Intro. Metr II

Time: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9:00-9:50
Room: NWC 1350
Instructor: Parsons

Office: NWC 5919

Email: dparsons@ou.edu , always send a cc to his assistant, Ms. Becky Steely,  bsteely@ou.edu,

Phone: 405-­‐325-­‐8565

Office hours: Weds -­‐-­‐ 10 to 11 am,

Friday 11:30 am to 1 pm (call if the front office is locked)   By appointment and try drop-­‐in visits for short questions as availability permits

Teaching Assistant: Ms. Veronica Fall

Office: NWC 5700

Email:  Veronica.Fall@ou.edu

Office hours: Mon and Friday -­‐-­‐ 10 to 11 am and by appointment

Having problems with the course material? We urge you to come and talk to us sooner       not  later.   We can’t do anything if you wait until the last week of classes to come and talk to us about problems  you’ve been having all semester. So read over your notes right after class and again the evening after classes. If there are things that you don’t understand ask other students

in your class, ask your TA, ask the professor and go to the student run HelpDesk on the first floor. It is open evenings from 7 to 9 pm on Sunday through Thursday. Stop meteorological ignorance in its tracks, before it grows and devours your GPA.

Course web page:  https://learn.ou.edu (log on using your 4+4)

Prerequisites: Grade of C or better in Meteorology 2013, 2011 (or 2014), Computer Science 1313 (or 1323), Math 2423 or 2924, Physics 2514 or 1205.

Co-­‐requisites: Meteorology 2021, Math 2433 or 2934 and Physics 2524 or 1215

Course Objectives: The course is intended to provide basic understanding of atmospheric phenomena and circulations across the scales. Phenomena of interest will be quite diverse and include turbulent flows, Ekman layers, sea breezes, katabatic flows, fronts, cyclones, convective storms, general circulation patterns, ENSO/NAO/PDO “teleconnections” and climate change. Ocean circulations will also be touched on briefly. Advancing your understanding of these phenomena will require an introduction into the equations governing atmospheric flows and their use in dynamic meteorology. The topics will be covered as time permits.

Grading: The class will have two mid-­‐term exams. The exams will be closed book and without calculators.

2 Exams at 25% (each) Homework at 10% (total)

Quizzes and writing assignment: 10% (total) Comprehensive final: 30%

Exam schedule:

26 February 2016 (1st Exam) 8 April 2016 (2nd Exam)

11 May at 8 to 10 am (Final Exam)

Assignments of Grades:

Greater than or equal to 90.0 % = A

Greater than or equal to 80.0 to less than 90.0 % = B Greater than 70.0 to less than 80.0 % = C

Greater than 55.0 to less than 70.0 % = D Below 55.0 % = F

Percentages will not be rounded up. However the instructor reserves the right to curves the grades to benefit students, provided that there are natural breaks in the grade distributions. Please do not assume that grading will necessarily happen.

Note: The instructor will occasionally travel several times during the semester for professional activities. Either the TA or a guest lecturer will provide lectures on the days the instructor is unavailable.

Homework: Assignments must be turned in at the start of class on the proscribed due date. Typically students will have one week to complete the homework assignments. Homework can be challenging,

often more difficult than an exam questions that take place in a limited time window. Grades will be reduced on late assignments, up to one letter grade per day. If you have issues that prevent you from completing your assignments, talk to the instructor or TA before the assignment is due. Students  often find it helpful to work together on homework problem sets. However, if you work in a group, the assignment needs to be an individual’s own work in their own words and style (see Academic Integrity issues below).

QUIZZES: The class will have several short quizzes during semester to help students gauge their basic knowledge and progress. We will drop the lowest quiz scores. The quizzes are to test basic knowledge and problem-­‐solving abilities, while the exams and homework will be more in depth.

Format: The lectures will be a combination of power point slides, diagrams drawn on the board and problems undertaken in class. The Friday classes will sometimes focus more on problem solving. The power point slides will be placed on D2L and mainly present an outline/overview of the material presented. Hence, it will be up to you to take notes on the lectures, especially on the solutions to these problems. Unlike the advanced courses in our program, there is not a textbook that closely matches the knowledge expectations for this class. Hence, the lecture material will be the main source of information with the readings from the book helpful in understanding concepts. In some years, Dr. Parsons has arranged optional problem solving sessions during the evenings.

Required Texts:

We will use two books by Dr. Roland Stull, University of British Columbia, entitled “Meteorology for Scientists and Engineers 3rd Ed” and the newer version, titled “Practical Meteorology: An Algebra-­‐based Survey of Atmospheric Science” (2015).

