MTMAAD: Advanced Atmospheric Dynamics

Module code: MTMAAD

Module provider: Meteorology; School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor John Methven, email: j.methven@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez, email: a.j.charlton-perez@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s): IN THE SAME YEAR AS TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST TAKE MTMFWC AND TAKE MTMFAO (Compulsory)

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

Learn about underpinning physics explaining why the atmosphere has a large-scale circulation, why weather systems exist, and how they develop and generate high impact weather around the world. The ideas build from conservation principles for momentum, energy and moisture and extend to describe the characteristics of atmospheric flows that emerge across scales from global down to tens of km.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Build up theory of weather system and global climate dynamics from the first principles of fluid dynamics. 
2. Examine observed features of weather systems and the global circulation and explain them using dynamics reasoning. 
3. Apply physics-based process understanding to atmospheric phenomena, including cyclones, large-scale waves and their interactions with climate in the mid-latitudes and tropics. 
4. Utilise re-analyses and other datasets to describe the large-scale circulation in the context of rapidly changing climate. 

Module content

Unit 1: Fundamentals 

• Observed structure of the global atmosphere. 
• Fundamental conserved quantities and their budgets (Momentum, Energy, Moisture). 
• The basic equations of geophysical fluid dynamics and their application to the tropics and mid-latitudes. 
• Introduction to potential vorticity conservation and Rossby waves. 

Unit 2: Zonal meanDiagnosing the global circulation 

• Re-analyses and other datasets used to describe the atmosphere. 
• Averaging in the atmosphere. 
• The mean meridional circulation in the troposphere and stratosphere. 
• Developing python code for the analysis of dynamical datasets. 

Unit 3: The Hadley circulation 

• The physical properties of the Hadley circulation. 
• The Held-Hou model of the Hadley circulation. 
• The role of eddies in the Hadley circulation. 
• The Hadley circulation in a changing climate: what we know. 

Unit 4: Balance in the extratropics, Rossby waves shear instability

• Recap on geostrophic, hydrostatic and thermal wind balance. 
• Quasi-geostrophic theory: moving on from static balance to predict evolution on large-scales. 
• Rossby waves and boundary temperature waves: propagation mechanism. 
• Shear instability as interaction between counter-propagating Rossby waves. 
• Learning from the Eady and Charney models of baroclinic instability. 

Unit 5: Extratropical cyclone dynamics, balanced vertical motion and effects of heating in dynamics 

• Growth of cyclones and anticyclones as a result of baroclinic instability.
• Diagnosing vertical motion in the extratropics using the omega equation. 
• Effects of diabatic heating on vertical motion: tropics and extratropics. 
• Effects of heating on weather system growth. 

Unit 6: Waves, stormtracks and interaction with the mean flow 

• Mid-latitude stormtracks and eddy fluxes  
• Rossby waves on the jet stream, Rossby wave breaking and blocking. 
• Wave activity fluxes and teleconnections. 
• Wave-mean flow interaction (Transformed Eulerian Mean theory). 
• Simple one and two-layer models of the mid-latitude circulation. 
• The mid-latitude circulation in a changing climate: what we know. 

Unit 7: The stratosphere 

• The Charney-Drazin theorem and vertical wave propagation and breaking. 
• The Polar Vortex and Sudden Stratospheric Warmings. 
• The Brewer-Dobson circulation. 
• The tropical stratosphere: QBO and SAO. 
• The Stratopsheric circulation in a changing climate: what we know. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module will be taught in a mixed mode with elements of classroom teaching, flipped learning with practical classes and problems classes aiming at putting theory into practice.  

For units 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, key concepts will be introduced with a two-hour classroom lecture each week. Students will be expected to view videos and complete online quizzes at home between the lecture and the practical session (flipped learning mode). There will be a two-hour practical session each week in which students will work on problems related to the content during that part of the unit. Problems will be open-ended but with a clear starting point for students to work on. Students will keep a lab book with a record of their experiments in the practical sessions. 

The intention is that units 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 will be co-taught with the BSc module MT3GCD. 

Units 4 and 5 build up the theory of large-scale weather systems from first principals. The classes will be in two-hour blocks and combine lectures with problems classes. In the problems classes students will use the theory to explain what happens next in different situations and also to quantify the changes in winds, temperature and other variables expected in that evolution. 

In Assessment 1, students will choose one of the practical class problems from units 3, 6 or 7 to write up as a mini-research paper. As part of this task, students will be asked to write a review of another students work. Together this activity will account for 40% of the mark for the module. 

The students will also take a two-hour exam at the end of the module which will focus on problem solving through the application of theory, including some numerical calculations (40% of module).

Study hours

At least 44 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Weekly practical sessions will include formative feedback 

Reassessment

Additional costs