This schedule gives the approximate pace at which I will cover the topics in the book, which we will go through from cover to cover (not counting the appendix).   Sometimes I will devote an entire lecture to discussing one or more of the class projects, which means that some material will either get displaced into later lectures or else I will leave it to you to read about on your own. Either way, I urge you to stick to the pace given below in your own reading, regardless of any drift in my lecture schedule.  

Important:  At the graduate level, it is appropriate to expect students to be more self-sufficient and to derive a greater proportion of their understanding from reading as opposed to having everything spelled out in lecture.  I will discuss selected portions of the reading in class in order to help clarify, and put into context, key concepts.  The book is both self-contained and complete as regards the subject matter of this course; also, I wrote it specifically to spare you from having to wade through a lot of technical detail that is not necessarily fundamental to a non-specialist's understanding of atmospheric radiation.  The more specialized aspects will be covered in AOS 740, for those who need them.

In summary, my lectures are intended as a supplement to the reading, not the other way around.  This means that you are responsible for the material in the book regardless of whether it is covered in class.

Week Date Topic Reading through... Remarks
1 T, 22 Jan
 Intro; Overview of EM radiation p. 10 -
  Th, 24 Jan
 " p. 28 -
2 T, 29 Jan
 Flux and intensity
 - Introduce Streamer project
  Th, 31 Jan
 The electromagnetic spectrum
 p. 46 -
3 T, 5 Feb
 Major spectral bands
 p. 64 -
  Th, 7 Feb
 Refraction and reflection in homogeneous media
 p. 82 -
4 T, 12 Feb
 Radiative properties of natural surfaces
 p. 100 -
  Th, 14 Feb
 Planck's function
 p. 118 -
5 T, 19 Feb
 Properties of thermally emitted radiation
 p. 136 -
  Th, 21 Feb
 Simple heating/cooling models
 p. 154 -
6 T, 26 Feb
 Simple remote sensing applications
p. 172 -
  Th, 28 Feb
 Atmospheric transmission
p. 190 -
7 T, 4 Mar
 Atmospheric optical thickness; absorption
 -

Target due date for Streamer;

Introduce Weighting Function Project

Petty on travel
  Th, 6 Mar
 Schwarzschild's equation
 p. 208

Petty on travel
8 T, 11 Mar
 Atmospheric emission
 p. 226 -
  Th, 13 Mar
 Midterm
 through p. 208
 -
9 T, 18 Mar
 - - Spring break
  Th, 20 Mar
 - - Spring break
 

T, 25 Mar

Discuss Midterm

Temperature profile retrievals

- -
  Th, 27 Mar
 Absorption by molecules p. 244 -
10 T, 1 Apr
 Line spectra, broadening mechanisms
 p. 262
 Petty on travel
  Th, 3 Apr
 Survey of atmospheric absorbers
 p. 280
 Petty on travel
11 T, 8 Apr
 Broadband flux calculations
 -

Target due date for WF project

Introduce Monte Carlo Project
  Th, 10 Apr
 Radiative heating profiles
 p. 298 -
12 T, 15 Apr
 Radiative transfer with scattering
 p. 314 -
  Th, 17 Apr
 The scattering phase function
 p. 330 -
13 T, 22 Apr
 Rayleigh scattering
 p. 346 -
  Th, 24 Apr
 Mie scattering
 p. 362 -
14 T, 29 Apr
 Applications to radar and microwave radiometry
 p. 378 -
  Th, 1 May
 Radiative transfer with multiple scattering
 p. 394 -
15 T, 6 May
 Applications to clouds
 p. 410 -
  Th, 8 May
 Clouds cont.; overview of accurate solution methods
 p. 426 Target due date for MC project
F Friday
16 MAY
 Final Exam, 10:05 AM pp. 209-426 -