These teacher resource files make up a a generic four credit (three
hours of "lecture" and one two-hour laboratory per week for a semester) 101
(non-science major) Earth System Science course. This course emphasizes the physical
science, atmosphere/Earth's surface interactions. This course does not attempt to cover the
complete Earth system and its interactions. Another course may emphasize the interactions between
the Earth's physical and life science system components. Another course may emphasize the
system interactions between the geology and the Earth's climate system.
The course description is: introduction to
the Earth's atmosphere and climate system; structure and interaction of the components of this
system; natural and human-induced changes in these components, including the greenhouse effect,
ozone depletion, air pollution, acid rain, biodiversity, and climate change.
The course objectives
are: to learn and understand that the Earth's climate is a complex interactive system involving
atmospheric physics, atmospheric dynamics, atmospheric chemistry, Earth surface types,
human-activity, geophysics, etc.; climate changes because of both natural and human-induced
changes.
Click in blue topic boxes to obtain additional
information and resources.
Below are "lab" exercises that are used as part of
this course. Again there are two versions, Word doc and pdf files, of each. The
exercises include:
Locations & Places: Where in the world is the Benguela current? (Word file) or (pdf file) - Throughout the course we will refer to
many locations and places on the Earth. This exercise is to refresh your
memory of geography.
Scientific Notation: How do scientists deal with very large and very
small numbers? (Word file) or (pdf file) - To make calculations in science we must
often deal with very big and very small numbers. Writing all those zeros
increases the chance of errors by getting the number of zeros incorrect.
Thus, scientists have developed “scientific notation” to better work with
very large and small numbers.
Units: Why do we need units with measurements? (Word file) or (pdf file) - All measurements need a “unit of measure”
for the measurement to be meaningful. If someone told you the length of a
football field was 100 and you did not know anything about football, you
would not have any idea how long a football field was.
Surface Station Model: How can we plot all our atmospheric measurements
on a map? (Word file) or (pdf file) - Measurements of atmospheric parameters are
taken several times a day at various locations around the world. For
meteorologists to view and assimilate these data and to develop a picture
of the atmosphere from these data, they must be plotted and analyzed on a
map. How can we get all these data on a map in an organized, readable manner?
Isoplething: How can we convert all these data into information? (Word file) or (pdf file) - The purpose of this exercise is to
introduce you to one way to analyze a two-dimensional field of observations,
i.e., contouring or isoplething (“iso” – equal; “pleth” – value) data. An
isopleth is the generic name for lines of equal something. Simply plotting
the data on a sheet of paper does not make it easy to “see” patterns in
the numbers.
Chemical Notation: What do those chemical symbols and equations mean? (Word file) or (pdf file) - As we discuss the composition of the
atmosphere, the ozone hole and pollution, we will be using chemical symbols
and various equations. Thus, this lab exercise will provide the basics
of chemical notation so you will be able to understand the shorthand
you will encounter in the class and textbook.
Pressure: Why all the pressure? (Word file) or (pdf file) - TV meteorologists give the pressure as
part of almost all their weather forecasts. The public doesn’t care
about the pressure because it has little if any effect on their day-to-day
activities, so why all the interest in the pressure by meteorologists? As
has been introduced in lexture, pressure changes from location to location
are related to air motion, i.e., wind.
Time Conversion: When it is noon in London, what time is it
in Huntsville?(Word file) or (pdf file) - In order that data taken around the world
can be compared it is helpful that it be taken at the same time. To
facilitate the timing of data collection a global time conversion is
employed. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the system used to indicate
time for meteorological purposes and is recommended for many other general
timekeeping applications. Time on most weather maps is given in Coordinated
Universal Time.
Ideal Gas Law: How does a gas behave when it is heated or cooled? (Word file) or (pdf file) - The atmosphere is a gas and to
understand how clouds are formed along with many other atmospheric
processes, we need to understand how gases behave when they are heated
or cooler; how they behave when they encounter higher or lower pressures, etc.
