Phys3004-Atmospheric
Physics
Fall 2017
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Fall streaks from
altocumulus deck. These form if nucleation of ice particles occurred in the
environment of super cooled 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 4650 |
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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: |
M 11-1, W 12:00 –
1:30 pm; F 11:00-1:00 or after arrangement |
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Text |
Required text book in Fall 2017: Atmospheric
Science, 2nd Edition An Introductory Survey John M Wallace,
Peter V Hobbs ISBN:
______9780127329512 |
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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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. |
Page maintained by Sylke Boyd
Last modified 8/25/2017
10:42 AM