EART 80C ::
Introduction to Weather and Climate:: Fall 2009
People
|
instructor: |
Patrick Chuang |
|
office: |
Earth
Marine Sci Rm A254 |
|
phone: |
9-1501 |
|
email: |
pchuang
AT es.ucsc.edu |
|
office
hours: |
Tuesdays
12.00 to 13.00 and 15.00 to 16.00 |
|
TA: |
Travis O’Brien |
|
office: |
Earth
Marine Sci Rm A160 |
|
phone: |
|
|
email: |
tobrien
AT es.ucsc.edu |
|
office
hours: |
Wednesdays
14.00 to 15.00 and 19.00 to 20.00 |
Class
Class
meets Tues/Thur 10.00 to 11.45 in Thimann Lecture 1.
All
discussion sections meet in EMS D236.
Check
out the Class
Syllabus for lots of important information.
As per
University policy, the final exam is scheduled for 12.00 to 15.00 on Monday,
December 7. The exam will not be offered
at any other time.
Announcements
11/19: Slides from today’s
class on air masses and fronts are now available. Slides on mid-latitude cyclones will be
posted after we finish that topic.
11/18: Slides from yesterday’s
class on global circulation and the jet stream are now available.
11/14: Problem Set #6
is now available.
11/09: Because
Veteran’s Day falls on one of our key section days (Wednesday), there will not
be homework this coming week. There will be homework the following week,
then another week off of homework (Thanksgiving), then a last homework
due on the last day of classes (Dec 4).
11/05: The solutions
for the midterm are now available (below).
11/01: I realize
you’re probably a bit distracted right now, but there is homework due this week
and it is now posted.
10/28: Midterm
rules:
you must bring a pen or pencil (eraser if you want) and a calculator.
Nothing else will be permitted.
10/28: A copy of the
formula sheet that will be provided to you for the midterm is now available for you to preview.
10/28: The solutions
to Problem Set #4 are now posted.
10/22: The solutions
to Problem Set #3 and the practice problem set are now posted. Solutions to
Problem Set #4 will be posted on Tuesday night.
10/22: The list of POTENTIAL MIDTERM SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS is
now available!
10/22: The slides on
cloud types from today’s lecture are available below.
10/22: The
for-practice only problem set covering humidity and stability is available
below. Try to do them without looking at the answers (which will be provided in
a few days).
10/22: The sections
next week will review problem solving from the first half of the course, up to
and including next week’s practice-only problem set.
10/22: The bubbles in
a glass movie that I couldn’t show because of technical difficulties can be seen here. The useful part is from about 0:50 to
1:30. Notice how some spots on the side
of the glass (not just the bottom) are good bubble nucleation sites.
10/19: There is now
an official tutor for this course! You can
sign up online for tutoring with Learning Support
Services and it’s free (max one hour per week)!
10/18: Problem Set #4
is now available!
Solutions to Problem Set #2
are now posted!
10/15: The midterm will be on Tuesday,
November 3. More details later.
10/15: Here is the extra credit
assignment if you choose to do it.
Read all instructions *very* carefully!
The slides from the second
lecture on climate change are posted below.
10/6: Check out Travis’ course website for lots
of useful stuff!
10/11: Problem Set #3
is now available!
Slides from Thursday’s
lecture have been posted (see below).
10/6: Solutions to Problem Set #1 are now available!
10/3: Problem Set
#2 is now available!
9/24: As we
discussed in class today: Please sign up for a section!
9/1: Sections
begin the week of Sept 28.
9/1: Here’s a reading about problem solving.
The critical bit is the first 1 ½ pages. (I’m not necessarily advocating the TAPPS
method described, but the basic idea is that if you need to explain something
to somebody else, then you have to really organize your thoughts before you can
do so – and this is helpful. It explains
why I do advocate working in groups.)
Useful Stuff
11/19: Here are the slides from today’s lecture on air masses and fronts.
11/18: Here are the slides from yesterday’s lecture on global circulation and the jet stream.
11/10: Here are the pictures of ice
crystals shown in class today.
11/05: Solutions to the midterm:
Part one (short answer). Part
two (quantitative). If you believe
that you deserved a better grade, read my policy
on re-grading exams.
10/22: Slides on cloud types are available
here.
10/15: Here are the Earth 80C official SVP table and graph.
10/15: Slides from Oct 13 on climate change available here. (6 MB)
10/11: Slides from Oct 8 on climate change can be downloaded here. Also, here’s a picture
illustrating Wien’s Law for three stars with different temperatures.
9/1: There are a number of websites that review significant
digits, scientific notation, and the metric system. I’m sure you can find your own, but you can
try some of the following if you’d like:
Tutorial
on significant figures.
A nice tutorial
on scientific notation
A comprehensive list of metric system units
Here is
a nice review of exponents.
Problem Sets And Solutions
Problem
sets can be handed in during class time, or in the box outside my office by 5
pm on Fridays.
Problem Set #1 is now available! Solutions
to Problem Set #1.
Problem Set #2 is now available! Solutions
to Problem Set #2.
Problem Set #3 is now available! Solutions
to Problem Set #3.
Problem Set #4 is now available! Solutions
to Problem Set #4.
Some practice problems on humidity and stability is
now available! Here are the solutions (but try not to look at
them until after you take a good crack at the problems).
Problem Set #5 is now available!
Problem Set #6 is now available!
Links
Here’s
a table of
atmospheric composition, including concentrations. Notice how the concentrations
are reported in parts per million (they specify ppmv, which is by parts per
million by volume, which is the same as the ppm that we discussed in class).
Here’s
an electromagnetic spectrum
(courtesy st4ck) figure with lots of
detail. Here’s another (courtesy xkcd) that’s rather amusing
but (obviously) contains some inaccuracies.
