Course

Unit I

Earth – Atmosphere system – Introduction, Composition and structure, Radiative equilibrium, Energy budget, General circulation, Historical perspectives, Weather & Climate

Unit II

Atmospheric thermodynamics – Ideal gas law, First law of thermodynamics, Atmospheric composition, Hydrostatic balance, Entropy & potential temperature, Parcel concepts, Available potential energy, Moisture in the atmosphere, Saturated adiabatic lapse rate, Tephigram, Cloud formation
Atmospheric radiation – Basic physical concepts, Radiative transfer equation, basic spectroscopy of molecules, Transmittance, Absorption by atmospheric gases, Heating rates, Greenhouse effect revisited, Simple scattering model.

Unit III

Basic fluid dynamics – Mass conservation, material derivative, alternative form of continuity equation, equation of state for the atmosphere, Navier-Stokes equation, Rotating frames of reference, equations of motion in coordinate form, geostrophic and hydrostatic approximation, Pressure coordinates and geopotential, Thermodynamic energy equation; Atmospheric fluid dynamics – vorticity and potential vorticity, Boussinesq approximation, Quasi-geostrophic motion, Gravity waves, Rossby waves, Boundary layers, Instability

Unit IV

Stratospheric chemistry – Thermodynamics and chemical reactions, Chemical kinetics, Bimolecular reactions, Photo-dissociation, Stratospheric ozone, Transport of chemicals, Antarctic ozone hole.
Atmospheric remote sounding – Observations, remote sounding from space and ground; Atmospheric modeling – Hierarchy of models, Numerical methods, Uses of complex numerical models, Lab models

Unit V

Climate change – Introduction, energy balance model, some solutions of the linearised energy balance model, Climatic feedbacks, Radiative forcing due to increase in Carbon dioxide.
Projects based on Modules 4 and 5 (Reading a journal paper & reproducing calculations, Numerical modeling and / or data analyses)

OBJECTIVE: To enable students to understand the atmosphere of Earth and the climate change.

Course outcomes:

1. Be able to describe the basic structure of an atmosphere and the climate system.
2. Be able to use fundamental thermodynamics to derive expressions for the variation of temperature, pressure, and air density with height.
3. Be able to explain fundamental fluid dynamics involved in atmosphere.
4. Be able to explain stratospheric chemistry approach involved in atmosphere.
5. Be able to describe the detailed explanation of climate change.

 CO – PO Mapping

TEXTBOOKS/REFERENCES

1. Andrews DG: An introduction to atmospheric physics, 2E, CUP, 2010
2. Salby ML: Physics of the Atmosphere and Climate, CUP, 2012
3. Holton JR: An introduction to Dynamic Meteorology, 4E, AP, 2004
4. Wallace JM & Hobbs PV: Atmospheric Science-An introductory Survey, 2E, AP, 2006
5. Chandrasekar A: Basics of Atmospheric Science, PHI, 2010