| Course Name | Earth’s Atmosphere |
| Course Code | 15PHY535 |
| Program | B. Tech. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, B. Tech. in Civil Engineering, B. Tech. in Aerospace Engineering, B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering, B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering |
| Year Taught | 2019 |
Earth’s atmosphere: overview and vertical structure. Warming the earth and the atmosphere: temperature and heat transfer; absorption, emission, and equilibrium; incoming solar energy. Air temperature: daily variations, controls, data, human comfort, measurement. Humidity, condensation, and clouds: circulation of water in the atmosphere; evaporation, condensation, and saturation; dew and frost; fog.
Cloud development and precipitation: atmospheric stability & determining stability, cloud development and stability, precipitation processes, collision and coalescence, precipitation types, measuring precipitation. Air pressure and winds: atmospheric pressure, pressure measurement, surface and upper-air charts, surface winds, winds and vertical air motions, measuring and determining winds. Atmospheric circulations: scales of atmospheric motion, eddies, local wind systems, global winds, global wind patterns and the oceans.
Air masses, fronts, and mid-latitude cyclones. Weather forecasting: acquisition of weather information, forecasting methods and tools, forecasting using surface charts. Thunderstorms: ordinary (air-mass) thunderstorms, mesoscale convective complexes, floods and flash floods, distribution of thunderstorms, lightning and thunder. Tornadoes: severe weather and Doppler radar, waterspouts.
Hurricanes (cyclones, typhoons): tropical weather; anatomy, formation, dissipation and naming of hurricanes. Air pollution: a brief history, types and sources, factors that affect air pollution, the urban environment, acid deposition. Global climate: climatic classification; global pattern of climate.
Climate change: possible causes; carbon dioxide, the greenhouse effect, and recent global warming. Light, colour, and atmospheric optics: white and colours, white clouds and scattered light; blue skies and hazy days, red suns and blue moons; twinkling, twilight, and the green flash; the mirage; halos, sundogs, and sun pillars; rainbows; coronas and cloud iridescence.
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