Both books have been very recently made available FREE AND ON-­‐LINE (YES -­‐-­‐-­‐ THANK YOU DR. STULL) at:

http://www.eos.ubc.ca/books/Practical_Meteorology/

Dr. Roland Stull published these books under a Creative Commons license, so we are free to use, copy, print, translate, etc.  Details of this license, in many different languages, is   at    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-­‐nc-­‐sa/4.0/  .

Additional (non-­‐required) Text: Meteorology Today, by C. Donald Ahrens, 9th ed.

About this course: The knowledge expectations for this course are listed in D2L and on the School’s web site -­‐-­‐-­‐ see http://som.ou.edu/content/pdf/ke_2023.pdf. The expectations are broad and complex with the intent to both provide students majoring and minoring in the field with a grasp of some of the most important concepts in the atmospheric sciences, while preparing majors for the rigorous junior year courses in dynamical meteorology. In preparing students for their junior year, we will try to move students from understanding concepts in meteorology and calculus to applying calculus to solve problems related to meteorological concepts. So be prepared to use mathematics frequently throughout the course. The course is difficult.

Reasonable Accommodation: The University of Oklahoma is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities must be registered with the Office of Disability Services prior to receiving accommodations in this course. The Office of Disability Services is located in Goddard Health Center, Suite 166, phone 325-­‐3852 or TDD  only 325-­‐4173. Students with disabilities who require accommodation in this course are requested to speak with the instructor as early in the semester as possible to help ensure that your accommodations are met. Also, check in with the instructor before exams if you plan to  take the exam in the testing center as the instructor has found that students sometimes elect to not always take advantage of their available accommodation.

Academic  Misconduct:

Academic misconduct is defined as “any act that improperly affects the evaluation of a student’s academic performance or achievement.” At the University of Oklahoma, academic integrity is expected from each student. Misconduct such as plagiarism, fabrication, and fraud, as well as attempting to commit such acts or assisting others in doing so, will not be tolerated. Students are responsible for knowing the OU policies on Academic Integrity (http://integrity.ou.edu/) and the Academic Conduct Code, which can be  found  at http://integrity.ou.edu/students.html.

All provisions of the Norman Campus Academic Misconduct Code shall apply in cases of academic dishonesty. Violation of the Academic Misconduct Code will result in the imposition of Instructor and University penalties. “University sanctions range from a censure (an official reprimand recorded as a note in the student’s file), to classes or tutorials on integrity-­‐related topics, to suspension for one or more semesters, to expulsion in the case of repeat or especially bad offenses.”

The instructor penalty is related to grades. With full violations, the grade penalty can range from a lower grade on the affected work to an F in the course. This F cannot be avoided by withdrawing from the course. The instructor can also require extra work before the course can be completed. With admonitions, the grade penalty is limited to no credit on the assignment in question.

The most common violation of the code that the School encounters is copying and sharing of answers in homework assignments. Please ensure that this work is your own. If you have a study group, make sure that the answers are in your own words and that you completely understand what is written.  Another common issue is plagiarism. Know what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Again, read over the Academic Integrity pages.

General  comments:

METR 2023 is a physics and calculus-­‐based meteorology course. The School has prescribed a set of Knowledge Expectations that covers a wide variety of topics, which requires moving  at a rapid pace. Meteorology is difficult. Many sophomore students consider this material challenging. A grade of C or better grade is required to advance to the next course in the curriculum. Indeed, in the past 20-­‐30% of the students in this course find themselves   unable to advance to the next class at the end of the semester. However, the School has no quota or limits on advancement. We hope that each student is successful in mastering the

material and encourage students to be proactive in seeking outside tutelage as necessary. In addition to our office hours and optional help sessions, a student-­‐run Help Desk is available for meteorology classes through the Student Affairs Committee. In addition, your Teaching Assistant and I will hold regular office hours and can offer specific guidance related to assignments given in this class.

Other legal requirements:

Religious Observance: It is the policy of the University to excuse the absences of students that result from religious observances and to reschedule examinations and additional required classwork that may fall on religious holidays, without penalty.

Title IX Resources and Reporting Requirement: For any concerns regarding gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, stalking, or intimate partner violence, the University offers a variety of resources, including advocates on call 24/7.

To learn more or to report an incident, please contact the Sexual Misconduct Office at 405-325-2215 (8 to 5, M-F) or OU Advocates at 405-615-0013 (24/7).

Also, please be advised that a professor/GA/TA is required to report instances of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or discrimination to the Sexual Misconduct Office. For more information, please see http://www.ou.edu/eoo.

Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact your professor or the Disability Resource Center at 405/325-3852 as soon as possible. Please see http://www.ou.edu/

eoo/faqs/pregnancy-faqs.html for answers to commonly asked questions.