12.333 Atmospheric and Ocean Circulations

Spring 2004

Satellite photo of Tropical Cyclone Dina near Madagascar.

Tropical Cyclone 10s (Dina), as seen from the Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) onboard the OrbView-2 satellite. Dina is located to the southeast of Madagascar. (Image courtesy of NASA's Visible Earth.)

Course Highlights

This course features an extensive reading list and detailed lecture notes.

Course Description

In this course, we will look at many important aspects of the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean, from length scales of meters to thousands of km and time scales ranging from seconds to years. We will assume familiarity with concepts covered in course 12.003 (Physics of the Fluid Earth). In the early stages of the present course, we will make somewhat greater use of math than did 12.003, but the math we will use is no more than that encountered in elementary electromagnetic field theory, for example. The focus of the course is on the physics of the phenomena which we will discuss.

Syllabus

Course Description

Grading

The assessment will be in three parts (with weight toward final grade):

ACTIVITIES	PERCENTAGES
Homework - Five Assignments	40%
Two Mid-term Quizzes	20% (10% each)
A Final Exam (Closed book)	40%

Assignments are handed out approximately every two weeks and on material covered in the previous 2 weeks.

There is no set text -- notes will be handed out at each class and references for background or further reading will be pointed out wherever I think they will be useful.

Calendar

All homework assignments are due one week from the assigned session.

SES #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Shallow Water Gravity Waves
2	Shallow Water Gravity Waves(cont.)
3	Deep Water Gravity Waves
4	Deep Water Gravity Waves (cont.)	Homework 1 assigned
5	Internal Gravity Waves
6	Internal Gravity Waves (cont.)
7	Mid-Term Quiz 1
8	Tides
9	Tides (cont.)	Homework 2 assigned
10	Large-scale Motions on a Rotating Earth
11	Large-scale Motions on a Rotating Earth (cont.)
12	Rossby Waves and Planetary Scale Motions
13	Rossby Waves and Planetary Scale Motions (cont.)	Homework 3 assigned
14	Mid-Term Quiz 2
15	Baroclinic Instability and Midlatitude Storms
16	Baroclinic Instability and Midlatitude Storms (cont.)
17	The Equatorial Atmosphere and Ocean
18	The Equatorial Atmosphere and Ocean (cont.)	Homework 4 assigned
19	El Niño and the Southern Oscillation
20	El Niño and the Southern Oscillation (cont.)
21	Tropical Cyclones (Hurricanes, Typhoons)
22	Tropical Cyclones (Hurricanes, Typhoons) (cont.)	Homework 5 assigned
23	Final Exam

Readings

These suggestions for further reading are taken from the lecture notes, and are collected here for the convenience of the students.

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1-2	Shallow Water Gravity Waves	Elementary but brief descriptions of water waves (not confined to those on shallow water) can be found in: Open University Course Team. Chap. 1 in Waves, Tides and Shallow-Water Processes. The Open University: Pergamon Press, 1989. ISBN: 0080363717. Acheson, D. J. Elementary Fluid Dynamics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. ISBN: 0198596790. Other treatments can be found in many fluid dynamics texts, but are usually much more advanced and more mathematical than these two. One particularly thorough treatment is in: Lighthill, James. Chap. 3 in Waves in Fluids. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978. ISBN: 0521010454.
3-4	Deep Water Gravity Waves	Same as for sessions 1-2
5-6	Internal Gravity Waves	Internal gravity waves are covered to some extent in many texts of geophysical fluid dynamics. A detailed but thorough treatment is given in: Gill, A. E. Chap. 6 in Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics. San Diego: Academic Press, 1982. ISBN: 0122835220.
7	Mid-Term Quiz 1
8-9	Tides	An elementary discussion of ocean tides is given in: Open University Course Team. Chap. 1 in Waves, Tides and Shallow-Water Processes. The Open University: Pergamon Press, 1989. ISBN: 0080363717. A comprehensive discussion of the mathematical theory of tides on a global ocean is given in the classical text: Lamb, H. Hydrodynamics. Cambridge University Press, 1916. For a discussion of atmospheric tides (including an historical account of the resonance theory) see: Lindzen, R. S. Chap. 9 in Dynamics in Atmospheric Physics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN: 052136101X.
10-11	Large-scale Motions on a Rotating Earth	This material is covered in several geophysical fluid dynamics texts. The most suitable is: Holton, J. R. Chaps. 1 and 4 in An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1979. ISBN: 0123543606.
12-13	Rossby Waves and Planetary Scale Motions	Observational and theoretical aspects of Rossby waves are covered in several geophysical fluid dynamics texts, including: Holton, J. R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1979. ISBN: 0123543606.
14	Mid-Term Quiz 2
15-16	Baroclinic Instability and Midlatitude Storms	Holton, J. R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1979. ISBN: 0123543606. James, I. N. Introduction to Circulating Atmospheres. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN: 0521429358. Wallace, J. M., and P. V. Hobbs. Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey. San Diego: Academic Press, 1977. ISBN: 0127329501.
17-18	The Equatorial Atmosphere and Ocean
19-20	El Niño and the Southern Oscillation	A good, basic discussion of all the issues presented here (and several of the figures), as well as discussion of the impact of El Nino, can be found in: Philander, S. G. El Nino, La Nina and the Southern Oscillation. San Diego: Academic Press, 1990. ISBN: 0125532350. (The later chapters are at an advanced level.) An interesting series of articles on the large 1982-83 El Nino was published in Science on 16 Dec 1983. For discussion of the ocean and atmosphere, see the articles by Cane and by Rasmusson and Wallace. Information about past and current behavior can be found on many Web sites, such as NONA El Niño Page (from which some of the figures shown here were obtained; this site also has pointers to many others).
21-22	Tropical Cyclones (Hurricanes, Typhoons)
23	Final Exam