ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES COURSES

ATMS 320, 321. Atmospheric Physics I & II. 3 crs. ea. Atmospheric thermodynamics, hydrostatics, could and radiative processes, and chemical cycles. Cloud physics and formation, energy balance, and the impacts on global climate. Elementary dynamics with applications to the Earth and planetary atmospheres. 

ATMS 340, ATMS 341. Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I & II. 3 crs. ea. Large-scale dynamics of stratified rotating atmospheres. Quasigeostrophic flow, baroclinic and barotropic instabilities, Rossby wave propagation, wave-mean flow interactions, global circulation, transport processes in the atmospheres. 

ATMS 330 and ATMS 331. Atmospheric Chemistry I & Atmospheric Chemistry II. 3 crs. ea. Basic kinetics and photochemistry of atmospheric species. Stratospheric chemistry with emphasis on processes controlling ozone abundance. Tropospheric chemistry focusing on photochemical smog, acid deposition, oxidation capacity of the atmosphere, and global climate change. Part II involves an advanced treatment of the current theories of chemical evolution and stability of planetary atmospheres with an emphasis on the Earth's atmosphere. 

ATMS 550, ATMS 551. Atmospheric Radiation I, Atmospheric Radiation II. 3 crs. ea. Application of radiative transfer theory to problems in planetary atmospheres, with primary emphasis on the Earth's atmosphere; principles of atomic and molecular spectroscopy; infrared band representation; absorption and emission of atmospheric gases; radiation flux and flux divergence computations; radiative transfer and fluid motions; additional applications such as the greenhouse effect, inversion methods and climate models. 

ATMS 301. Current Topics in Atmospheric Sciences 1 cr. Seminar course featuring areas scientists and invited plenary lecturers whose field of specialty or research is in the atmospheric or planetary sciences. 

ATMS 570, ATMS 670. Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere I & II. 3 crs. ea. Elements of radiative transfer as applied to the remote sensing of the upper and lower atmosphere and ocean surface. Both passive and active remote sensing methods are discussed. Satellite technology and applications to the understanding of the Earth and extraterrestrial atmospheres will be discussed. 

Elective and Special Topics Courses 

ATMS 300. Meteorology/Introduction to Atmospheric Sciences. 3 crs. Introductory course designed to provide a comprehensive background in weather, climate, and atmospheric optics. Lectures will stress the understanding and application of basic principles of physics and chemistry for a semi-quantitative description of the Earth's atmosphere. 

ATMS 535. Planetary Atmospheres. 3 crs. Integrated treatment of the evolution, chemistry, and physics of extraterrestrial and interstellar atmospheres. 

ATMS 530. Air Pollution Meteorology. 3 crs. Basic concepts of air pollution, transport, visibility degradation, and other anthropogenic effects on the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere. The theories and practices involved in field sampling and measurement and various approaches to air pollution modeling will be covered. 

ATMS 545. Turbulence. 3 crs. Most flows in nature are turbulent rather than laminar, although the latter receives more attention. The boundary layer in the earth's atmosphere, jet streams in the upper troposphere, and cumulus clouds are all examples of turbulent flows. The main objectives of this course will be to investigate the physical structure of turbulence flow. Although the analytical methods are applicable to all classes of turbulent flows, emphasis in this course will be given to turbulent flows in the atmosphere.