Instructor: Professor Chris Bretherton
710
Atmospheric Sciences Bldg., 685-7414
breth@atmos.washington.edu
Lectures: MWF, 12:30-1:20PM; ATG 406
Prerequisites: 505 (fluids) or permission of instructor
Textbook: The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, by J. R. Garratt, 1992, Cambridge University Press, 316 pp.
Course Description:
Turbulence and turbulent fluxes, averaging. Convection and shear instability. Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, surface roughness. Wind profiles. Organized large eddies. Convective and stably stratified boundary layers. Energy fluxes at ocean and land surfaces, diurnal cycle. Cloud-topped boundary layers. Measurement technologies. Boundary layer modelling and parameterization.
Syllabus (pdf)
Lecture notes (pdf). Note that these notes were written for 80 min rather than 50 min classes, so we will be covering approximately 2 lectures a week. I may also make minor changes to the notes as we go along, so you might not want to print them out more than 1-2 days in advance. I expect to make more significant changes to the notes on stable boundary layers, and to add some material on boundary layers over complex terrain.