Educational Materials:

Learn more about:

• the composition and vertical structure of the atmosphere
• different types of energy and heat in the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect
• what creates the seasons and daily temperature variations
• optical phenomena such as rainbows, halos, glory and colorful skies
• moisture in the atmosphere and moisture variables
• how fog and haze forms
• cloud identification
• cloud development and atmospheric stability
• types of precipitation and how they form
• what creates wind
• the basics of boundary layer structure and evolution and small-scale weather phenomena
• global weather systems - the jet stream, ocean currents, and El Nino
• air masses and fronts
• midlatitude cyclones (the highs and lows) - their structure and evolution
• forecasting the weather
• severe weather
• hurricanes
• air pollution
• climate classification and global climate
• global and regional climate change

More Advanced Materials:

• USAF SkewT Manual(pdf)
• Aviation Meteorology
  • Pressure and Density Altitude Spreadsheet (Excel format spreadsheet)
• Atmospheric Dynamics
  • Introduction to Atmospheric Dynamics
  • Wind Fields and their Kinematics
  • Equations Governing the Atmosphere
  • Boundary Layer Forcing
  • The General Circulation
  • Basic Equations in Vector Form
  • Baroclinic (Quasi-geostrophic) Waves
• Remote Sensing Topics:
  • theory and data interpretation of conventional radar
  • theory and data interpretation of Doppler radar
  • the WSR-88D Doppler Weather Radar
  • wind Profilers
  • RASS
  • sodars
  • Satellites: orbital coverage, types, data, and data interpretation
  • Lidars
  • GPS Remote Sensing
  • Cloud Radars
  • Bistatic Radars
  • Cloud Photogrammetry
• Boundary Layer Meteorology
  • Boundary Layer Definition and Importance
  • General Characteristics and Evolution of the Boundary Layer
  • Introduction to Turbulence, TKE, and fluxes
  • Turbulence Kinetic Energy Budget and Stability
  • Boundary Conditions and Surface Forcings
  • Approximating (parameterizing) Surface Fluxes
  • Turbulence Closure Techniques and Ekman Pumping
  • Observations of the Boundary Layer
  • Boundary Layer Phenomena
  • The Arctic Boundary Layer