Syllabus#
A ATM 622: General Circulation of the Atmosphere (Fall 2022)#
Course information#
- Class number:
9225
- Meeting time:
Tuesday / Thursday 12-1:20 PM in ETEC 482
- Instructor:
Brian Rose (office is ETEC 425)
- Office hours:
Tuesdays 2-3PM in ETEC 425 (or by appointment)
- Course website:
- Grading: A-E, 3 credit
Assignments and Labs: 40%
Midterm exam: 20%
Term project and presentation: 40%
Late assignments/labs, makeup exams, late term projects/presentations will only be allowed for university recognized reasons. Please discuss absences and late work with Prof. Rose in advance whenever possible.
Course description#
The course will explore fundamental questions about why the circulation looks the way it does, bringing together observations, theory, and models. The bulletin description says
Processes which maintain the general circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere; investigation of observed angular momentum, energy and water vapor budgets of the atmosphere; atmospheric energetics; application of numerical methods to studies of the general circulation.
Our approach will be hands-on and data-centric wherever possible. We will put significant emphasis on reproducible workflows to generate the maps and diagnostics we look at. So in addition to fundamental science, the course should arm you with a useful toolkit of modern Python-based analysis tools. We will also spend some time in the new Fluids lab carrying out rotating tank experiments to complement the observations and theory.
Final project#
Each student will investigate some aspect of the general circulation of atmosphere or ocean. A wide variety of topics are possible, but it must fit into the themes of the class. The project should include some original calculations using real data. Possible ideas include:
Using methods introduced in class in some aspect of your own thesis research
Revisit a classic study from the literature with a modern dataset
Design and implement your own laboratory / tank experiment to investigate some analog of the general circulation
Students can work alone or in teams of two, subject to approval. Students will write short proposals for their project ideas and get feedback from the instructor before starting (due dates TBD).
Both written and oral presentations are required. Oral presentations will happen in the last week of class. Details for these and the written presentations will follow later, but expect a focus on reproducibility of calculations. Written reports will likely take the form of self-computing Jupyter notebooks.
Academic integrity#
In this class we will strive to be interactive, learning by doing and by discussion. Some collaboration on exercises is therefore encouraged. However you are ultimately expected to submit your own work and your own thoughts, and to give proper credit to others for previous work and ideas.
This is very important when writing computer code! There is nothing wrong with borrowing useful pieces of code from classmates or online sources – that is in fact the central principle of open-source software. However, you must always acknowledge the original author(s). You must also, wherever practical, understand the code you are borrowing and be able to explain what it does.
It is every student’s responsibility to become familiar with the standards of academic integrity at UAlbany. Claims of ignorance, of unintentional error, or of academic or personal pressures are not sufficient reasons for violations of academic integrity. Please refer to the UAlbany academic integrity policies here: http://www.albany.edu/graduatebulletin/requirements_degree.htm#standards_integrity