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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS


SAMPLE COURSE DESCRIPTION

COURSE NUMBERING SYSTEM

GENERAL EDUCATION DESIGNATION

DEPARTMENTS OFFERING DIVERSIFICATION COURSES

Meteorology (MET)

School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

MET 101 Introduction to Meteorology (3) For nonscience majors and prospective science teachers. Basic atmospheric physics, sun-Earth-atmosphere interrelationships, pollution, major weather systems, weather forecasting, weather of Hawai‘i. DP

MET 101L Introduction to Meteorology Lab (1) (1 3-hr Lab) Exercises with meteorological data and measurement systems. Characteristics of Hawaiian winds, temperatures, and rainfall. Pre: 101 (or concurrent). DY

MET 200 Descriptive Meteorology (3) Atmospheric variables and gas laws, radiation processes, thermodynamics, clouds and precipitation, atmospheric circulations, mid-latitude and tropical systems, forecasting, weather applications, climate. Pre: PHYS 152L or PHYS 170 (or concurrent). DP

MET 210 Programming for Meteorologists (2) (1 lec, 1 3-hr lab) Scientific programming in Fortran 90, graphics software and meteorological applications. A-F or Audit. Pre: 200 (or concurrent) and MATH 241; or departmental approval. Fall only.

MET 302 Atmospheric Physics (3) Energy and thermodynamics, statics and stability, physical processes of cloud formation, radiation and Earth-atmosphere heat balance, kinetic theory, optical effects. Pre: MATH 242 and PHYS 272, or consent. DP

MET 303 Introduction to Atmospheric Dynamics (3) Scalar and vector development of basic laws of hydrodynamics, equations of motion, kinematics, divergence and vorticity, viscosity and turbulence, introduction to numerical weather prediction, general circulation. Pre: 302 and MATH 244, or consent. DP

MET 305 Meteorological Instruments and Observations (3) (2 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) First- and second-order measurement systems. Response of wind, temperature, and recording instruments. Discussion of advance system including radar. Planning of field programs. Pre: PHYS 152 and PHYS 152L, or PHYS 272 and PHYS 272L; or consent. DP

MET 310 Global Environmental Change (3) Global environmental change problems such as carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect, acid rain, chlorofluorocarbons and the ozone layer, global deforestation and the effect on climate, etc. Pre: one environmentally oriented science course. (Cross-listed as OEST 310 and OCN 310) DP

MET 310L Global Environmental Change Laboratory (2) (3-hr Lab) Laboratory course to supplement MET 310. Quantitative aspects of global environmental change will be addressed through problem solving and computer modeling. A-F only. Pre: MATH 242 or MATH 242A, PHYS 170, PHYS 170L, CHEM 161, and CHEM 161L; or consent. Co-requisite: 310 or consent. Fall only. (Cross-listed as OEST 310L and OCN 310L) DY

MET 402 Applied Atmospheric Dynamics (3) Advanced concepts in dynamics: vorticity, cyclogenesis, jet streams, fronts, mesoscale circulations. Pre: 303 or consent. DP

MET 405 Satellite Meteorology (3) (2 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Orbital elements, ephemerides, viewing geometry; radiation, satellite sensors; interpreting satellite data; applications to synoptic meteorology and forecasting. Pre: 302 or consent. DP

MET 406 Tropical Meteorology (3) History; tropical clouds and hydrometeors; typhoons; monsoons; local and diurnal effects. Pre: 303 or consent. DP

MET 412 Meteorological Analysis Lab (3) (2 3-hr Lab) Techniques of portraying and analyzing atmospheric structure and weather systems in middle and high latitudes; modern methods of forecasting extratropical systems. Pre: 303 (or concurrent) or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 416 Tropical Analysis Lab (3) (2 3-hr Lab) Techniques of portraying and analyzing atmospheric structure and weather systems in tropical and equatorial regions; forecasting tropical systems. Pre: 303 (or concurrent) or consent.

MET 470 Air Pollution (3) (2 lec, 1 3-hr lab) A survey of the physical and chemical aspects of air pollution and climate at global and local scales; responses to threats to our atmospheric environment. Lecture, lab and field trips. GES majors. A-F only. Pre: 310, CHEM 162, MET 200, PHYS 272 or consent. Spring only. (Cross-listed as OCN 470) DP

MET 495 Undergraduate Thesis (3) Capstone course for senior Meteorology majors. Undergraduate thesis project includes literature review, experiment or research design, data collection and analysis, technical writing of a final thesis paper and oral presentation of the paper. A-F only. Pre: 302, 303, 402 (or concurrent), 412 or 416 (or concurrent) or consent.

MET 600 Atmospheric Dynamics I (3) Governing equations for moist atmospheric motions, approximations, basic theoretical models, boundary layer dynamics, atmospheric waves, quasi-geostrophic theory for mid-latitudes. Pre: 303 and MATH 402 or MATH 405; or consent.

