WeatherBug
| Introduction to Meteorology - latest news, January 25, 2008 3:00 pm 20:00 UTC |
 John Toohey-Morales BS, CCM, Chief Meteorologist for Telemundo 51, the Hispanic TV-broadcasting station partnering with NBC-6, founder of Clima Data Corp., and an adjunct Professor with the Department of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science is teaching SCI 112 Introduction to Meteorology during Spring term 2007. Classes are running Tuesday and Thursday from 1:40 to 2:55 pm EDT (17:70 - 18:55 UTC), in Kennedy Hall K-207. In order to access to power point presentations, syllabus, and additional materials, Click on links included below. It allows you to download particular materials into your computer.
COURSE MATERIALS
Introduction to Meteorology SCI - 112 Course Syllabus Fall 2006 Word file Pdf file
| Tentative Topics |
pps source |
| The Earth’s Atmosphere |
pps1 |
| The Earth’s Atmosphere Review |
pps1-review |
| Warming the Earth and its Atmosphere |
pps2 |
| Warming the Atmosphere Review |
pps2-review |
| Temperature |
pps3 |
| Temperature Review |
pps3-review |
| Humidity and Condensation |
pps4 |
| Humidity and Condensation Review |
pps4-review |
| Clouds |
pps5 |
| Cloud development and precipitation |
pps6 |
| Why does the wind blow? |
pps7 |
| Review Chapters 4 - 7 |
pps4-7-review |
| Atmospheric Circulations |
pps8 |
| Air masses, Fronts, and Storms |
pps9 |
| Thunderstorms and Tornados |
pps10 |
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 Dr. David Quesada, Ph.D and an Assitant Professor with the Department of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science will teach SCI 112 Introduction to Meteorology during Summer and Fall terms 2007. During the summer period S6, classes are schedulled for Tuesdays and Thursday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. In the Fall term of 2007, SCI 112 will be offered Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:40 pm to 2:55 pm. Links included below will allows you to download particular materials into your computer.
EDUCATION AND WEATHER
Forescasting the Weather - WeatherBug Studios - Maryland - Media file
A Hurricane motivated Mathematics course - pps file
Looking at Hurricane Wilma with WeatherBug Mesonet - pps file
Raindrop Math - Connections Newsletter - WeatherBug Achieve - Word document
COURSE MATERIALS
Introduction to Meteorology SCI - 112 Course Syllabus Fall 2006 Word file Pdf file
| Tentative Topics |
pps source |
| The Atmosphere: Structure and Composition |
pps1 |
| Temperature, and Heating the atmosphere |
pps2 |
| Humidity, Condensation, and Clouds |
pps3 |
| Clouds, its development, and precipitation |
pps4 |
| Air Pressure and Winds |
pps5 |
| Atmospheric Circulations, Air masses, and fronts |
pps6 |
| Storms, tornadoes, and lightning |
pps7 |
| Hurricanes |
pps8 |
| Air pollution and Health |
pps9 |
| Global Climates |
pps10 |
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| Weather Studies at St. Thomas University - A brief history |
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| WeatherBug and WeatherBug Achieve at St. Thomas University |
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| AMS Weather studies and St. Thomas University weather studies |
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| Participation of St. Thomas University in GLOBE and AMBIENT programs |
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| Research interests in Weather and Climate at St. Thomas University |
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Both, Weather and Climate are closely related with our daily experiences. While Weather is defined as short term variations of physical conditions (outdoor temperature, humidity, wind speeds, barometric pressure, sea surface temperature, cloudiness) surrounding us, Climate is defined as long term averages of above variations (usually at least 30 years). Decision making in modern societies goes nowhere without considering Weather and Climate. For South Florida, in particular, the link of Meteorology with health conditions and urban planning and development is really important. Namely, along these lines, Bio-Meteorology and Hurricane Science are two fields of great interest.
