Atmospheric Science Certificate Curriculum
A minimum of 16 credit hours consisting of three (three credit) courses from a list of courses in the core disciplines, and two from a list of electives (400 level or above), plus a Capstone Seminar (one credit hour) will be required in order to qualify for the ASU Atmospheric Science Certificate. Considering the diversity of courses and in order to insure an interdisciplinary flavor, each prospective recipient will have his/her certificate program approved by the certificate executive committee. Certificates will only be awarded to students that are enrolled in an M.S., M.N.S. or Ph.D. program at ASU. The student's thesis or dissertation must also be related to some aspect of atmospheric science.
The core courses are offered at least once every other year, so the certificate may be completed within two years.
Specific Requirements are:
- Approval by the Certificate Committee of your proposed course selection
- Completion of 1 course from each of the Core Discipline with a grade of B or better
- Completion of 2 courses from the list of Electives with a grade of B or better
- Completion of the Capstone Seminar (1 hour)
- Completion of a dissertation on a topic related to the atmospheric or oceanic sciences
The core disciplines are atmospheric dynamics, atmospheric physics and atmospheric chemistry
Atmospheric Dynamics (Choose one)
GPH474/598*: Dynamic Meteorology I (3): Large-scale atmospheric motion, kinematics, Newton's laws, wind equation, baroclinics, vorticity and mid-latitude depression. Prerequisites: GPH 213, 215; MAT 271; PHY 131, 132.
MAE591 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (3): This course deals with the application of concepts in fluid mechanics to understand and predict natural motions. Some topics include baroclinic motions, effects of earth's rotation on fluid motions, atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers, concepts in vorticity dynamics and instabilities in environmental fluid motions. Laboratory demonstrations of some fundamental phenomena appear in environmental fluid motions are also described. Prerequisite: MAE 371 or equivalent undergraduate fluid mechanics course
Atmospheric Physics (Choose one)
GPH412/598: Physical Climatology (3): Physical processes in earth-atmosphere system on regional and global scales; concepts and analysis of energy, momentum, and mass balances. Prerequisites: both GPH 212 and 213 or instructor approval.
MAE 581 Thermodynamics (3): Basic concepts and laws of classical equilibrium thermodynamics. Applications to engineering systems.
CHE 543 Thermodynamics of Chemical Systems (3): Classical and statistical thermodynamics of non-ideal physicochemical systems and processes; prediction of optimum operating conditions. Cross-listed as BME 543.
Atmospheric Chemistry (Choose one)
CEE591/CHE591: Atmospheric Dispersion and Chemistry (3): This course is an overview of air pollution modeling used for regulatory and research purposes. Models considered include Gaussian plume, chemical mass balance, chemical reaction, and mobile source models. Evaluation of models and the development of efficient control strategies and air quality regulatory issues are also discussed. Prerequisite: CHE 331 (or its equivalent)
CHE 553/CEE598: Air Quality Control (3): Air pollutant origins, effects and control. Physical and chemical processes, including dispersion, combustion, sampling, control equipment design and special topics. Prerequisite: CHE 331 (or its equivalent).
Electives (Choose two)
CHE 534 Transport Processes II. (3) Continuation of CHE/BME 533, emphasizing mass transfer. Cross-listed as BME 534.
MAE 561: Computational Fluid Dynamics (3): Finite-difference and finite volume techniques for solving the subsonic, transonic and supersonic flow equations. The method of characteristics. Numerical grid-generation techniques.
MAE 571: Fluid Mechanics (3): Basic kinematic, dynamic and themodynamic equations of the fluid continuum and their application to basic fluid models.
MAE 573 Viscous Fluid Flow (3): Mechanics of fluids for flows in which the effects of viscosity are significant. Exact and approximate solutions of the Navier-Stokes system, laminar flow at low and high Reynolds number.
MAE 575 Turbulent Shear Flows (3): Homogeneous, isotropic and wall turbulence. Experimental results. Introduction to turbulent-flow calculations.
MAE 577 Turbulent Flow Modeling (3): Reynolds equations and their closure. Modeling of simple and complex turbulent flows, calculations of internal and external flows, and application to engineering problems.
MAT 452 Introduction to Chaos and Nonlinear Dynamics. (3): Properties of nonlinear dynamical systems; dependence on initial conditions; strange attractors; period doubling; bifurcations; symbolic dynamics; Smale-Birkhoff theorem; and applications.
MAT 462 Applied Partial Differential Equations. (3): Second order partial differential equations, emphasizing Laplace, wave, and diffusion equations. Solutions by the methods of characteristics, separation of variables, and integral transforms.
MAT 534 Computational Hyperbolic Partial Differential Equations. (3): Numerical solutions of hyperbolic PDEs, finite difference methods, well-posedness, stability, consistency, convergence, adaptive grids; Maxwell's equations, elastic wave propagation; Navier-Stokes.
MAT 560 Dynamical Systems Methods in Fluid Dynamics (3): Applications of modern dynamical systems methods to fluid mechanics; bifurcations and normal forms, nonlinear dynamics, pattern formation, mixing and Lagrangian chaos.
GLG490/598: Remote Sensing in Geology (3): Study of quantitative remote sensing of the earth and planetary surfaces with the emphasis on using the interaction of electromagnetic energy with matter to determine the physical properties of surfaces. Emission, absorption, reflection and transmission and scattering of energy will be developed and applied to visible, near infrared, thermal and radar observations.
GPH409/598*: Synoptic Meteorology I with laboratory (4): Diagnostic techniques in synoptic forecasting.
GPH410/598*: Synoptic Meteorology II with laboratory (4): Diagnostic techniques in synoptic forecasting with weather analysis.
GPH475/598*: Dynamic Meteorology II (3): Topics in climate dynamics. General Circulation, Numerical modeling, teleconnection phenomena and surface atmosphere interactions
GPH413: Meteorological Instruments & Measurement (3): Design and operation of ground based and aerological weather measurement systems. Collection, reduction, storage, retrieval and analysis of data.
GPH414/598*: Climate Change (3): Survey of three climate research areas: paleoclimatology, theories (e.g., greenhouse warming) and numerical modeling.
PLB 524: Methods in Environmental Plant Physiology. (3): spring in odd years only
Techniques to measure and quantify microclimate and mass transfer. Supporting principles. 2 hours lecture, 3 hours lab. Prerequisite: BIO 320 or PLB 308.
Capstone Seminar
Students will present one credit hour seminar based on their thesis or dissertation to the Atmospheric Science Certificate Committee.
MAE 591 - Special Topic - Capstone Seminar for Atmospheric Science Certificate
CHE 591 - Special Topic - Capstone Seminar for Atmospheric Science Certificate
GPH 591 - Special Topic - Capstone Seminar for Atmospheric Science Certificate
GLG 591 - Special Topic - Capstone Seminar for Atmospheric Science Certificate
MAT 591 - Special Topic - Capstone Seminar for Atmospheric Science Certificate
PBL 591 - Special Topic - Capstone Seminar for Atmospheric Science Certificate
For questions or comments please contact Professor Brazel at abrazel@asu.edu
