1. Professor Menglin Susan Jin
METR 125 Physical Meteorology:
Optics, Thermodynamics and Cloud Physics
Lecture 1: Green-sheet and Introduction
Professor Menglin Susan Jin
San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science

2. Outline of today’s lecture
Introduction and Welcome
Discussion on the “greensheet”
Learning Contract
First glance on class roadmap
Survey

3. For greensheet, class ppt notes, homework, reading materials

4. About Professor www.met.sjsu.edu/~jin1.
Research projects: funded by NASA, NSF, Department of Defense
On land surface climate change, urbanization, remote sensing
20+ leading author papers on top journals
2. A good teacher 3.

5. Goal of METR125 METR125 discusses the fundamentals of
Atmospheric Optics
Thermodynamics
Radiation Transfer Basics
Cloud and Rainfall Formation
Aerosol-Cloud interaction
Atmospheric Electricity
Broaden knowledge with Important papers
Enhance student self study and team-study skills

6. Content (see greensheet schedule)
Part 1: Atmospheric Optics
Part 2: Moist Thermodynamics
Part 3: Radiative Transfer (brief)
Part 4: Cloud Macrophysics and Microphysics
Clouds Formation
Warm Cloud
Cold Cloud
Aerosol-cloud-rainfall interaction
Part 5. Lightning and Atmospheric Electricity (if time permits)

7. Book and Reading:
2006 Wallace and Hobbs Atmospheric Science (Required)
more materials will be assigned on webpage/homework/class

10. Lecture Hour:
TTH 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Place: DH615
Office Hour:
Wednesday 11:00 AM -12:00 PM
TH 12:30-1:20 PM
Place: MSJ’s Office (DH613)
METR215
I will meet with you for extra office hour whenever you need.
send for appointment.

11. TA
No TA

12. Extra Help
guest lecture on aerosols
Departmental Seminars

13. Scale: 90+ A, 80’s B, 70’s C, 60’s D, <60 F
Homework: 20%
Midterm Exam 1: 20%
Midterm Exam 2: 20%
Class Participation 5%
Research Project: 15%
Final Exam: 20%
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.

14. 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.

15. Learning Contract Preserve a good classroom learning environment by
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.

16. 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)

17. Plagiarism Judicial Affairs
Look at the Student Code of Conduct
Read through SJSU library site on Plagiarism

18. 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

19. Let’s see where this class stands in the big picture….
WH Chapter 1 .

20. One World

24. the latitude (distance from the Equator)
How much radiation reaches any given spot depends on
the latitude (distance from the Equator)
what season it is
the time of day
cloudiness

25. Earth’s Radiation Budget - Schematic
Energy Balance is the critical concept in Earth Climate
Earth’s Radiation Budget - Schematic
Courtesy ?
PHYS Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

26. Radiative Components Net short-wave radiation =
short-wave down - short-wave up
Net long-wave radiation =
long-wave down - long-wave up
Net radiation (R net) =
net short-wave radiation + net long-wave radiation
Positive values represent energy moving towards the
surface, negative values represent energy moving away
from the surface.

27. Atmosphere Composition and Structure

28. Table 1: Composition of the Atmosphere
Percentage
by Volume
Gas
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Argon
Trace Gases
Carbon dioxide
Methane
Ozone
Chlorofluorocarbons
Water vapor Highly variable
(0-4%)

29. Atmospheric Constituents:
empty space
molecules
dust and pollutants
salt particles
volcanic materials
cloud droplets
rain drops
ice crystals

30. Vertical Layers of the Lower Atmosphere

31. Pressure vs. Temperature
What is physical meaning of Pressure?
What is temperature?

32. measured in millibars (mb)
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.

33. Temperature the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment
(corresponding to its molecular activity)
Temperature is one of the principal parameters of thermodynamics.
On the microscopic scale, temperature is defined as the average energy of
microscopic motions of a single particle in the system per degree of freedom.
On the macroscopic scale, temperature is the unique physical property that
determines the direction of heat flow between two objects placed in thermal contact.
Cold temperature
Warm temperature 33

34. Earth’s Hydrological Cycle - Schematic
Evaporation, transpiration (plants)
Atmospheric transport (vapor)
Condensation (liquid water, ice)
Precipitation
Surface transport (continental rivers, aquifers and ocean currents)
Courtesy ?
PHYS Clouds, spring ‘04, lect. 1, Platnick

35. Relevance for Remote Sensing

36. 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.

37. “Getting Acquainted" Quiz questions
Write three sentence about Quantum Physics
What is the 2nd law of thermodynamics?
In which layer in atmosphere can you find ozone?
What does meteorology differ from climate? 37

38. “Getting Acquainted" Quiz answers
Write three sentence about Quantum Physics
Quantum physics is a branch of science that deals with discrete, indivisible units of energy called quanta as described by the Quantum Theory. There are five main ideas represented in Quantum Theory:
Energy is not continuous, but comes in small but discrete units. 1
The elementary particles behave both like particles and like waves. 2
The movement of these particles is inherently random. 3
It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely one is known, the less precise the measurement of the other is.4
The atomic world is nothing like the world we live in. 5 38

39. Homework 1 (turn in 1/31) Read WH chapter 1 section 1.3
All examples (Exercises ) in WH chapter 1