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GEOG 531
GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CLIMATOLOGY
( 3 units)
SPRING 2009 12:30 –
1:45 pm Tue &
Thu / Integrated
Learning Center (ILC) room 129
SPRING 2009
CLASS SCHEDULE
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The goal of this advanced course in climatology is to
provide a detailed description, understanding, and analysis
of the global and regional weather patterns and
atmospheric circulation processes that produce differences
in climates throughout the world.
In addition to a general overview of global
atmospheric processes and regional climatic patterns, the
course will emphasize the earth's problem climates and those
climatically sensitive zones that are most susceptible to
floods, droughts, and other climatic extremes. The course
will emphasize the interaction between global and regional
climates and the linkages between global atmospheric changes
and regional climatic responses as they are manifested in
synoptic-scale features and processes in different parts of
the world.
Online data resources will provide the basis for an
up-to-date technical analysis of regional weather and
climate patterns.
Prerequisites
an introductory meteorology or climatology course:
ATMO/GEOG 171, GEOG 230 or equivalent; those who have taken
GEOG 430/530 will be especially well prepared to take full
advantage of this course.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
(1)
to provide an in-depth treatment of the causes of
regional weather and climatic patterns and processes in
terms of synoptic atmospheric circulation patterns
(2)
to examine and analyze regional examples of
processes driven by the energy and moisture fluxes at the
global scale
(3)
to provide the climatic basis for a critical
evaluation of some of the most urgent regional
climate‑related extreme-events facing us today;
especially floods and droughts
(4)
to provide a sound climate-based foundation
for the analysis of climatic environments of the past
and/or future and a physical basis for the
interpretation of climates in different parts of the world
using modeling and/or paleoenvironmental techniques
INSTRUCTOR:
Katie Hirschboeck,
Associate Professor of Climatology, Laboratory of Tree-Ring
Research
Office:
208 West Stadium
(go up the stairs at Gate 15 to second level and turn
left)
Phone:
621-6466
E-mail:
katie@LTRR.arizona.edu
Office Hours:
Wed 1:30 – 3:00 pm (tentative) / or by appointment
arranged via email
TEXTBOOK / READINGS:
Bridgman, H.A. &
Oliver, J.E. The
Global Climate System – Patterns, Processes, and
Teleconnections. Cambridge University Press
Additional Readings & Useful References:
Selected recent articles in
Monthly Weather Review, Journal of Climate,
and related scientific journals will be identified by both
instructor and students and assigned throughout the
semester.
Trewartha, Glenn T. (1981)
The
Earth's Problem Climates, 2nd edition.
University of Wisconsin Press, 372 pp.
(This classic and unique text provides a thorough treatment
of the atmospheric patterns and processes that are
distinctive to each continent – inspired the Bridgman &
Oliver text – some lectures based in part on this text.)
Selected
chapters in World
Survey of Climatology, volumes 1 through 15, H.E. Landsberg,
editor‑ in‑chief, Elsevier Publishing Company. [QC 981.W67]
Permanently located in the Science Reference
Collection.
World
Atlas, any recent
edition - for
reference as we discuss the weather and climate on each
continent.
GRADING CRITERIA
Grade will be based on a assignments and exams distributed
as follows:
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Graded Activity
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Percentage
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Background Homework
Assignments
( 3)
&
Electronic Atlas Exercises
(6-7)
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50 %
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Midterm Exam
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25 %
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Term Project
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25 %
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Total possible
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100
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OTHER COURSE
GUIDELINES & POLICIES
Academic
Integrity:
A synopsis of the University of Arizona's Code of Academic
Integrity can be found at:
http://dos.web.arizona.edu/uapolicies/cai1.html
You are responsible
for knowing it, understanding it, and adhering to it.
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