Geophysical Flows

ATM S 501 Fundamentals of Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere (5)

Fundamentals of hydrostatics, thermodynamics, radiation, cloud physics, and atmospheric chemistry. Offered: A.
Instructor Course Description: John M Wallace

ATM S 503 Atmospheric Motions I (3)

Basic equations governing atmospheric motions and their elementary applications; circulation and vorticity; dynamics of midlatitude disturbances. Offered: A.
Instructor Course Description: Cecilia Bitz

ATM S 504 Atmospheric Motions II (5)

Wave dynamics, numerical prediction, development of midlatitude synoptic systems, and general circulation. Prerequisite: either ATM S 441 or ATM S 503. Offered: W.
Instructor Course Description: David S Battisti

ATM S 509 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I (4)

Dynamics of rotating stratified fluid flow in the atmosphere/ocean and laboratory analogues. Equations of state, compressibility, Boussinesq approximation. Geostrophic balance, Rossby number. Poincare, Kelvin, Rossby waves, geostrophic adjustment. Ekman layers. Continuously stratified dynamics: Inertia-gravity waves, potential vorticity, quasigeostrophy. Prerequisite: ATM S/AMATH 505/OCEAN 511. Offered: jointly with OCEAN 512; W.

ATM S 535 Cloud Microphysics and Dynamics (3)

Basic concepts of cloud microphysics, water continuity in clouds, cloud dynamics, and cloud models. Prerequisite: ATM S 501 or permission of instructor. Offered: jointly with ESS 573; Sp.

ATM S 542 Synoptic and Mesoscale Dynamics (3)

Quasi-geostrophic theory, baroclinic instability, symmetric instability, tropical disturbances, frontogenesis, orographic disturbances, convective storms. Prerequisite: ATM S 509/OCEAN 512 and AMATH 402 or equivalents. Offered: Sp.

ATM S 545 General Circulation of Atmosphere (3)

Requirements of the global angular momentum, heat, mass, and energy budgets upon atmospheric motions as deduced from observations. Study of the physical processes through which these budgets are satisfied. Prerequisite: ATM S 509/OCEAN 512 or permission of instructor. Offered: A.

ATM S 547 Boundary Layer Meteorology (3)

Turbulence, turbulent fluxes, averaging. Convection and shear instability. Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, surface roughness. Wind profiles. Organized large eddies. Energy fluxes at ocean and land surfaces, diurnal cycle. Convective and stably stratified boundary layers. Cloud-topped boundary layers. Remote sensing. Boundary layer modeling and parameterization. Prerequisite: ATM S 505, AMATH 505, or OCEAN 511. Offered: alternate years; Sp.

ATM S 551 Atmospheric Structure and Analysis I: Synoptic Scale Systems (4)

Extratropical cyclones and cyclogenesis. Jet streams. Upper waves in the westerlies. Diagnosis of vertical motions. Fronts and frontogenesis. Prerequisite: ATM S 502 and ATM S 509/OCEAN 512. Offered: alternate years; A.

ATM S 556 Planetary-Scale Dynamics (3)

Zonally symmetric circulations, planetary waves, equatorial waves, dynamics of the middle atmosphere, trace constituent transport, nonlinear aspects of atmospheric flows. Prerequisite: ATM S 542 or permission of instructor. Offered: alternate years; Sp.

ATM S 560 Atmosphere/Ocean Interactions (3)

Observations and theory of phenomena of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system. El Nino/Southern Oscillation; decadal tropical variability; atmospheric teleconnections; midlatitude atmosphere-ocean variability. Overview of essential ocean and atmospheric dynamics, where appropriate. Credit/no credit only. Prerequisite: ATM S 509/OCEAN 512. Offered: jointly with OCEAN 560; alternate years; Sp.

ATM S 575 Large Scale Dynamics of the Tropical Atmosphere (3)

Observations and underlying dynamics of large-scale tropical circulations. Factors that determine regions of large-scale persistent precipitation in the tropics, thermal forcing of atmospheric circulations by these regions, and temporal variability of the forcing and response. Prerequisite: ATM S 509/OCEAN 512, ATM S 542. Offered: alternate years; W.

CEE 572 Water Wave Mechanics (3)

Theory of water waves. Classical water wave problem and approximate solution techniques. Evolution equations for and their solutions wave systems. Viscous damping effects and mass transport. Nonlinear shallow-water waves and the Korteweg-deVries equation. Waves on beaches. Prerequisite: CEE 342 or permission of instructor; recommended: graduate-level course in fluid mechanics.

ESS 514 Geophysics: Fluids (3)

Geophysical fluid dynamics. Fluids in geophysics with emphasis on the oceans. Development of the equations of motion with examples drawn from oceanography and solid earth geophysics. Includes advanced, research-oriented problems. Prerequisite: PHYS 322, MATH 307 and MATH 308 or equivalent.

