This course will examine selected aspects within the broad field of Tropical meteorology and climate. The course will address perhaps the most feared and destructive weather phenomenon: the Hurricane. Students will receive both a hands on experience using the latest observing and forecasting technologies to examine tropical cyclones in real time during the northern hemisphere hurricane season, but will also examine the observational and theoretical aspects of hurricane dynamics, thermodynamics and air-sea interactions, cloud microphysics, and remote sensing.
This course will also examine variations in Tropical weather that occur on the smallest time and spatial scales (from surface-boundary layer interactions and Tropical convection) up to the scales of interannual variability (e.g., monsoons, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation) to examine their impact on weather and climate in the Tropics. We will address relevant portions of selected texts, as well as relevant classic research papers in the literature.
Instructor: Prof. Steve Nesbitt
Room 203 Atmospheric Sciences Building
Phone: (217) 244-3740
E-mail: snesbitt@illinois.edu
