METR 125 Physical Meteorology:Radiation and Cloud Physics

Lecture 1: Green-sheet and Introduction

Professor Menglin Susan JinSan Jose State University, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science

Outline of today’s lecture

1. Introduction and Welcome2. Discussion on the “greensheet”3. Learning Contract4. First glance on class roadmap5. Survey

For greensheet, class ppt notes, homework, reading materials

http://www.met.sjsu.edu/~jin/METR125.htm

About Professor

1.

2. to be an effective teacher

3.

www.met.sjsu.edu/~jin

Research projects: funded by NASA, NSF, Department of DefenseOn land surface climate change, urbanization, remote sensing

20 leading author papers on top journals

Goal of METR125METR125 discusses the fundamentals of

Solar RadiationRadiation Transfer Basics

Cloud and Rainfall FormationAerosol-Cloud interaction

Atmospheric ElectricitySatellite Observations

Broaden knowledge with Important papers

Enhance student self study and team-study skills

Content (see greensheet schedule)Part 1: Atmospheric Optics and Radiative Transfer

Part 2: CLOUD Macrophysics and MicrophysicsClouds FormationWarm CloudCold Cloud Aerosol-cloud-rainfall interaction

Part 3. Lightning and Atmospheric Electricity

Book and Reading:

•A First Course in Atmospheric Radiation by Grant W. Petty (Required) •2006 Wallace and Hobbs Atmospheric Science (Required)

• more materials will be assigned on webpage/homework/class

Lecture Hour:

MW 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Place: DH615

Office Hour: 9:30 PM‐10:30 PM, Wednesday12:00-13:00 Tuesday

Place: MSJ’s Office (DH621)

METR215

•I will meet with you for extra office hour whenever you need. •send email for appointment.

TA

• Henry Bartholomew <yyyhenry@yahoo.com>

Extra Help

• Dr. Martin leach – guest lecture on optics and aerosols

• Departmental Seminars

Homework: 20%Midterm Exam 1: 15%Midterm Exam 2: 15%

Midterm 3: 15%Class Participation 5%Research Project: 15%

Final Exam: 15%Scale: 90+ A, 80’s B, 70’s C, 60’s D, <60 F

Homework will be assigned on Tuesdays in class collected in discussions on two weeks later.

Learning Contract

• Instructor– On time and prepared.– Answers questions.– Approachable and friendly.– Fair with assignments and grades.– Genuinely concerned about your learning and

intellectual development.

Learning Contract• Students

– Make every effort to arrive on time; and if late, enter class quietly.

– Preserve a good classroom learning environment by a) refraining from talking when other people

are talking b) turning off cell phones.

– Be courteous to other students and the instructor.– Aware that learning is primarily their responsibility.– Aware of universities policy on academic integrity

and pledge to abide by them at all times. – Have read and understand what plagiarism is and

know how to cite sources properly.

Academic Integrity• Integrity of university, its courses and

degrees relies on academic standards.• Cheating:

– Copying from another’s test, cheatsheet etc.– Sitting an exam by, or as, a surrogate.– Submitting work for another

• Plagiarism:– Representing the work of another as one’s own

(without giving appropriate credit)

Plagiarism• Judicial Affairs

http://sa.sjsu.edu/judicial_affairs/index.html

• Look at the Student Code of Conduct

• Read through SJSU library site on Plagiarism

http://www.sjlibrary.org/services/literacy/info_comp/plagiarism.htm

• http://turnitin.com/

GreenSheet (see handout)

• Homework turn-in on time, will be stated in the homework, in general, 1 week after the assignment

• Class Participation

• Research Project

• Final grade

Let’s see where this class stands in the big picture….

.

