, 3.11, 3.20 and 3.21. On page 111-112 do 4.1 (due Wed Nov. 16)

Problem Set 6: On page 111-112 do 4.2, 4.3, 4.6, 4.7, 4.11 and problems S1 and S2 on this sheet (due Wed Nov. 30)

Problem Set 7: Problems on this sheet (due Wed Dec. 7)

Atmospheric Motions I