Instructor
Raymond W. Arritt
email: mteor605@gmail.com
3009 Agronomy Hall
phone: 515-294-9870
Office Hours: By appointment (usually you can just drop in).
This course provides students with an understanding of boundary layers and atmospheric turbulence both in fundamental
and applied settings.
This includes both basic physical concepts and ability
to apply these concepts to real-world problems in research and applications.
Students also will study how the planetary boundary layer interacts with other parts of the earth system.
Although there are core concepts that must be covered, we can modify the course to fit student needs and interests.
Textbook:
Stull, R.B., 1988: An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISBN: 978-9027727695.
This is an excellent textbook despite being somewhat old. We will supplement the text with journal articles and other readings.
25% - Midterm exam. Tentatively scheduled for October 17.
25% - Class assignments (homework, in-class exercises, other assignments).
25% - Semester project. Each student will design and complete a project in which they use data analysis or modeling (or both) to explore a problem in atmospheric turbulence. You will present results from your project in a written manuscript, and in an oral presentation in a format similar to a professional society conference.
25% - Final exam
Following is an approximate weekly schedule of topics and readings. This schedule will change depending on how long it takes to cover the material as well as student interests.
I may be absent a few days during the semester. We will need to schedule a regular makeup time for these classes. These dates will indicated by "TBMU" (for "to be made up").
| Week | Topic | Reading | Assignments due |
| Aug 22-24 | Introduction: What is boundary-layer meteorology? Student input on course focus and topics. Quantifying physical properties: closed equations; mean and fluctuations; statistical properties. Summation notation. | Stull, chapters 1 and 2. | Aug 24: Stull problems 1.1, 1.7. |
| Aug 29-31 | Stress; eddy fluxes. Governing equations. | Stull, chapter 3. A quick reference on tensor notation. |
Aug 29 : Submit semester project topic for approval.
Aug 31: Stull problems 2.7, 2.8. |
| Sep 5-7 | Governing equations: separation into mean and turbulent components. | Stull, chapter 3 Some notes on the Coriolis term. | Sep 7: Stull, problems 3.8, 3.23. |
| Sep 12-14 | Governing equations: scaling and approximations. Equations for fluxes and variances. | Stull, chapters 3, 4. | Stull problem 3.6 and supplementary problem. |
| Sep 19-21 | Equations for fluxes and variances. | Stull, chapter 4. | Stull problems 4.2, 4.4, 4.9. |
| Sep 26-28 | Turbulent kinetic energy equation. | Stull, chapter 5. | Sep 28: Submit prospectus for semester project. Requirements for project prospectus. |
| Oct 3-5 | Turbulent kinetic energy equation. The Richardson number and the Obukhov length. | Stull, chapter 5.
Link to original Taylor (1931) article on the critical Richardson number. Remarks on writing research proposals. |
Oct 5: Stull, problems 5.3, 5.5, 5.22(a,b). (In problem 5.5, for "terms" read "term or terms.") Supplementary problem. |
| Oct 10-12 | Dimensionless profile functions. Turbulence closure (start). | Stull, chapter 6 (skip section 6.8). | Stull, problems 5.17, 5.12. |
| Oct 17-19 | Midterm exam on October 17. Click here for details.
Turbulence closure. |
Stull, chapter 6. Troen and Mahrt, 1986: A simple model of the atmospheric boundary layer: sensitivity to surface evaporation. Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 37, 129–148. | |
| Oct 24-26 | Turbulence closure. | Stull, chapter 6. | Oct 26: Stull, problems 6.2, 6.14, 6.15. |
| Oct 31-Nov 2 | Turbulence closure. Boundary conditions. | Stull, chapter 7.
Mellor and Yamada (1974) original article on level 2, 3 and 4 closure schemes. Mellor and Yamada (1982) update and introduction of the level 2.5 scheme. Kopp and Lean (2011) article on updated value of the solar constant. |
Nov 2: Submit progress report for semester project. Requirements for progress report |
| Nov 7-9 | Boundary conditions. | Stull, chapter 7. | Nov 7: Stull, problems 7.2, 7.4 and 7.8.
In problem 7.2 use a date of Nov 7 instead of Dec 25. Also replace Madison, Wisconsin with Ames, Iowa and replace Munich, West Germany with your birthplace. In problem 7.8 interpret the data as a (very short) time series under statistically stationary conditions. |
Nov 14-16 | Similarity theory. | Stull, chapter 9 | Nov 16: Homework: Analysis of time series data.
Link to data set (netCDF version). Link to data set (ASCII version). |
| Nov 21-23 | Thanksgiving Break - No class. | Freedom and turkey | Rest and relaxation |
| Nov 28-30 | Low-level jets. | Low level jets: Whiteman et al., 1997: Low-level jet climatology from enhanced rawinsonde observations at a site in the southern Great Plains. J. Appl. Meteor. 36, 1363-1376. |
Nov 30: Written semester project reports due. Cannot be turned in late. Final report guidelines. |
| Dec 5-7 |
Semester project presentations. Presentation schedule. |
||
| Dec 14
noon-2:00 p.m. |
Final exam. |
The class will follow Iowa State University’s policy on academic dishonesty. As required by ISU policy all cases will be reported to the Dean of Students Office. See http://www.dso.iastate.edu/ja/academic/misconduct.html for details.
This class follows the Iowa State University Dead Week policy as noted in section 10.6.4 of the Faculty Handbook: http://www.provost.iastate.edu/resources/faculty-handbook
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