ESS 516 Geophysics: The Atmosphere (3)

Phenomena of the lower atmosphere: some simple applications of the principles of classical thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and radiative transfer to the atmospheric hydrological cycle, global energy balance, and atmospheric dynamics and climate. Includes advanced, research-oriented problems. Prerequisite: ESS 514.
Instructor Course Description: Gerard H Roe

ESS 524 Numerical Heat and Mass Flow Modeling in the Earth Sciences (3)

Numerical solution of steady and transient advective-diffusion equations describing heat and mass transport processes in Earth Sciences, emphasizing finite-volume methods and their relationship to finite-difference and finite-element methods. Topics include discretization methods; coordinate systems; boundary conditions; accuracy; and stability. Prerequisite: MATH 307; MATH 308 or equivalent, or permission of instructor. Offered: Sp; alternate years.

ESS 526 Sediment Dynamics and Boundary-Layer Physics (4)

Theoretical descriptions of sediment transport processes constrained by laboratory demonstrations. The physics of boundary layers, initiation of motion, suspended load, bedload, bedforms, and continua transport (turbidity currents, debris flows, and suspensions) and its application to the geological record. Offered: jointly with OCEAN 542.

ESS 529 Principles of Fluid Dynamics, Heat, and Mass Transfer in Earth Sciences (3)

Introduction to the quantitative treatment of transport phenomena with applications to mantle and magma convection, volcanic eruptions, landslides, porous flow, and reaction. Emphasis on the governing equations of fluid dynamics including porous and multiple flow, chaotic convection, mixing, heat transfer, rheology, analytical, numerical, and scaling solutions.

ESS 573 Cloud Microphysics and Dynamics (3)

Basic concepts of cloud microphysics, water continuity in clouds, cloud dynamics, and cloud models. Prerequisite: ATM S 501 or permission of instructor. Offered: jointly with ATM S 535.

OCEAN 501 Estuarine Circulation and Mixing (3)

Observed patterns of currents, mixing, and stratification from deep fjords to shallow coastal plain estuaries. Physical understanding of basic processes, such as tides, wind stress, topographic effects on turbulence, sill hydraulics, and exchange flow. Vertical mixing and residence times important to biological and pollution studies. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

OCEAN 510 Physics of Ocean Circulation (3)

Structure of ocean basins; physical properties of seawater and the equation of state; heat, salt, fresh water budgets; tidal potential; Coriolis effect and geostrophic balance; major current systems and water masses; mixing, stirring in the ocean; simple waves; modern experimental methods in physical oceanography. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Offered: A.

OCEAN 512 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I (4)

Dynamics of rotating stratified fluid flow in the atmosphere/ocean and laboratory analogues. Equations of state, compressibility, Boussinesq approximation. Geostrophic balance, Rossby number. Poincare, Kelvin, Rossby waves, geostrophic adjustment. Ekman layers. Continuously stratified dynamics: Inertia-gravity waves, potential vorticity, quasigeostrophy. Prerequisite: OCEAN 511 or ATM S/AMATH 505. Offered: jointly with ATM S 509; W.

OCEAN 513 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics II (3)

Theories, models of large-scale dynamics of oceans, atmospheres. Potential vorticity, Q principles; Rossby waves, ray tracing, Green’ s function, setup of general circulation; atmospheric “channels” versus ocean “basins”; wave-mean flow interaction, mountain drag, internal momentum flux; “Lagrangian” motion of particles, tracers; cascades, eddy flux of heat, moisture, Q. Prerequisite: OCEAN 512. Offered: Sp.

OCEAN 514 Waves (3)

Application of marine hydrodynamics principles to wave motion in oceans. Offered: W.

OCEAN 515 Ocean Circulation: Observations (3)

Modern large- and mesoscale ocean observations, interpreted in terms of contemporary circulation theories. Spectrum of temporal variability; eddies and eddy fluxes; ventilation; advection and diffusion in the abyss; transports of heat and salt; climatic scale of variability; modern methods for determining circulation. Prerequisite: OCEAN 510 or permission of instructor. Offered: Sp.

OCEAN 516 Ocean Circulation: Theories (3)

Hydrodynamic theories concerning origin and characteristics of major ocean currents. Prerequisite: OCEAN 512 or permission of instructor.

OCEAN 541 Marine Sedimentary Processes (3)

Investigates fundamental process of marine sedimentation, including equations characterizing boundary-shear flows, initiation of grain motion, bedload and suspended-load transport, and sediment accumulation. Applies concepts to sediment dispersal in rivers, deltas, estuaries, beaches, continental shelves, slopes, and rises, with emphasis on the relationships between active processes and resulting deposits.

OCEAN 542 Sediment Dynamics and Boundary-Layer Physics (4)

Theoretical descriptions of sediment transport processes constrained by laboratory demonstrations. The physics of boundary layers, initiation of motion, suspended load, bedload, bedforms, and continua transport (turbidity currents, debris flows, and suspensions) and its application to the geological record. Offered: jointly with ESS 526; W.
Instructor Course Description: Jeffrey D Parsons

OCEAN 560 Atmosphere/Ocean Interactions (3)

Observations and theory of phenomena of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system. El Nino/Southern Oscillation; decadal tropical variability; atmospheric teleconnections; midlatitude atmosphere-ocean variability. Overview of essential ocean and atmospheric dynamics, where appropriate. Credit/no credit only. Prerequisite: ATM S 509 or OCEAN 512. Offered: jointly with ATM S 560; alternate years; Sp.

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