Bio-Meteorology covers the understanding of mechanisms of interaction between the natural physical environment and living things embeded within it, without taking them in isolation or as separate units. There are many interesting subjects to study in this field; however for South Florida, the study of environmental triggers of allergic reactions, how they spread out through the atmosphere, the incidence of Asthma and allergic respiratory disorders within floridians, and how asthma and allergies are linked to weather and climate trends represent very important health issues. As a matter of fact, the incidence of Asthma increased notably in the last ten years, and Florida did not escape from this trend.
Hurricane science is trying to understand mechanisms controlling both, the genesis and further dynamical evolution of hurricanes. For coastal areas the answer to these questions is crucial. In order to accomplish this goal, scientists use sophisticated numerical models based on hydrodynamic equations known as Navier-Stoke, along with the conservation of mass and energy. The resulting system of equations is highly nonlinear and needs a large computational power to produce accurate results. Coarse-grained effective medium toy models constitute an alternative to above mentioned models. These toy models consist of systems of differential equations less complicated than the Navier-Stoke. The positive side of this approach it is the availability and the possibility to see results that may be qualitatively in agreement with more accurate models.
Even though; the above mentioned research topics may appear somehow diverging, they are very tighly related regarding methods of Mathematical Physics used in computing quantities of interest. In both cases, methods borrowed from Physics of Complex Systems, and Dynamical Systems are applied in conjunction with techniques from Computational Physics.
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Last update February 14, 2008
Weather and Environmental Tracking Office
Saint Thomas University
For comments and suggestions write to Atmospheric Physics Team
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| WeatherBug and WeatherBug Achieve |
The WeatherBug Network is the largest weather network in the world. More than 8000 schools across the U.S. operate WeatherBug Tracking Stations (including Saint Thomas University) to integrate live, local weather data, and technology into classroom learning. This is accomplished through WeatherBug Achieve, an online teaching tool that automatically embeds live weather readings and images from any source on the WeatherBug Network into lessons.
The WeatherBug network operates based on different sensors, whose technical description is included in Table you migh find below. Readings obtained from them are often summarized either as Daily Observations or Monthly Observations.
| Feature |
Range
(English) |
Accuracy
(English) |
Range
(Metric) |
Accuracy
(Metric) |
| Temperature |
-55F - 150F |
± 1F |
-45C - 60C |
± 0.5C |
| Relative Humidity |
0 - 100 % |
± 2 % |
0 - 100 % |
± 2 % |
| Wind Speed |
0 - 125mph |
± 2mph |
0 - 275kph |
± 4kph |
| Wind Direction |
0 -360deg |
± 3deg |
0 - 360deg |
± 3deg |
| Barometric Pressure |
28 - 32" Hg |
± 0.05" Hg |
900 - 1100mbar |
± 5mbar |
| Rainfall |
Unlimited |
± 2% |
Unlimited |
± 2% |
| Light Intensity |
0 - 100% |
N/A |
0 - 100% |
N/A |
| Auxiliary Temperature |
-55F - 150F |
± 2F |
-45C - 60C |
± 1C |
Students are able to view, interact with, and print maps of their school’s regions with reading up to six additional sites in the area, enabling them to compare live weather conditions and learn spatial relationships. Multiple weather parameters can be plotted using historical weather information from any of the 8000 WeatherBug schools. They can also chart changes to weather conditions, helping them understand how to detect patterns and trends over time.WeatherBug schools can also become part of the Homeland Security WeatherNet Network, providing first response teams with local weather data during emergencies. Neighborhood weather conditions are of great help to optimizing rescue efforts in terms of choosing the right equipment and planning evacuation routes if needed.
 
The WeatherBug Teachers Academy is constituted at this moment by 10 members from 9 different states. Teachers become involved with WeatherBug Achieve (previously known as AirWatch or WeatherNet Classroom) first on a school level, then at the district level. In every case, they have taken the program outside of their own classrooms. One of the goals of this Academy is to share the experience and knowledge gained during this time with the national Achieve community and is committed to helping make Achieve a classroom tool that both, teachers and students, will want to use to be able learn about science, math, geography, and social studies.
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