ATMO 708 General Circulation of the Atmosphere

Instructor: Dr. Hongwei Sun (Guest Lecturer: Dr. Fei-Fei Jin)

Syllabus can be found here.

Course Description: This course covers selected materials in theory, observations, large-scale analyses, and global model simulations that describe characteristic large-scale circulation of the atmosphere. The theoretical part aims at providing students with an understanding of the physical and dynamical processes responsible for the observed, analyzed, and simulated large-scale circulation of the earth’s atmosphere. The diagnostic part describes main features of the general circulation of the atmosphere, illustrates how the global atmospheric wind systems organize themselves to satisfy the conservation laws of physics, and highlights how primary processes can be distinguished from secondary processes in the complex atmospheric system. Main features of the general circulation of the atmosphere to be described and understood include the zonally averaged climatology (e.g., the global energy balance, the easterly trade winds, the storm tracks, the westerly jets in the midlatitudes, the Hadley cell in the tropics, the Ferrell cell in the midlatitudes) and the asymmetric features of the general circulation (such as stationary waves in the midlatitudes, Atlantic and Pacific storm zones, tropical monsoon systems, blocking of the midlatitude flow, teleconnection patterns, and interactions between transient and steady eddies). The course allows students to have a hands-on experience to create their own climate statistics using readily available software and data sets, and enhances students’ ability to use theoretical tools to gain insight into various aspects of the general circulation of the atmosphere.