ATM 205 Introduction to Atmospheric Sciences

Fall 2012

Time:	Mon/Fri 1:00-2:20 pm
Room:	Humanities 3018
Instructor:	Edmund Kar-Man Chang, Professor Endeavour Hall 101 (South Campus, F8 on map) Phone: 631-632-6170 Email: kmchang@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Instructor Office hours:	Flexible: email or call me to make appointments
Teaching assistants:	Xin Zhou, Graduate Student
TA Office hours:	Wed/Thur 2-3 pm In ESS 104 (C5 on map)
Text Books (both required):	Ahrens, Meteorology Today (10^th edition, 9^th or 8^th acceptable) Stull, Meteorology for Scientists and Engineers (2^nd edition)
Midterm:	Friday 10/19/12 in class
Final:	Tuesday 12/18/12 2:15-5:00 pm
ATM205 course web page:	http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu/~chang/atm205/syllabus.htm
Atmospheric Sciences web page:	http://atmos.msrc.sunysb.edu/
Weather page:	http://atmos.msrc.sunysb.edu/npages/weather.html

Note: The syllabus will be updated weekly and announcements will be posted on the class web page. Visit the class web page (see address above) from time to time to view announcements and updates. Link to the class web page can also be found on Blackboard.

Recent announcements:

12/19/12: Term grades have been posted.

11/4/12: A reminder that ATM majors should meet with an ATM major advisor prior to registering for spring.

11/4/12: Please note changes in the class schedule due to cancelled classes.

8/22/12: All ATM majors are encouraged to meet with our ATM major advisors at least once per semester. If you are an ATM major and you have not yet met with either me or Professor Brian Colle, please make an appointment to meet with one of us. You can email me (see contact information above) or Professor Colle (colle@cyclone.msrc.sunysb.edu) to make an appointment.

8/22/12: We have a meteorology club that organizes activities such as trips to the NWS Upton office. If you would like to receive email notification of club meetings and activities please send an email to sbumc@ic.sunysb.edu

Grades will be determined as follows:

Homework	15%
Classwork/Quizzes/Attendance	20%
Midterm	30%
Final	35%
Extra Credit	Up to 4% (see below)

Note:

1. There will be homework sets approximately weekly. All homework sets must be handed in by the due date to receive credit. Exceptions will only be made if you have valid excuses (e.g. letter/note from a physician stating that you are sick).

2. Quizzes/classwork will be unannounced, and usually occur both at the beginning and end of all lectures. The quiz/classwork will either be on material just covered during the last couple of lectures, or on reading or material assigned and covered for the day. Half of the credit is for attendance. Credit for attendance will only be given if you are present BOTH at the beginning AND end of a class.

3. For final grading purposes, the homework set with the lowest score will be discarded. Similarly, the quiz/classwork with the 2 lowest scores will also be discarded.

4. For the homework, you can discuss with each other (or with the TA) about how to solve the problems (in sort of a general sense), but each student must work out the problems individually and hand in his/her own work.

5. Extra credit: You can earn extra credits by working on either extra “Questions for Review” from Ahrens, or “Numerical Problems” from Stull (pick from those that are related to material covered in class but not assigned in homework sets). Hand those in along with your homework each week. Each extra question/problem, if correctly worked out, will earn you 1 extra homework point – you can earn up to 25% of extra credit on a homework set each week. When answering questions for extra credit, do not just write down the question numbers: please copy the questions down before answering the questions.

Preliminary Class Schedule (will be updated as the semester rolls along):

Schedule	Topic	Ahrens (10^th edition)	Stull	HW solutions	Note
Week 1	Overview of Earth’s Atmosphere	Ch. 1	Ch. 1: p.4-14
Week 2	Atmospheric Energy & Radiation	Ch. 2	Ch. 2: p.29-36		No Class Monday (9/3)
Week 3	Continue Ch. 2 Seasons and Temperature Variations	Ch. 3	Ch. 3: p.43-48, p.59-61
Week 4	Continue Ch. 3 Atmosphere in Motion	Ch. 8	Ch. 9, p. 179-189, 196-197
Week 5	Continue Ch. 8		Same as above
Week 6	Continue Ch. 8 Thermal circulations (sea and land breezes, monsoon)	Ch. 9 (p.230-231, 239-243, 251-253)
Week 7	Wind: global systems	Ch. 10	Ch. 11, p.223-224, 242-244
Week 8	Hurricanes Midterm	Ch. 15			Midterm 10/19
Week 9	Atmospheric Moisture Thermodynamic diagram	Ch. 4	Ch. 5, p.95-103, 109-113 Ch. 6, p.119-132
Week 10					Classes cancelled due to Sandy
Week 11	Continue Thermodynamic diagram Condensation Air masses and fronts	Ch. 5 Ch. 11	Ch. 12, p.257-265
Week 12	Continue Ch. 11 Mid-latitude cyclones	Ch. 12	Ch. 13, p.298-305
Week 13	Continue Ch. 12 Stability and Cloud Development	Ch. 6	Ch. 7		No Class on Friday (11/23)
Week 14	Continue Ch. 6 Precipitation	Ch. 7	Ch. 8 – only qualitative
Week 15	Thunderstorms and Severe Weather Weather forecasting	Ch. 14 Ch. 13	Ch. 9, p.195 Ch. 14
Final: 12/18/12 2:15-5:00 pm	Final covers Ch. 4-15. About 2/3 of the questions will be on material covered after the midterm.

Note:

1. Note that the Chapter number for Ahrens refers to the 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th edition. For older editions (6^th or 7^th), all chapters after Chapter 3 should be shifted by 1 (i.e., Ch. 4 in 8^th edition is equivalent to Ch. 5 in 6^th and 7^th edition, Ch. 15 in 8^th edition equivalent to Ch. 16 in 6^th and 7^th edition, and so on).

2. For material in Ahrens, read the chapters listed above. I will only be able to cover the material briefly and selectively in the lectures, but you are responsible for all the material covered in the reading. You should try to read the chapters before the lecture. Some of the reading material may appear in quizzes on the same day as the chapter is assigned for.

3. Not all material in Stull will be covered. The pages covered are listed above. For quantitative material, only those topics that are covered in class will appear in homework and exams.

Americans with Disabilities Act

If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services at (631) 632-6748 or http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/dss/. They will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential. Students who require assistance during emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their needs with their professors and Disability Support Services. For procedures and information go to the following website: http://www.sunysb.edu/ehs/fire/disabilities.shtml

Academic Integrity Statement

Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Any suspected instance of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/

Adopted by the Undergraduate Council September 12, 2006

Critical Incident Management:

Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students’ ability to learn.