PGEOG 130

Weather and Climate

Instructor: Frank Buonaiuto

Phone: (212) 650-3092

Office Location: Room 1049 Hunter North.

Please Note: the best way to contact me is via email AND at the above address ONLY.

Course Prerequisite: It is assumed that all students taking this class have taken and passed the New York State Regents Earth Science exam or have the equivalent background.

Course Description: This course will describe the basic principles and elements that shape and determine our weather and the earth's climate. The course will begin with a discussion of the Earth System, with particular emphasis on the atmosphere. Next, we will discuss the energy that drives all we observe in the atmosphere. The first part of the course will concentrate on describing in some detail the elements that are common to weather and climate: temperature, pressure, moisture, clouds and winds. The second part of the course will, then, concentrate on how all those elements, working together or by combinations, determine the general circulation patterns in the atmosphere and oceans, as well as our weather patterns. Finally, we concentrate on air pollution and the changing climate and in this context; we will discuss some current issues, such as the potential impact that human have on climate and climate change.

Keep In Mind: This is a science-base course and it will require that students learn to understand physical, and some quantitative, concepts. It requires that students keep in mind that ‘everything relates to everything else’ and that information need to be analyzed and synthesized, not simply memorized. One of your best friends in this course is the textbook. Review questions at the end of each chapter in the assigned textbook are the best guide to study the material covered in lectures. But memorizing the answers to these questions alone may not be enough to answer all questions in exams correctly. If you have difficulties with the approach or material in this course, do not wait till the end of the term to discuss them with your professors and instructors!!

Required Text: The Atmosphere: An Introduction to Meteorology, 10th Edition

Lutgens and Tarbuck, 2007 Prentice Hall. ISBN-13: 0-13-187462-4

Required Course Lab Manual: Weather & Climate Lab Manual

PGEOG 130

Hunter College

Department of Geography
Prentice Hall, 2008
ISBN-10: 0536109761

ISBN-13: 9780536109767

All students are required to have their lab manuals with them for all lab sessions.

Recommended Text: Goode’s World Atlas, 19^th edition or later

Grades are based on:	Exam 1	15%
	Exam 2	15%
	Exam 3	20%
	Exam 4	20%
	Laboratory Excercises	30%
	5 Map Quizes (Up to 5 pnts Extra Credit)

Grading is as follows: 90-100=A; 80-89=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D; <60=F.

NOTE:

Exams can include material from TEXT, from LECTURES.
LABORATORY ATTENDANCE is absolutely REQUIRED.
Your lab instructor will specify requirements for lab work. Lab instructors have a great deal of AUTONOMY, and therefore each lab may have slightly different requirements.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES/PAGERS DURING CLASS AND LAB
Makeup exams WILL NOT BE GIVEN except in the most extreme cases. It is your responsibility to make it to exams ON TIME. Dates and times are clearly written below in the syllabus; make a note of them in your calendars TODAY!
NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES WILL BE ALLOWED ON TOP OF DESKS DURING EXAMS

Academic Integrity

Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enforcing CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures.

See the following report by the Hunter College Senate for more details:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/assets/Documents/Hunter%20College%20Policy%20on%20Academic%20Integrity.pdf