Dr. Steve Ackerman
Office Hours: 3:30-4:30 Thursday, by appointment, e-mail and after class
Room 1209, Space Science and Engineering Center, 1225 West Dayton St.
Phone: 263-3265 E-mail: stevea@ssec.wisc.edu
Book: Meteorology Today, an Introduction to Weather, Climate and the Environment
C. Donald Ahrens, 5th edition
Grading: Based on results from three tests (30% each) and homework and in class assignments (10%)
Homework Assignments MUST be turned in on time. NO EXCUSES.
Extra credit projects MUST be cleared with me first.
TAs:
AOS 100 Suzanne Wetzel Room 1547 2-0798
AOS 101 Kristen Craven Room 1421 2-5347
AOS 101 Hsin-mu Lin Room 1143 2-0794
AOS 100 Nick Nallie Room 1311 5-8620
Learning about weather, the atmosphere, and the world around us can be an enjoyable experience. You should be able to apply concepts we discuss in class to the world around you. Newspaper articles and news reports almost daily discuss weather events or impending climate change. This course will help you understand these issues and provide the background to evaluate the many editorials published on these subjects.
AOS 100 and AOS 101 will have lectures together. The difference
between these courses is that AOS 101 has an additional 1 credit
lab. Material in the lab is supplement to the material covered
in the lecture. For students taking AOS 101, 75% of your final
grade is based on your lecture grade and 25% on your performance
in lab. I know that many of you are taking this course to satisfy
the science requirement and many of you are not science majors.
To do well in this class you will need to do well on the exams.
The three exams consist of multiple choice and fill in the blank
questions with one "short answer" question. I will 'curve'
the grades upward, put not downward (A > 92%, A/B -- 88-92%;
B -- 82-87% etc.).
Each exam is worth 55 points, plus 10% for homework and in class
index responses. Thus, the following table is a guideline
to the number of points you'll need to get the given grade.
You can also do an 'extra credit project'. In previous years, most students have choosen to write a paper; however, I will accept other projects such as videos, paintings, poems, photos, etc. Be creative in choosing your extra credit project. Make sure the project relates to some topic we discussed in class. Topics in the past have ranged from the weather experiences of a firefighter to comic book heroes. I KEEP WHATEVER YOU TURN IN!
Many students will do an extra credit project. Only a few will improve their grades. In the past, the extra credit project improved the grade of about 10% of the those students who turned one in. So don't count on it bringing up your grade. The key to a good project is that it be well written, creative, related in some way to class material and it teaches me something. We will talk more about projects in class.
We also have a "Photo of the week" and "Question of the week" activities. If your photo or answer is selected you earn 2 points. We'll talk more about this in class.
WEEK SUBJECT READING
Week 1 Introduction and Overview; Class organization Chap 1
Sept 2-5 and grading FST: 4, 13, 18,
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Pressure
and Weather maps
Week 2 Heat Transfer: Conduction, Convection and Chap 2
Sept 8-12 Radiation FST: 31, 37, 41, 50,
Week 3 Temperature Variations: Seasons and the Chap 3: 57-78
Sept 15-19 Controls of Temperature FST: 60, 62, 64, 80
Week 4 Humidity Chap 5: 111-125
Sept 22-26 Putting it all together - Review FST: 119, 123
Week 5 Test #1 Sept 29 Review Material
Sept 29-Oct3 Cloud Types
Week 6 Light, Color and Atmospheric Optics Chap 4: 87-107
Oct 6-10 FST: 98
Week 7 Condensation, Dew, Fog; Atmospheric Stability Chap 6: 131-163
Oct 13-17 FST: 138, 144
Week 8 Cloud Development Chap 7: 167-187
Oct 20-24 Precipitation Chap 8: 191-211
FST: 200, 202, 204, 206
208
Week 9 Atmospheric Motions; Forces that Govern Chap 9: 217-243
Oct 27-31 Motions; Review FST: 237, 240
Week 10 Test #2 November 3 Review Material
Nov 3-7 Local Wind Systems Chap 10: 247-274
FST: 254, 272
Week 11 Global Wind Systems Chap 11: 283-300, FST 254, 272
Nov 10-14 Air Masses, Fronts, Cyclone FST: 254, 272
Week 12 Mid-latitude Cyclone Chap 13: 335-350
Nov 17-21 FST: 340, 349
Last week for submitting extra credit project
proposals
Week 13 Midl Latitude Cyclone continued Chap 13: 335-350
Dec 1-5 (BREAK)
Week 14 Severe Weather Chap 15: 393-421
Dec 1-5 FST: 340, 349
Week 15 A note on Weather Forecasting Chap 14: 363-389
Dec 8-12 Putting it all together; Winds and Weather
Extra credit projects due
EXAM #3 IS HELD DURING FINALS WEEK, CHECK YOUR TIME TABLE FOR TIME AND PLACE! DON'T MAKE
AIRLINE RESERVATIONS BEFORE CHECKING THE TIME OF THIS EXAM!