Chapter 1 Petty

One World

PHYS 622 - Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

Earth’s Radiation Budget - Schematic

Radiative ComponentsNet short-wave radiation =

short-wave down - short-wave up

Net long-wave radiation =

long-wave down - long-wave upNet radiation (R net) =

net short-wave radiation + net long-wave radiationPositive values represent energy moving towards thesurface, negative values represent energy moving awayfrom the surface.

the latitude (distance from the Equator) what season it is the time of day

cloudiness

How much radiation reaches any given spot depends on

Atmosphere Composition and Structure

Table 1: Composition of the Atmosphere

GasPercentage by Volume

Nitrogen 78.08

Oxygen 20.95

Argon 0.93

Trace GasesCarbon dioxide 0.038Methane 0.00017Ozone 0.000004Chlorofluorocarbons 0.00000002Water vapor Highly variable

(0-4%)

Vertical Layers of the Lower Atmosphere

Pressure in the Atmosphere

•Atmospheric pressure can be imagined as the weight of the overlying column of air. •pressure decreases exponentially with altitude.

•but 80 percent of the atmosphere’s mass is contained within the 18 km closest to the surface.

•measured in millibars (mb)

•At sea level, pressure ranges from about 960 to 1,050 mb, with an average of 1,013 mb.

1. Evaporation, transpiration (plants)

2. Atmospheric transport (vapor)

3. Condensation (liquid water, ice)

4. Precipitation

5. Surface transport (continental rivers, aquifers and ocean currents)

Earth’s Hydrological Cycle - Schematic

PHYS 622 - Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

Why Clouds?• Weather

– Dynamics: Latent heat and/or radiative effects impacting atmospheric stability/instability, atmospheric heating/cooling

– Radiation (e.g., surface heating)

• Chemical processes

• Climate– General circulation– Hydrological cycle– Radiation budget

Clouds are a critical component of climate models (for reasons cited above) and therefore also to climate change studies

• Not well-represented in climate models• Climate change: cloud-climate feedback, cloud-aerosol

interactions (to be discussed), etc.

PHYS 622 - Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

PHYS 622 - Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

PHYS 622 - Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

Cold front - steep frontal slopes

Warm front - shallow frontal slopes

Convective development (mesoscale, local)

Synoptic development

PHYS 622 - Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

Relevance for Remote Sensing

Absorption (attenuation)

• The process in which incident radiant energy is retained by a substance. – A further process always results from

absorption:• The irreversible conversion of the absorbed

radiation goes into some other form of energy (usually heat) within the absorbing medium.

substance (air, water, ice, smog, etc.)

incidentradiation

absorption

transmittedradiation

Atmospheric Constituents:

empty spacemoleculesdust and pollutantssalt particlesvolcanic materialscloud dropletsrain dropsice crystals

Optical phenomena

process + atmosphericconstituent

opticalphenomena

atmosphericstructure

light

Atmospheric Structure

temperature gradient

humidity gradient

clouds

layers of stuff - pollutants, clouds

Atmosphere Window

GOES-8/10 diagram

Channel 1: 0.52-0.72 m (Visible)

– Clouds– Pollution– Haze– Severe storms

Channel 2: 3.78-4.03m (Shortwave infrared)

– Nighttime fog– Nighttime SSTs– Liquid vs. ice clouds– Fires and volcanoes

Channel 3: 6.47-7.02 m (Upper-level water vapor)

– Standard water vapor

– Mid-level moisture– Mid-level motion

Channel 4: 10.2-11.2 m (Longwave infrared)

– Standard IR channel– Winds– Severe storms– Heavy rainfall

Channel 5: 11.5-12.5 m (Infrared/water vapor)

– Low-level moisture– SSTs– Volcanic dust or ash

Sounder IR bands 2, 3, 4 and 5 (temperature)

Sounder IR bands 8, 10, 11 and 12 (water vapor)

EOS A-train

The Afternoon Train, or "A-Train", for short, is a constellation of satellites that travel one behind the other, along the same track, as they orbit Earth. Four satellites currently fly in the A-Train - Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, and Aura. Glory, GCOM-W1, and OCO-2 are scheduled to join the configuration in 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively. The A-Train satellites cross the equator within a few minutes of each other at around 1:30 p.m. local time. By combining different sets of nearly simultaneous observations from these satellites, scientists are able to study important parameters related to climate change.