Phys2301-Atmospheric
Physics
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Fall streaks from
altocumulus deck. These form if nucleation of ice particles occurred in the
environment of supercooled droplets (metastable).
Ice particles rapidly out grow the droplets. Increasing mass increases their
terminal velocity – they fall. |
A water droplet on
a maple branch has the whole world in it, contained within a rather tough
surface. |
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Credit: |
4 credits |
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Time and Place: |
MWF 9:15-10:20
a.m., Science Building, Room 3665 |
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Instructor: |
Sylke Boyd |
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Office: |
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Phone: |
589-6315 |
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e-mail: |
sboyd@morris.umn.edu |
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Office Hours: |
Tu 2-3:30, We
1-2:30, Fr 11-12:30 or after
arrangement (check Google Calendar) |
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Text |
Required text book
in Fall 2015: Atmospheric
Science, 2nd Edition An Introductory Survey John M Wallace,
Peter V Hobbs ISBN:
______9780127329512 |
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Winter evening over
Willie’s parking lot |
Rain drops on lily
leaves – water really likes to be round. Why? |
Fog over icy Lake Minnewaska. Warm humid air over ice becomes
supersaturated and nucleates droplets. |
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January frost on the
window. Note the strange empty space around the larger crystals. What is
being optimized here? |
A thunder head
topping out at the tropopause. Why will it not rise any further? |
Hoar frost needles
– an example of deposition in a supersaturated environment. But why does this
not always happen? |
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Wave propagation
in a puddle. Simply the thing to watch on a rainy day. |
Anybody who
studies in Morris recognizes this situation. It’s visible wind! |
Colors in a summer
prairie sunset. How does Rayleigh scattering really work? |
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An ocean of air
above west-central Minnesota. Thick, not clear, and actually quite thin
vertically. |
Some of 2011’s
lightning |
Iridescent clouds.
Evenly sized droplets or ice crystals diffract the light into color fringes. |
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“The scientist
does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights
in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not
beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth
knowing, life would not be worth living. Of course I do not here speak of
that beauty that strikes the senses, the beauty of qualities and appearances;
not that I undervalue such beauty, far from it, but it has nothing to do with
science; I mean that profounder beauty which comes from the harmonious order
of the parts, and which a pure intelligence can grasp.” Henry Poincare |
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Page maintained by Sylke Boyd
Last modified 8/18/2015
10:36 AM