Atmospheric Radiation

Calendar

Calendar Legend

(P): Lecture taught by Prof. Ronald Prinn
(M): Lecture taught by Dr. Robert McClatchey

LEC #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Course Overview and Role of Radiation in Climate System (P and M) Global Energy Budget Chemical Composition and Radiative Effects Thermal Structure of the Atmosphere
2	Physics of Radiation (P) Thermodynamic Concepts Energy Levels in Molecules
3	Molecular Spectroscopy (P) Absorbtion and Emission Rules Spectra (Rotational, Vibrational, Electronic) Line Shapes
4	Equation of Radiative Transfer (M) Derivation - Special Cases
5	Equation of Radiative Transfer (cont.) (M) Fluxes and Simple Solutions - Radiative Equilibrium Approximation (Exercise 1)
6	Modeling Atmospheric Transmission and Emission (M) The HITRAN Data Base and Applications (Exercise 2)	Exercise 1 due
7	Modeling Atmospheric Transmission and Emission (cont.) (M) Band Models (Weak Line, Strong Line, Random, Regular, k Distribution)	Exercise 2 due
8	Modeling Atmospheric Transmission and Emission (cont.) (M) MODTRAN - R.M. (Exercise 3)
9	Scattering of Radiation by Molecules and Particles (1 Class Period) (M) Single Scattering Size Distributions Mie Scattering (Exercise 4)	Exercise 3 due
10	Multiple Scattering (1 Class Period) (M) Discrete Ordinates (Exercise 5)	Exercise 4 due
11	Remote Sensing (4 Class Periods) (cont.) (M) Scattered Sunlight (Observations from Ground, from Satellite) Retrieval of Gases, Particulate Information, Surface Properties	Exercise 5 due
12	Remote Sensing (cont.) (M) Thermal Emission Weighting Functions Temperature and Water Vapor Retrieval Limb Scanning
13	Remote Sensing (cont.) (M) Application of MODTRAN to Remote Sensing (Exercise 6)
14	Remote Sensing (cont.) (M) Miscellaneous Topics and Summary (Microwave Remote Sensing, Active Remote Sensing - LIDAR and RADAR)	Exercise 6 due five days after Lec #14