Weather & Climate Lab(012)

START:
January 17, 2017
DURATION:
M 3:30-5:20
ID:
METR 1014.012

Address

Sarkeys Energy Center Room P207, Norman, OK 73072   View map

Categories

Spring 2017

Time: Monday 3:30-5:20
Room: SEC M207

Laboratory Instructor:   Morris

E-mail: mtmorris@ou.edu

Office hours: Mondays 2:00-3:15 PM or by appointment

I will hold my weekly office hours in room 410A of Sarkey’s Energy Center. I also have an office in the National Weather Center (NWC 5115) in which we can meet by appointment.

My job as your Teaching Assistant is to help you understand the presented material, but I can’t help if you don’t ask me questions. If you have a conflict with my scheduled office hours, or a question arises that you would prefer to discuss sooner than the scheduled hours, feel free to e-mail me.  I will do my best to respond in a timely manner.

Course Description:

This lab will cover a wide range of topics about weather and climate and serves as a complement to the material covered in the METR 1014 lectures.

Course Goals:  1) To gain an understanding of how material presented is used in real world applications and 2) To gain hands-on experience using some of the methods and techniques used in weather and climate studies.

Course Materials:

Text: C. Donald Ahrens, Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere, (We will not be directly using the textbook in class, but you are encouraged to bring it since it is a valuable reference text for your lab assignments)

Weekly Labs: Printed off from Canvas website prior to the beginning of class.

Other lab Supplies: Pencil, colored pencils, calculator

 

Laboratory Expectations:

Each student is required to do their own lab and turn in a lab report. Discussion of the lab concepts amongst your classmates is encouraged, however I expect you to come up with your own answers to the questions asked.  Late lab reports will not be accepted unless there are extenuating circumstances that have been brought to my attention and cleared. If extenuating circumstances arise and have been cleared, the lab must be made up within a week of the missed class period.

Attendance:

Attendance in lab session is MANDATORY. I will not take attendance at the beginning of class, but I will know who is there by who turns in their lab. I will not accept a lab turned in by a friend. In order to turn in a lab, you must hand it in yourself.

If you need to miss a lab due to athletic or religious reasons please inform me as soon as possible, but by no later than one week prior to the missed class. It may be possible for you to attend an

alternate lab session, but this first must be cleared with the proper teaching assistant. I understand that sometimes you will need to miss a lab due to illness or unavoidable circumstances (ex. a family emergency) and will not be able to provide the required one week notice. Please let me know as soon as possible before class and other arrangements can be made for you to receive credit for your lab.

Unexcused absences are not tolerated. If you miss a class and fail to notify me before class begins, you will receive a zero for the day and will not be allowed the opportunity to make it up at a later date.

Lab Structure:

We will start each lab promptly at the stated starting time. Please make your best effort to arrive on time, not only because walking in late disrupts the class, but also because you could miss important class instructions and announcements.

Be sure to come prepared. This means bringing a pencil, eraser, calculator, and sometimes colored pencils to each class. You must also print out and bring your lab to every class because I will not have extra copies of the lab with me.  I will not accept a loose-leaf sheet of paper with the answers written on it. If you fail to bring your lab to class, you may go to the library in Sarkey’s Energy Center to print it out but you will likely have to pay a small fee.

I will give a brief introduction to each lab before you start on your assignment. This is a good time to ask questions if you have any. However, I always welcome and encourage questions as you complete your labs during the class period.

Labs are to be completed in class only. The two hours allotted to class should be sufficient to complete each lab, so please use your time effectively. Labs are due at the end of each lab period.

DO NOT WORK ON THE LAB EXERCISE BEFORE CLASS!! This will be considered a form of cheating, and will result in a score of zero on that particular lab.

Make-Up Work:

If you have an excused absence and need to make up a lab, you have exactly one week to complete it without penalty.  Otherwise, the grade for the lab will be recorded as a zero.  This is because I will return the current week’s lab the following week, and if I have already returned the lab to the rest of the class then I will not be able to accept yours. For making up labs, you may either complete the lab during my office hours, make an appointment to meet with me in my NWC office, or you can simply bring the completed lab to me. For making up lab quizzes you must meet me during my office hours or make an appointment to meet with me in my NWC office.

 

Grading: 
Lab exercises60%
Lab quizzes (5)40%

 

Your final lab grade will account for 25% of your total grade in the course. The labs will be graded for the most part on accuracy. You may lose points for sloppy or illegible work, so please be as neat as possible. At the end of the semester, I will drop the percentage grade of your lowest lab exercise.

 

There will be a total of 5 quizzes over lab material throughout the semester. They will be announced and discussed in class the week before they are given.  Quiz grades will not be dropped.

Correspondence:

When sending me e-mails, please use your OU e-mail address and put METR 1014: last name in the subject line.  I receive many e-mails and this will ensure that yours are read before the others.

Classroom Courtesy:

Cell phones, pagers, and watch alarms should be turned off or put to silent before coming to lab.

Canvas Website:

I will be using Canvas in this lab for posting grades, lab notes, and other important information. You can find this at https://canvas.ou.edu.  Please check it regularly for announcements.

Accommodation of Students with Disabilities

The University of Oklahoma is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who require accommodations in this course are requested to speak with the instructor as early in the semester as possible. 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. You may contact the office at 405-325-3852 (voice) or 405-325-4173 (TDD).

Academic Misconduct

Cheating will not be tolerated and will be reported. No exceptions, no excuses. Those found cheating will be penalized under the OU Academic Misconduct Code, which can be found at  http://www.ou.edu/provost/integrity. In short, if you cheat, expect to be removed from the course and to receive an F for the course.

 

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 me as soon as possible to discuss.

Generally, modifications will be made where medically necessary and similar in scope to accommodations based on temporary disability. Please see  www.ou.edu/content/eoo/faqs/pregnancy-faqs.html for commonly asked questions.

 

Title IX Resources

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, counseling services, mutual no contact orders, scheduling adjustments and disciplinary sanctions against the perpetrator. Please contact the Sexual Misconduct Office 405- 325-2215 (8-5, M-F) or the Sexual Assault Response Team 405-615-0013 (24.7) to learn more or to report an incident.

 

METR 1014-012 Lab Schedule for Spring 2017

**Tentative and subject to change**

 

Week Beginning:Lab:
January 16No labs
January 23Lab 1: North American Geography
January 30Lab 2: Dimensions and Units
February 6Lab 3: Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere
February 13Lab 4: Radiation and the Satellite Interpretation
February 20Lab 5: Annual Temperature Patterns
February 27Lab 6: Atmospheric Moisture
March 6Lab 7: Saturation and Atmospheric Stability
March 13No Class (Spring Break)
March 20Lab 8: Atmospheric Motion
March 27Lab 9: Isopleths, Advection, and Global Circulation
April 3Lab 10: Air Masses, Fronts, and Mid-latitude Cyclones
April 10Lab 11: Weather Map Analysis
April 17Lab 12:  Tornadoes
April 24Lab 13: Hurricanes
May 1Lab 14: Climate Change