Geography 8500
Advanced Climatology Seminar
4 to 5:15 PM MW DSC 285
Dr. Peake DSC 263
Phone--402-554-2726 or home 402-330-2757
e-mail Workjpeake@mail.unomaha.edu Homepeake@cox.net
Web site--http://maps.unomaha.edu/Peake/advclim.html
Office Hours--8-9 MWF; 10-11 MW; 3-4 W
Text--Pick up a used copy of Contemporary Climatology by Ann Henderson-Sellers and Peter Robinson. Try to get 1986 edition but later edition is ok. Available from web based used booksellers
Supplementary Reading will be available in DSC 293 (dept reading room) on top of filing cases. See me for combination and make sure you quickly return anything you borrow from it. Others will be using the same readings
Tentative Syllabus:
Week of
Aug 26 --Introduction
September 2- Physical Climatology
September 9--Physical Climatology
September 16-Physical Climatology
Sept 23 Field Demonstration
Sept 30. Evapotranspiration
Oct 7. Agricultural Climatology
Oct 21 Drought
Nov 18 Climate Risk Assessment in Agriculture
Basic Reference Books available in Library
Rosenberg, Norman J et al, 1983, Microclimate: The biological Environment
Landsberg, Helmut, 1958, Physical Climatology
Oke, T.R. , 1978 Boundary Layer Climates
Sellers, William (1965) Physical Climatology
Chang, Jen-hu, 1967, Climate and Agriculture
Basic Web sites
Nebraska Digital Government Project-National Agricultural Decision Support System http://nadss.unl.edu/
National Drought Mitigation Center: http://www.drought.unl.edu/index.htm
High Plains Climate Center: http://hpccsun.unl.edu/
National Climatic Data Center: http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html
NOAA Drought Information Center: http://www.drought.noaa.gov/
Course Requirements
1. You must pass an exam on basic principles of physical climatology. Essentially this is based on material given in the first four weeks of the course. It will not be part of your grade but it must be passed to get a grade in the course. If you fail the exam you will be given additional readings and required to take another exam later in the course and so on.
2. 25% of your grade will be based on class participation
3. The remaining 75% of your grade will be based on four assigned projects which you will write up and hand in along with a short presentation in class. These projects will generlaly be short and involve the solution of a problem I present to you. Often this will be in the form of data analysis. I would appreciate it if you would email me a short note detailing your technical skills in relationship to statistics, mapping, computer programming, gis, remote sensing, etc.
Grade Scale--the usual A+ is 95% and above; A is 90 to 95 and so on
Readings
Weeks 1 and 2and 3--Read first two chapters of the text
Week 4--read chapter 3 in text
ASSIGNMENTS--pick one you like. First one to respond gets the "worm"
I think the way to work this is for you to pick a topic you like and see me immediately after class. I'll get you on the road so to speak. The second week we will speak again and see if you have the datasets and methodology you need. The third week we will meet to see if your methodology is working out and the fourth week you will hand in your assignment and report to the class. We will work out format and effort expected on an individual basis
1. (TODD) How much water is lost from Lake Superior during a winter season when the lake is not ice covered as compared to one when the lake is ice covered?
This one will be due week of September 30
skills needed--spreadsheet mostly in addition to good web searching skills
2. During a dry and a wet summer how much total evapotranspiration is contributed by Sandhills Lakes as compared to the rest of the Sandhills? Or, what is the likely contribution of sensible heat to the atmosphere from both sources both relatively and absolutely--KRISTIE
This will be due week of October 7
3. Given a relatively cool wet summer and a dry hot summer what is the difference in impact on evapotranspiration from Lake Mac in terms of irrigated acres. I.E. how much water loss is there from Lake Mac in terms of irrigated acres-ERIC
This will be due week of October 7
4. See what you can do about determining what relationship exists between drought and air temperature. The assumption being that with drought there is a lack of moisture and therefore less latent heat transfer from the surface. In addition we assume that drought is associated with less cloud cover and a resulting increase in solar radiation received at the surface which exceeds the long wave radiation lost as a result of clear skies.-BRIAN
This will be due week of October 13
5 What climate factors in general appear to control the northern and western edge of the soybean belt? If a cursory examination doesn't show a sharp boundary we can pick another crop but soybeans should probably work out-Kristie
Skills-mostly spreadsheet
This will be due week of October 20
6. Is dryland corn yield more susceptible to variation in yield at the edges of the corn belt than in the center and does if so does it appear to be more variable because of temperature or precipitation?-Todd??--I.E. compared with the heart of the corn belt what is the variation in percent yield at the edges of dryland corn. Is this variability associated with variability in temp or growing season or precipitation?
7. Over the past 10 years what climate element (moisture or temp) appears to be associated with maximum and minimum corn yields (by county) on irrigated fields only-Eric?--suggest Kansas and Nebraska--pick a couple of counties in each state
8. What is the relationship between drought and stream flow in a small Great Plains drainage basin? Pick a drainage basin relatively uninfluenced by surface or groundwater irrigation and with minimal urbanization.- Brian
Below are some rough topics to work on for the next go around of presentation. They are a bit rough and I will modify them with you if you express an interest.
9. Regress 30 years of July Precipitation against dryland corn yields for one high corn production corn county in 8 different states to determine the relationship between July precip and corn yields which has long been held by farmers to have a strong connection
10 Same as above except use soybeans and use August Precipitation. Be nice if whoever chooses 9 and 10 picks the same counties. There should be enough overlap
11 Pick out a dozen geographically separate counties which suffered extreme drought during the early 1950"s (i.e. -5 or lower during either July or August of a drought year), Pick a substantial dryland crop grown in the county and compare yields for that year with a ten year period with wetter conditions. This will be the 1960's in most cases. If you choose winter wheat for a county pick April or May for your drought months
12. Pick out two corn counties in eastern Nebraska, 2 in eastern Iowa and 2 in Ohio. Look at the period 1975 through 2000 and examine the month of July only. Using a nearby station, run the PDSI and pick out the lowest and the highest Palmer value over the 25 years. Determine how much higher or lower the corn yield was compared with the average for the period. Also determine if there were anyyears with higher or lower yield values and what the Palmer value was for July in those years.
The last presentations (i.e. the fourth for all of you) will be an extension/elaboration of one of the first three you dealt with. I can discuss that with each of you next week
STUDY GUIDE FOR COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
1. Wien Displacement Law--you don't have to know the equation but you have to know the basic principal behind it
2. Stefan Boltzman Law (Stefan's Equation)-ditto
3. Know the electromagnetic spectrum including names and bandwidth from .01 micron thru 100 microns
4. The three temperature scales and key points. You won't have to do any conversions
5. Absolute zero and its implications
6. Concept of internal energy and heat and its relationship to temperature
7. a good operational understanding of climatology including how it differs from meteorology
8. problems of climatological data versus meteorological data
9. concept of radiation budget or balance
10. concept of energy budget or balance