Lecture Notes

Images from journals published by the American Meteorological Society are copyright © AMS and used with permission.

1. Radiative-Convective Equilibrium (PDF - 3.1 MB)

1.1. General Principles of Radiative Transfer
1.2. Simple Models without Phase Change
1.3. General Principles of Moist Convection
1.4. Simple Models with Phase Change
1.5. Quantitative Assessments of the Equilibrium State - Comparisons to Observations

2. The Zonally-Averaged Circulation (PDF - 1.6 MB)

2.1. The Observed Climatology
2.2. Breakdown of the Radiative-Convective Equilibrium State
2.3. Dry Theory
2.4. Moist Theory
2.5. Regulation of Intensity

3. Asymmetric Steady Circulations

3.1. Monsoons (PDF 1 of 2 - 1.9 MB) (PDF 2 of 2 - 2.4 MB)
3.1.1. Development and Onset of the Asian Monsoon
3.1.2. Monsoon Breaks
3.1.3. Nonlinear, Asymmetric Theory
3.2. The Walker Circulation (PDF - 1.2 MB)
3.2.1. Observations
3.2.2. Theory

4. Interannual Fluctuations of the Walker Circulation – ENSO (PDF)

4.1. Observed Behavior
4.2 Theory and Modeling of ENSO

5. Intraseasonal Oscillations (PDF 1 of 2 - 1.8 MB) (PDF 2 of 2 - 2.5 MB)

5.1. Observations
5.2. GCM Simulations
5.3. Theory of Equatorial Waves
5.3.1. Dry
5.3.2. Moist
5.4. WISHE
5.5. Cloud-Radiation Interactions and ISOs

6. Quasi-equilibrium Theory of Small Perturbations to Radiative-Convective Equilibrium States (PDF - 2.3 MB)

7. Tropical Cyclones

7.1. Structure and Climatology (PDF - 1.4 MB)
7.2. Steady-State Physics (PDF)
7.3. Tropical Cyclone Inner Core Dynamics (PDF)
7.4. Time-dependent, Axisymmetric Model Phrased in R Space (PDF)
7.5. Tropical Cyclone Motion (PDF - 1.9 MB)
7.6. Genesis (PDF - 5.5 MB)
7.7. Forecasting Hurricane Intensity: Lessons from Application of the Coupled Hurricane Intensity Prediction System (CHIPS) (PDF - 5.0 MB)