Università Roma Tre

The Earth-atmosphere system

- Composition and structure

-Radiative equilibrium of the Earth

-The global energy budget

Hydrostatic equilibrium

- Hydrostatic balance

-Stratification

-Lagrangian interpretation of stratification

Static stability

- Stability categories

-Implications for vertical motion

-Stabilizing and destabilizing influences

-Turbulent dispersion

Radiative transfer

- Description of radiative transfer

-Absorption characteristics of gases

-Thermal equilibrium

-The greenhouse effect

Large-scale motion

- Geostrophic equilibrium

-Vertical shear of the geostrophic wind

-Frictional geostrophic motion

-Curvilinear motion

-Weakly divergent motion

Thermodynamics of gases

- Thermodynamic concepts

-Adiabatic processes

-Diabatic processes

Heterogeneous systems

- Chemical equilibrium

-Fundamental relations for a multi-component system

-Equilibrium phase transformations

Transformations of moist air

- Implications for the distribution of water vapor

-Thermodynamic behaviour accompanying vertical motion

-The pseudo-adiabatic chart

Atmospheric motion and equations

- Kinematics of fluid motion

-Reynold’s transport theorem

-Conservation of mass

-The momentum budget

The planetary boundary layer

- Description of turbulence

-Structure of the boundary layer

-Ekman pumping

Wave propagation

- Acoustic waves

-Buoyancy waves

-The Lamb wave

-Rossby waves

-Wave absorption

Dynamic stability

- Inertial stability

-Shear stability

-The Eady model

Influence of the Ocean

- Composition and structure

-Role in the heat budget

-Role in the carbon cycle

-The wind-driven circulation

-The buoyancy-driven circulation

-Interannual changes

Salby M.L. - Physics of the Atmosphere and Climate. Cambridge University Press, 2012 - ISBN:9780521767187

Vallis G.K. - Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics. Cambridge University Press, 2006 - ISBN:9780521849692