The Minor program allows students to have some concentration in the atmospheric sciences. The Minor may be taken in conjunction with any program in the Faculty of Science.
Required Courses (15 credits)
ATOC 214
Intro:Physics of the Atmosph
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences: An introduction to physical meteorology designed for students in the physical sciences. Topics include: composition of the atmosphere; heat transfer; the upper atmosphere; atmospheric optics; formation of clouds and precipitation; instability; adiabatic charts.
Offered by: Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
- Fall
- 3 hours lecture
- Prerequisite: CEGEP Physics, or the combination of PHYS 131 and PHYS 142, or permission of instructor.
ATOC 215
Oceans, Weather and Climate
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences: Laws of motion, geostrophic wind, gradient wind. General circulation of the atmosphere and oceans, local circulation features. Air-sea interaction, including hurricanes and sea-ice formation, extra-tropical weather systems and fronts, role of the atmosphere and oceans in climate.
Offered by: Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
- Winter
- 3 hours lecture
- Prerequisite: ATOC 214
ATOC 219
Intro to Atmospheric Chemistry
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences: An introduction to the basic topics in atmospheric chemistry. The fundamentals of the chemical composition of the atmosphere and its chemical reactions. Selected topics such as smog chamber, acid rain, and ozone hole will be examined.
Offered by: Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
or
CHEM 219
Intro to Atmospheric Chemistry
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Chemistry: An introduction to the basic topics in atmospheric chemistry. The fundamentals of the chemical composition of the atmosphere and its chemical reactions. Selected topics such as; a smog chamber, acid rain, and the ozone hole, will be examined.
Offered by: Chemistry
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
ATOC 309
Weather Radars and Satellites
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences: Basic notions of radiative transfer and applications of satellite and radar data to mesoscale and synoptic-scale systems are discussed. Emphasis will be put on the contribution of remote sensing to atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
Offered by: Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
- Winter
- 3 hours lecture
- Prerequisite: ATOC 215
- Terms
- Instructors
- Frederic Fabry, Gerard Szejwach
ATOC 315
Thermodynamics and Convection
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences: Buoyancy, stability, and vertical oscillations. Dry and moist adiabatic processes. Resulting dry and precipitating convective circulations from the small scale to the global scale. Mesoscale precipitation systems from the cell to convective complexes. Severe convection, downbursts, mesocyclones.
Offered by: Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
Complementary Courses (3 credits)
ATOC 412
Atmospheric Dynamics
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences: Equations of motion in rotating coordinates, elementary applications, circulation and vorticity, the planetary boundary layer, synoptic scale motions, Rossby waves and inertial oscillations.
Offered by: Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
ATOC 540
Synoptic Meteorology 1
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences: Analysis of current meteorological data. Description of a geostrophic, hydrostatic atmosphere. Ageostrophic circulations and hydrostatic instabilities. Kinematic and thermodynamic methods of computing vertical motions. Tropical and extratropical condensation rates. Barotropic and equivalent barotropic atmospheres.
Offered by: Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
- Fall
- 2 hours lecture; 2 hours laboratory
- Prerequisite (Undergraduate): MATH 314, MATH 315, or permission of instructor
