Course: Climatology Course Number: GEOG 215 section 001

Instructor: Jim Durbin Meets: MWF 9:00-9:50 AM in HP1082

Office: Science Center Room 2218 (inside room SC2219)

Office Hours: .

E-mail: jdurbin@usi.edu

Phone (office): (812) 465-1208

Webpage: http://www.usi.edu/science/geology/jdurbin/geog215/index.html

Textbook: Climatology: an Atmospheric Science 3^rd ed., 2006, by Oliver and Hidore; Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, ISBN# 0-13-092205-6, 410 p.

Course Objectives: This course is designed to give you an understanding of Earth’s climates and the factors that influence and control them. Topics include structure, composition and interaction of Atmosphere within itself and with the hydrosphere and exosphere, local regional and global climates and how they operate and change over time, and applications of climatology.

Structure of the Course: The course is a lecture course, and I use computer driven slideshows to facilitate my lectures. In most cases, the materials shown during the lecture will be posted on the classroom web page listed above, which can be reviewed at your convenience. The material on the web page will be posted shortly after the day it was discussed, and in some cases prior to the class period. We will have 3 exams and a number of assignments that will assess our knowledge and allow you to apply information you have learned.

Caution: The web page is not a substitute for coming to class! This is a college level course with a tremendous amount of material that many students have never been exposed to before. I require more than just memorization of material; I require you to think and apply what you have learned to the problems presented to you. The content of the web page is to provide you with access to some of the materials so that you can review and write material down after the class, as opposed to trying to listen to what I have to say and write down what is on the slide and look at the visual material I am showing. While you may be able to do 1 or 2 of the 3 tasks, it is a very rare person who can do all three of them at the same time without missing something!

Policy: Do not bring cellular phones or beepers to class unless they have a vibration mode. If you choose to bring these items to class with a normal ringer mode on, you will receive one warning, and the next time, you will be dropped from the class! I do not mind students coming late to class, as I would prefer you come in a little late rather than missing a class. Do not make a lot of noise when coming in late, and try not to make a habit of being late to class as you will miss valuable and informative material. Don’t talk in class while I am speaking, unless it is to ask a question pertaining to the class. Do not bring children into the classroom. The University has excellent child care facilities and ways to accommodate nearly any circumstance.

You may eat or drink in the lecture hall, provided the University doesn’t mind and you don’t make “crinkling” noises when unwrapping food items or “burping” noises when finishing your drink. If you know ahead of time that there is a conflict with a scheduled exam date, you must see me in advance to make arrangements as to when you will make up the exam. If for any reason you miss an exam, you must see me to see if you will be allowed to make it up. Late assignments will be evaluated, but penalized 20% per day.

I have scheduled office hours during the week, but I will be in my office between 8:00 am and 5:30 PM Monday through Friday and you can come by and see me at any time with or without an appointment to discuss any matter that you choose. If I am not available (i.e., not in my office) you may leave a message with the departmental secretary or on my note board, leave a voice mail message, or e-mail me and I will respond to you as quickly as possible.

Grading Policy: The grades are based on 3 exams, 2 worth 125 points each, occurring about every 5 weeks, and the Final, which is semi-comprehensive and worth 200 points.

Exams: Exams dates are fixed and will not change. Topics covered on each of the first 2 exams will constitute all of the material covered since the previous exam. The Final Exam is semi-comprehensive, with 60% covering new material, and 40% covering old material. Exams are multiple choice, true or false, matching, fill in the blank and short answer. They may include slides of features we have discussed in class, or material covered during the class assignments. Exams are curved based on the highest score being adjusted to 100%, up to 10% of the total points. Examples- 1) The top score is 92 out of 100. Therefore everyone gets 8 points added to their score, and the top score becomes 100%; 2) The top score is 88 out of 100. Therefore everyone gets 10 points added to their total, making the top score 98%.

Point Breakdown (Table 1)

Item	Points
Normal Exams	2 @ 125= 250 points
Assignments	50 points
Final Exam-Comprehensive	200 points
Total Points	500 points

Course grades are assigned based on the total number of points accumulated. The point breakdown for the grading scale is shown in Table 2 below. All fractional points will be rounded up to the next whole number (e.g., 75.00001 will get recorded as a 76).

Grading Scale (Table 2)

Points	Grade	Points	Grade
500-450	A	379-350	C
449-430	B+	349-330	D+
426-400	B	329-300	D
399-380	C+	299-000	F

Schedule of topics and readings

Week	Date	Readings	Topics	Notes
1	1/14-18	Chapter 1 & 2	Intro & Basis of Climatology
2	1/21-25	Chapter 2 & 3	Energy Balance-Solar Radiation	No classes on Monday, Jan 21, 2008 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
3	1/28-2/1	Chapter 3 & 4	Temperature and Moisture
4	2/4-8	Chapter 5 & 6	Atmospheric Motion
5	2/11-15	Chapter 6 & 7	Global Circulation	EXAM 1 02/13/08
6	2/18-22	Chapter 7 & 8	Global Circulation & Synoptic climatology
7	2/25-29	Chapter 8	Synoptic climatology
8	3/3-7	Chapter 9	Extreme Climate Phenomena
9	3/10-14	SPRING	BREAK	NO CLASSES
10	3/17-21	Chapter 10	Regional Climates	University Closed March 21, 2008- Easter Recess
11	3/24-28	Chapter 10 & 11	Regional Climates	EXAM 2 Wed. 03/26/04
12	3/31-4/4	Chapter 12	Tropical Climates
13	4/7-11	Chapter 12, 14-16	Mid-latitude Climates
14	4/14-18	Chapter 14, 15, 16	Past, present and future Climate changes
15	4/21-25	Chapter 14, 15, 16	Past, present and future Climate changes	No Class on Wednesday or Friday- GSA NC Section meeting
16	4/28-5/2	Chapter 19	Changes in Atmospheric Chemistry
17	5/5-9	FINAL EXAM WEEK		Final Exam Wednesday May, 7, 2008 9-11 AM

I reserve the right to adjust the syllabus should the need arise during the semester. I will notify the class of any changes that are made.