EAS 2750a: Physics of the Weather

Also PHYS 2750

Professor:George Chimonas
ET&T 1102
Phone 4-3985
george.chimonas@eas.gatech.edu

Office hours: MWF 10.00 - 10:30, or any time you find me free in my office, or by appointment.

T. A.: Sara Lance (sara.lance@eas.gatech.edu)

Text: Weather, by P.E. Lehr, R.W. Burnett, and H.S. Zim. And class notes.

Grading: Four in-term examinations, counting for 20 points each and the final examination, counting for 20 points.

86 - 100 = A
76 - 85 = B
66 - 75 = C
56 - 65 = D

Syllabus

1. Air composition and vertical structure. Clouds. The weather map. The airmass-and-front model.
   
   
2. Rain and terminal velocity.
   
   
3. Air pressure and the hydrostatic law. The ideal-gas law.
   
   
4. Archimedes law. Balloons and air parcels. The adiabatic gas law.
   
   
5. Solar and Terrestrial radiation: Stefan-Boltzmann law and Wien's law. The mean temperature of a bald Earth.
   
   
6. Earth with clouds. Earth with the greenhouse effect. Aerosol effect.
   
   
7. Equator to pole temperature change. Local temperature: continents vs ocean; surface effects. Airmass formation.
   
   
8. Phase changes of water. Latent heats: Evaporation and freezing.
   
   
9. Condensation and freezing of very small water drops. Aerosols. The two rain mechanisms.
   
   
10. Horizontal pressure changes and winds. The hot-spot model: Lows and Highs.
    
    
11. Angular momentum. Centrifugal acceleration. Rotation of the Earth.
    
    
12. The Coriolis acceleration. The geostrophic wind. Buys Ballott's law.
    
    
13. Local geostrophy. Cyclones and anticyclones. The global winds. The Hadley cell, jet streams and trade winds.
    
    
14. Storms, hurricanes and tornadoes. Storm energies and predictors.
    
    
15. Visible light scatter. Ozone and ultraviolet radiation.