Meteorology
Course Overview
We do not live on the Earth. Rather, we live in it. Much like fish living in seawater or worms and insects living in the soil, we live submerged in a vast ocean of air. Our bodies are surrounded both inside and out by the atmosphere. Our lives and livelihoods, moreover, largely depend on the complex patterns and currents that stir and shape the gaseous medium in which we live. The goal of this block, then, is to explore the dimensions and behavior of our airy home. Starting from an account of the basic gases and other elements that make up the atmosphere, we will proceed to add layer after layer of complexity to this picture, until we finally reach the massive and difficult to predict system of phenomena we know as the weather.
Along the way, we will carefully observe the weather phenomena occurring outside of our doors, using both meteorological instruments such as thermometers, barometers, and anemometers and our primary senses. The study of largely invisible gases moving over large areas requires well-developed powers of perception and imagination. Thus, the visual arts will play an important role in this class and students will be asked to draw a variety of clouds and other weather phenomena. On the basis of direct observations and some basic introductory information, the class will attempt to reach conclusions about climate and weather phenomena through a process of collective scientific reasoning.
Outline
- Observation and review - common cloud forms, common local phenomena
Instruments: eyes, ears, nose, and skin - Gases and layers of the atmosphere
- Solar radiation and heat
Instrument: the thermometer - Seasons and latitude; the tilted globe
- Global wind and weather patterns; the Coriolis effect
Instrument: the anemometer - Water, Humidity and Precipitation
Instrument: rain gauge - Ocean currents and mountain ranges
- Ice ages, volcanic eruptions, the Greenhouse effect
- Climate change and world history
- Atmospheric pressure
Instrument: the barometer - Extreme weather: hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, monsoons
- Modern meteorology
Instruments: satellite and radar - La Crosse weather service field trip
- Catch up
Goals and Expectations
Students in this class will be expected to be present, attentive, and engaged. Students should plan on keeping careful notes during class discussions, as there will be at least two definition and short essay quizzes during the block. Hopefully, by the end of the class students will be able to define a handful of critical meteorological terms and to explain how the basic meteorological instruments work. They should also be able to comfortably answer common questions related to climate and weather, such as:
- Why is it colder at the poles and hotter at the equator?
- Why is it cold in the winter?
- Why do weather patterns in Wisconsin move from west to east?
- If heat rises, why are mountain tops cold?
- If cold sinks, why does ice float on water?
- What is heat anyway?
- How does evaporation occur in water which has not reached the boiling point?
- What causes tornadoes and hurricanes?
- Why does land close to Lake Michigan heat up and cool down slower than areas farther inland?
- What types of weather are associated with high and low pressure and why?
As a final project, students will be expected to produce either a main lesson book or a poster illustrating concepts explored in the class in beautiful and accurate graphic form. At minimum, these posters or main lesson books should cover the following topics:
- The major clouds forms, based on direct observation if possible
- The material composition of the atmosphere
- The vertical structure of the atmosphere
- The tilt of the Earth’s axis and its relation to the seasons
- The climatic differences between the Earth’s latitudes
- The prevailing global wind patterns
- The basic processes of heating and cooling (radiation, convection, conduction, etc.)
- The meteorological impact of mountain ranges and large bodies of water
- Diagrams explaining at least 2 of the following: thermometer, barometer, anemometer, rain gauge, weather satellite, weather radar
- Diagrams explaining at least 1 of the following: tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, monsoons, lightening
Finally, throughout the block, students will be expected to keep a daily journal of basic weather observations. These should be made in roughly the same place and time each day and should include at least the following: types of clouds and their location in the sky, the wind direction and relative velocity, any precipitation occurring at the time, and some comment on the temperature. The basic idea behind these journals is to encourage the students to spend some brief time each day observing the weather. Hopefully these observations will serve to stimulate our class discussions. The journals may be included in the student’s main lesson book or may be handed in separately at the end of the block. All assignments will be due at the end of class on Friday, Sept. 24, the last day of the block.
Teacher: Jacob Hundt
MA in Social Sciences, University of Chicago. Jacob is a founding member of the YIHS. After graduating from the YIHS, he attended Deep Springs College, the American University in Bulgaria, and the University of Chicago.