Amospheric Moisture: How humid is it anyway? (Word file) or (pdf file) - Humidity has considerable to do with how
we “feel” warmth. The more humid the air the warmer we feel. From a
climate prospective, humidity is an important parameter when considering
clouds and rain. Recall from class that we had several ways of describing
atmospheric moisture.
Evaporation: What happens when water evaporates? (Word file) or (pdf file) - Water is an important part of the Earth’s
climate system. Recall water vapor is the dominant greenhouse gas. It is
relatively transparent to solar or shortwave radiation while it absorbs
Earth or longwave radiation. Liquid water drops in the atmosphere, i.e.,
clouds, reflect solar radiation and absorb longwave radiation.
Freezing: At what temperature does water freeze? (Word file) or (pdf file) - To form raindrops that are 100 times
larger in diameter than cloud droplets, a prospective droplet would have
to collect many, many cloud droplets. Raindrops are 1,000,000 times
larger in volume than cloud droplets. In addition to collecting smaller
cloud droplets, another of the ways this tremendous growth occurs is
the Bergeron-Findeisen or ice process. This process is active for “cold”
clouds, i.e., for clouds with tops tall enough to reach temperatures
below freezing.
Acid Rain: What is pH? (Word file) or (pdf file) - In lecture, we have been studying
air pollution and its effects on the atmosphere, the environment and
our health. Acid rain is one of the results of air pollution and its
interaction with atmospheric constituents, in this case with cloud
droplets and raindrops. In this lab you will be investigating pH and
the pH of some common substances.
Earth/Sun Relationship: How much of the Sun’s energy reaches the Earth? (Word file) or (pdf file) - The Sun is the source of energy that
drives atmospheric motions, ocean currents and the Earth’s climate
system. Therefore, as a beginning to understanding the Earth’s climate,
it is valuable to understand how the Sun produces electromagnetic radiation
energy and how much of that energy reaches the Earth, and then, to
calculate the amount of energy available to drive the Earth’s
atmospheric/ocean circulation system.
Radiation Intensity/Distance Repationship: How does the distance between
the Sun and a planet affect the amount of energy it receives? (Word file) or (pdf file) - The Sun’s radiation supplies the Earth
with the energy to fuel life, and weather and ocean circulations. The above
exercise introduces the relationship between the Earth's received solar energy.
This exercise demonstrates this relationship more.
Albedo & Moisture: How does the surface type and moisture content
affect the surface’s temperature? (Word file) or (pdf file) - In addition to the output of and the
distance from the energy source, surface type (surface reflectivity,
specific heat, etc.) and moisture content affect the absorption of
incident radiation and how incident energy changes the temperature of a
surface.
Pressure/Wind Relationship: How do pressure patterns affect the wind? (Word file) or (pdf file) - According to the geostrophic (Earth turning)
wind approximation (have neglected friction and other effects), which is a
balance of the pressure gradient force and the Coriolis force, the wind speed
should be related to the magnitude of the pressure gradient force, in this
case the height gradient force. This exercise tests this approximation
using real weather data.
Buoyancy: Why do things float? (Word file) or (pdf file) - Archimedes’ Principle states that a body
immersed in a fluid is buoyed upward by a force equal in magnitude to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the body. The upward force or buoyant force
is a consequence of increasing pressure with increasing depth within a
fluid in a gravitational field.
Atmospheric Vertical Stability: Why does the summer forecast frequently
predict afternoon showers? (Word file) or (pdf file) - Have you ever wondered what
atmospheric conditions are needed for a cloud to form? A cloud is
essentially air that has risen, cooled, and thereby reached saturation.
Some air parcels rise and form clouds, while others rise and don’t form
clouds. So how can we determine which air parcels will form clouds and
which will not? To answer this question, we need to measure and record
the vertical profile, or sounding, of the atmospheric temperature and
moisture content. This is achieved by releasing rawinsondes balloons with
instruments to record temperature, dewpoint temperature and wind. These
soundings are analyzed to determine the atmospheric stability.
