MEA 311 The Global Atmosphere

Fall 2009
8:30-9:45 AM; T, TH Room 1108 Jordan Hall  

Dr. Viney P. Aneja ( http://meas.ncsu.edu/airquality )
Dr. Nicholas Meskhidze (http://amirani.meas.ncsu.edu/~web_site/Homepage.html)

Course Objectives: This course provides an intermediate-level introduction to the field of meteorology for both meteorology majors and other environmental sciences majors. Topics include the structure of atmosphere, atmospheric chemistry and physics, atmospheric thermodynamics, cloud physics, radiative transfer, and atmospheric dynamics. By the end of the semester, you will learn how to read and analyze weather map or climate diagram, interpret satellite images, know the basics of general atmospheric circulation and climatology as well as atmospheric chemistry.

There is a 1-hour credit lab (MEA 313)

TAs : Joshua Hemperly ( jjhemper@ncsu.edu ) Bryce P. Tyner ( bptyner@ncsu.edu)

Class Textbook:Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey by Wallace, J.M., and P. V. Hobbs (2nd edition)

Office Hours: Available immediately after class.

Dr. Viney P. Aneja
Office: 5136 Jordan Hall
Phone: (919) 515 7808
email: VINEY_ANEJA@NCSU.edu

Dr. Nicholas Meskhidze
Friday 11am to 12pm, or by appointment
Office: 5134 Jordan Hall
Phone: (919) 515 7243
email: nmeskhidze@ncsu.edu

Attendance : Attendance is mandatory. After the first week of classes, attendance will be monitored daily. Each absence will result in adverse impact on your final grade.

Quizzes : In order to monitor attendance, random quizzes will be given

Notes: Please make notes in class. Some outlines of the notes (in Adobe pdf format) will be made available at the class website or will be handed out in class.

Etiquette: Out of respect for your instructor and fellow classmatesyou will turn off cell phones, refrain from talking and reading newspapers. Violators will be asked to leave and marked absent.

Exams: Two exams and Final will be given during the semester.

Grading: The two exams will count for 40% of the grade, Final will count 40%. The quizzes will count for 5% of the grade. Class participation is 5%, and home work is 10%.

Grades will be assigned according to the following point scheme:

A + > 97, A = 93-97, A - = 90-93

B + = 87-89, B = 83-87, B - = 80-83

C +=73-79, C= 67-73; C - =60-67

D + =57-59, D = 53-57, D - = 50-53

F < 50

Student Conduct and Honor Code:
Students will be expected to adhere to the highest ethical standards as they pertain to class assignments, quizzes and exams. In essence this requires that any work that you submit as your own be your own.

Participants in the class are encouraged to discuss class topics with each other, me or anyone else who might be interested or helpful. It is appreciated that in some cases there may be ‘gray’ areas in terms of what constitutes your work or someone else’s. If you are uncertain about a situation, contact us for clarification. Some assistance may be found at http://www.ncsu.edu/student_affairs/osc/.

By putting your name on any work submitted in this class, it will be assumed that you are attesting to the Honor Pledge "I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this test or assignment."

Special Accommodations:
Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653. For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see: http://www.ncsu.edu/dso.

No Extra-Credit will be given.

MEA 311 Course Schedule

Month	Day	Course Material	Notes
August	25-27	Overview of the Global Atmosphere (Density, Pressure, Temperature, and Chemical Constituents)	Chapter 1
September	1	Origin of the Earth’s Atmosphere (Formation and Evolution of the Earth System)	Chapter 2.4-2.6
	3	Overview of some weather and climate phenomena (Weather: Hurricanes, Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, etc. Climate: Global temperature and rainfall distributions, El Nino, etc.)
	8
	10	Sun-Earth Relationships (Rotation of Earth and time zones, Revolution around the Sun, Seasons, Cycle of Sun's declination, and Solar Constant)
	15
	17	Radiation Budget of the Atmosphere (Solar Zenith angle; Wavelength and frequency; Blackbody radiation; Stefan-Boltzmann law; Wien’s displacement Law)	Chapter 4.1 – 4.4
	22
	24	TEST #1
	29	The greenhouse effect (Scattering, absorption and extinction; Planetary atmosphere)	Chapter 4.4 – 4.6
October	1	Ideal Gas Law’s Application to Atmosphere (fundamental concepts, Ideal gas law, Hydrostatic equation, Barometric law)	Chapter 3.1-3.2
	6	First Law of Thermodynamics and “Dry” Atmosphere (internal energy, adiabatic processes in the atmosphere,Potential temperature, adiabatic lapse rate)	Chapter 3.3 – 3.4
	8	Fall Break
	13	“Moist” Atmosphere (Properties of atmospheric water vapor, thermodynamic characteristics of water, latent heat, description of moist air, saturation properties, pseudo-adiabatic lapse rate)	Chapter 3.5 – 3.6
	15	Chemistry of the global atmosphere (Sources, Transport, and Sinks of Trace Gases, Hydroxyl Radical, Reactive Nitrogen, and Sulfur Compounds)	Chapter 5
	20
	22	Ozone (Troposphere and Stratosphere)	Chapter 5.3
	27
	29
November	3	Ozone Hole (Anthropogenic Perturbations to Stratospheric Ozone)	Chapter 5.7
	5	TEST #2
	10	Clouds ( Nucleation processes; Role of atmospheric particles as CCN; Condensational growth of cloud droplets; condensation and evaporation, droplet radius)	Chapter 6.1 – 6.3
	12	Precipitation(The m echanisms producing rain drops, growth and structure of ice particles; The Wegener-Bergeron mechanism; The coalescence mechanism; cloud “seeding”)	Chapter 6.4 – 6.6.
	17	The atmospheric BoundaryLayer(Review of vector analysis; Turbulence; The surface energy budget; Winds; Boundary layer stability and growth; Marine boundary layer; Sea breezes; Urban effects)	Chapter 9
	19
	24	Atmospheric Dynamics(Primitive governing equations; The pressure gradient force; Geostrophic wind;	Chapter 7.1 – 7.2.4
	26	Thanksgiving Holidays
December	1	Atmospheric Dynamics (Effect of friction; The atmospheric general circulation)	Chapter 7.2.5 – 7.4.1
	3	Global Climate Change	Chapter 10
	15	FINAL EXAMINATION 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM