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THOMAS
REICHLER
Courses
ATMOS 1010: Severe and Unusual Weather (3)
Prerequisite: none.
Fulfills Physical/Life Science Exploration.
ATMOS 1010
Severe and Unusual Weather is a three-credit, introductory course in atmospheric sciences.
The only prerequisite to this course is an interest in learning about the atmosphere
in which we live and a willingness to participate in class discussions and assignments.
This descriptive course requires only the most basic math skills and will use very few equations.
The objective of this class is to develop an understanding of the fundamental laws of nature and
apply them to the atmosphere, and gain a greater awareness of weather safety and where to obtain
weather information. Scientific knowledge continually evolves. Thus, we will focus on understanding
the scientific process and developing critical thinking skills required to be a good consumer
of scientific information.
This course fulfills Physical/Life Sciences Exploration
(SF)
and adhers to university policies regarding its content.
ATMOS 1020: Climate Change (3)
Prerequisite: none.
Fulfills Physical/Life Science Exploration.
ATMOS 1020 explores the scientific evidence underlying climate change.
It will discuss human-induced climate change and compare it with natural fluctuations in climate.
The course will also cover signs of climate change, how scientists study climate,
the current thinking on future changes, and what can be done to minimize the effects.
This three-unit, introductory course in the science of climate change,
designed for students of all backgrounds.
This descriptive course requires only a few very basic math skills.
This course fulfills Physical/Life Sciences Exploration
(SF)
and adhers to university policies regarding its content.
ATMOS 6010: Fundamentals of Dynamic Meteorology (3)
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or Instructor’s consent.
Research on many practical problems in atmospheric sciences,
such as weather prediction and climate change,
is ultimately grounded in fundamental geophysical fluid dynamics.
This course gives and introduction into the basic concepts of dynamic meteorology, such as
the primitive equations, boundary-layer dynamics, quasi-geostrophy,
baroclinic instability, and atmospheric waves.
This will help to better understand the rich variety of geophysical phenomena
ranging from convective to planetary scales.
ATMOS 6030: Earth Climate System (3)
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or Instructor’s consent.
Climate has large natural variability and has changed dramatically in the past.
Recent studies of climate change have generated large controversy about the possibility
of human induced climate change. Are we entering a period of global warming?
The central underlying theme of the class will be the relative roles
of the atmosphere, oceans, land surfaces, and cryosphere in driving
climate variability on different temporal and spatial scales.
Theoretical, modeling, and observational perspectives will be used to examine
the physical mechanisms which are behind the various interactions in the climate system,
and to understand how external forcings can alter the system.
ATMOS 6310: Advanced Dynamic Meteorology (3)
Prerequisite: ATMOS 6010 or Instructor's consent.
This is a graduate-level course on geophysical fluid dynamics intended for students
with some previous exposure to fluid dynamics (e.g. 6010 Fundamentals of Dynamic Meteorology).
MATH 6790: Studies in Computational Engineering and Science - Chaos, predictability, and the butterfly effect: Applications to numerical weather
forecasting (3)
Prerequisite: MATH 5610 and 5620 or equivalent.
Predicting the evolution of non-linear, chaotic systems like the atmosphere represents an interesting
and challenging problem. This class will present techniques that are commonly used to solve such
systems, including numerical solutions of partial differential equations using finite differencing.
During the first half of the course we will use such techniques to explore the predictability properties
of the simple 3-equation Lorenz system. Later, we will explore how these concepts can be applied
to the problem of numerical weather prediction. In the main class project, each student is expected
to program a simple but insightful atmospheric forecast model, which is based on the solution of
the fully non-linear divergent barotropic vorticity.
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