MET 601 Atmospheric Dynamics II (3) Overview of dynamic meteorology, numerical weather prediction, geophysical fluid instabilities, approximate dynamical systems, atmospheric general circulation, stratospheric dynamics. Pre: 600 or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 606 Cumulus Dynamics (3) Dynamics of convective systems: tornadoes, waterspouts, squall lines. Interactions with synoptic scale. Pre: 620 or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 607 Mesoscale Meteorology (3) Scale analysis. Observational and theoretical aspects of mesoscale circulation systems. Pre: 600 or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 610 Tropical Climate and Weather (3) Climate and general circulation of the tropics; El Niño and Southern Oscillation; intraseasonal oscillation; trade winds; tropical weather systems; energy balance; typhoons. Pre: 303 or consent.

MET 614 Tropical Cyclones (3) Lecture class covering fundamentals of tropical cyclone structure, motion, and impacts on society. Observations from satellites, aircraft, ships and buoys, and numerical simulations focusing on storm structure and track. Some forecasting exercises. Repeatable one time. Pre: 600 and 610; or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 616 Monsoon Meteorology (3) Synoptic components of monsoons, regional and temporal variability, numerical models, research exercises. Pre: 610 or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 620 Physical Meteorology (3) Molecular kinetics, atmospheric thermodynamics, cloud physics, precipitation processes, atmospheric electricity, scattering and absorption of solar radiation, absorption and emission of infrared radiation, radiative transfer. Pre: 302 or consent.

MET 621 Cloud Physics (3) Physical processes attending formation and subsequent history of clouds and cloud particles. Pre: 620 or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 631 Statistical Meteorology (3) Probability; frequency distributions of atmospheric variables; linear models; time series analysis (frequency and time domain); principal component analysis; statistical weather forecasting and verification. Pre: MATH 371. (Alt. years)

MET 632 Advanced Statistical Methods in the Geosciences (3) Methods for numerous multivariate analyses will include singular spectrum, extended empirical orthogonal function, singular-value decomposition, canonical correlation, discriminant and cluster analysis. Other advanced topics include wavelet analysis, statistical downscaling and Bayesian analysis. A-F only and audit. Pre: 631 or consent. (Every 3rd year)

MET 636 Air Pollution Meteorology (3) (2 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Advanced treatment of theoretical diffusion expression (K-theory, Taylor’s statistical hypothesis, similarity theory) and empirical diffusion expressions (Gaussian model with modification and sensitivity analysis, box models). Pre: consent. (Alt. years)

MET 665 Small-Scale Air-Sea Interaction (3) Observations and theory of small-scale processes which couple the atmosphere and ocean boundary layers, including introduction to turbulence theory and parameterization of turbulent fluxes. Pre: MATH 402 and MATH 403 (or their equivalents) and either OCN 620 or MET 600; or consent. (Cross-listed as OCN 665) (Alt. years)

MET 666 Large-Scale Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions (3) This lecture/seminar course introduces physical oceanography and meteorology students to the state-of-the-art theories and observations of large-scale ocean-atmosphere interaction, as well as conveying the fundamental understanding that has been developed during the past 30 years. Emphasis will be on phenomena such as El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and global climate change. Repeatable one time. Pre: 600 or OCN 620; or consent. (Cross-listed as OCN 666) (Alt. years)

MET 699 Directed Research (V) Pre: consent.

MET 700 Thesis Research (V)

MET 702 Numerical Weather Prediction (3) (2 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Fundamental methods and techniques in numerical weather prediction: time differencing, spatial finite differencing, spectral methods, numerical stability, explicit and implicit methods. Modern operational and research forecast models. Hands-on laboratory includes simple to complex dynamic models, with a term project. Repeatable one time. Pre: 600 or OCN 620; MATH 407 or 408; or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 704 Climate and Climate Variability (3) Physical basis of climate, numerical climate models, paleoclimatic indicators, modern instrumental climate records, assessment of human impact on climate, predictions of future climate. Repeatable one time. Pre: 600 or OCN 620 or consent. (Alt. years)

MET 706 Tropical Climate Dynamics and Modelling (3) Overview of current progress in tropical climate dynamics with a particular focus on large-scale atmosphere-ocean interactions; introduction of basic numerical techniques for students to construct and run immediate tropical atmosphere and ocean models. Pre: 600.

MET 745 Mid-latitude Dynamic Meteorology (4) (3 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Scale analysis of equations of motion; quasi-geostrophic system of forecasting; initial value problem; general circulation; programming exercise to compute energy interaction terms. Pre: 601 and consent. (Alt. years)

MET 746 Tropical Dynamic Meteorology (4) (3 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Instability theory; numerical integration procedures; special problems in numerical analysis in tropics; programming exercises of numerical integration. Pre: 601 and consent. (Alt. years)

MET 752 Special Topics in Meteorology (3) Concentrated studies on selected atmospheric problems. Repeatable. Pre: 600 or consent.

MET 765 (Alpha) Seminar in Meteorology (1) Participation in departmental seminars and presentation of a seminar on: (B) literature review of a specific topic; (C) research results. Repeatable. Pre: consent.

MET 800 Dissertation Research (V)