Course Syllabus

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Course:                    AOSS 414: Weather Systems

Web Page:               https://umich.instructure.com/courses/50590

Times:                      Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:30AM-1:30PM – Room 2238

Instructor:                 Frank J. Marsik, PhD

Office:                      2543C Space Research

Office Hours:            After class or by appointment

Phone:                    763-5369

E-mail:                     marsik@umich.edu

Course Summary:

The study of meteorology and climate at the University of Michigan dates back to the 1850’s. These early studies in meteorology and climate were focused on the application of this knowledge to the areas of agriculture and maritime shipping, both of which were important economic sectors. At that time, weather observations from the University of Michigan’s Detroit Observatory (on central campus) were sent to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. From there, correspondence often lead to an exchange of weather observations on a time-scale of once every other week or so. Today, we have observations from around the world in a matter of minutes of these observations being taken, thus providing us with an incredible tool(s) for studying the changing state of the atmosphere.

The overall goal of this course will be to help you gain an understanding of mid-latitude, synoptic scale weather systems. We will study the structure and the evolution of these weather systems, with the overall goal of obtaining a better understanding of the processes which impact their development. The term “weather systems” need not solely apply to synoptic scale phenomena, thus our goal will be to also look at a number of mesoscale phenomena (eg., supercells, tornadoes and hurricanes). While this course is not listed as a lab course per se, the goal will also be to integrate a fair amount of data analysis, using tools such as the GEMPAK Analysis and Rendering Program (GARP) to obtain a better understanding of these processes.

Course Pre-Requisites:

Students enrolling in this course are expected to have taken the Atmospheric Thermodynamics (AOSS 350) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (AOSS 401) courses concurrent with, or prior to taking, this course. If you have not taken these courses, please see me!

Course Materials:

This course does not have a required textbook. Most textbooks are written by senior professors who structure their books along the lines of their home institution’s curriculum. For this reason, no individual textbook ever seems appropriate and thus I don’t want to “require” people to purchase a given textbook. The materials for this course will be drawn from a variety of textbooks, peer-reviewed literature and technical training documents available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Air Weather Service. I will hand out pertinent material as needed. If you really like textbooks, here are the prominent ones that I will likely be drawing from:

  • Midlatitude Synoptic Metorology: Dynamics, Analysis & Forecasting by Gary Lackmann
  • Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey by J. Wallace and P. Hobbs
  • Weather Analysis by Dušan Djurić
  • Mid-Latitude Weather Systems by Toby N. Carlson
  • Mid-Latitude Atmospheric Dynamics by Jonathan E. Martin
  • An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology by James R. Holton
  • Severe Convective Storms by Charles A. Doswell III

Note: If you have not taken AOSS 440 (Meteorological Analysis Laboratory), you may want to consider purchasing the “Weather Map Handbook” by Tim Vasquez (~$25).

Grading and Exam Details:

The final course grades will be determined using the following guidelines:

Homework                              25%

Hourly Exam #1                      25%

Hourly Exam #2                      25%

Group Term Project                25% (20% for paper; 5% for presentation)

I will discuss my grading of a given assignment with any student. However, my review of the assignment may affect the grade either positively or negatively.  The grading for this course will be on a straight scale, percentage-wise: A (94-100), A- (90-93), B+ (87-89), B (84-86), B- (80-83), C+ (77-79), C (74-76), C- (70-73), D+ (67-69), D (64-66), D- (60-63), Fail (<60).

HOMEWORK: There will be a number of homework assignments that help to underscore the material covered in class. These assignments will be due in class on the assigned due date. Assignments may be turned in late with prior permission only. Assignments turned in late without permission will have one point deducted for each day that assignments are late. If assignments are not turned in within one week of the assigned due date, the student will receive no credit for the assignment. You will receive an incomplete for the term until all assignments have been completed.

EXAMS: There will be two hourly exams, tentatively set for February 26th and April 13th.

GROUP TERM PROJECT: In an effort to pull together the material covered in class, we will be performing a class-wide, group term project. This project will involve a detailed analysis of a mid-latitude winter storm. The class will be divided into five groups, each with the responsibility to focus their analysis on a particular time period in the storm’s life cycle. Each group will them be responsible for putting together a 20 minute presentation at the end of the term on their segment of this storm’s life cycle. These presentations will be given on April 18th. Each group will submit a final term paper (8 to 10 pages, double-spaced, plus figures). The due date for the term papers will be 5pm, Friday, April 22nd.

 

IMPORTANT DATES: We will not have class on the following days:

 

  • January 11th and 13th             (AMS Annual Meeting)
  • January 18th                                    (Martin Luther King Day)
  • February 29th – March 4th      (Spring Break).

 

HONOR CODE: In general, you are expected to following the College of Engineering Honor Code Guidelines (http://ossa.engin.umich.edu/honor-council/). With respect to homework assignments, while you are allowed to work on homework assignments together, the assignment that you turn in must represent, and show, your own work.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the due date for any assignment or exam conflicts with a religious holiday that you observe, please see me at least one week in advance to make alternate arrangements.


Course Outline(1)

  1. Introduction
    1. Energetics and the General Circulation (Jet Streams)
    2. Review of The Norwegian Cyclone Model and Modern Approaches to Cyclogenesis
    3. Analysis Tools (GARP, GR2Analyst, Skew-T Log P Diagrams)
  2. Characteristics of Synoptic Wave Cyclones (i.e., Mid-Latitude Cyclones)
    1. Air Mass Origins and Characteristics
    2. Fronts and Frontogenesis
    3. Airflow within Mid-Latitude Cyclones (Conveyor Belts)
    4. Quasi-Geostrophic Influences on Life Cycle of Mid-Latitude Cyclones:
      1. The Q-G Vorticity Equation
      2. The Q-G Height Tendency Equation
  • The Q-G Omega Equation
  • Mesoscale Phenomena
    1. Convective Cell Types
    2. Convective Precipitation
    3. Tornadoes
    4. Hurricanes
    5. Lake and Sea Breezes
    6. Mountain flows

(1) This above coures outline is a starting point. There may be need to add or subtract certain topics, or perhaps swap locations. This is a meteorology class, so if something really cool is happening, we may spend class time talking about the current weather event.  Time will tell……


Finally.....

Back in the day, College of Engineering students were required to take several humanities classes.  That time seems to have passed by.  That said, I make a weak attempt each term to make sure that my students are introduced to poetry.  Here is that attempt.....Grin.

 

Dreams

by Langston Hughes

 

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

 

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

 

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due