Atmospheric Processes and Composition

This subject presents a comprehensive view of the processes that are responsible for the structure, composition and properties of the atmosphere. It will focus on local and regional scales, covering aerosol and cloud processes such as formation, precipitation and lightning. It will address how these atmospheric processes and composition interact with the climate system - discussing major weather systems, land use, air quality and greenhouse gas fluxes. This subject will involve a face-to-face or virtual field trip to the Creswick campus in week 5 of semester to observe the atmospheric boundary layer state and chemical composition using state of the art monitoring equipment.

• 1Describe the thermal structure of the atmosphere using the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, surface energy fluxes and cloud microphysics
• 2Use these principles to explain regional scale meteorological processes such as clouds, precipitation, stability and boundary layer behaviour including air pollution
• 3Assess the dependence and influence of these processes on external factors such as larger scale weather systems, local land use, coastlines and topography
• 4Describe and implement observational techniques for measuring the atmospheric state and composition
• 5Present implications of observed atmospheric conditions and composition as written technical reports
• 6Implement appropriate numerical methods and write computer code to analyse and understand real-world atmospheric data.