Urban Meteorology

GEOB 401 - by Andreas Christen

'Urban Meteorology' focusses on the impact of urbanization upon atmospheric processes and climates. Cities significantly alter exchange processes at the land-atmosphere interface. We elaborate and quantify how meteorology and climate on different scales are affected by the presence of an urban surface (trace-gas exchange, urban heat island, precipitation modification, etc.). We explore methods to measure and model urban land-atmosphere interactions. We discuss the significance of urban climate in applications such as architecture, urban planning and management, health, weather forecasting, dispersion modelling and global climate change.

Microscale Weather and Climate

GEOB 300 - by Andreas Christen

'Microscale Weather and Climate' introduces you the nature of the atmosphere and processes close to the Earth's surface on small scales, extending in space from those of a leaf up to that of a large valley. We focus on interactions between the surface, vegetation and atmosphere. We gain an understanding of and describe mass- momentum and energy exchange, turbulence, dispersion and atmospheric circulations in the context of forcing surface processes and global climate. The course introduces basic instrumentation and methods used in today's monitoring and modeling of microscale climate and surface-atmosphere exchange.

Introduction to Biometeorology

GEOB 204 / APBI 244 - by Andy Black and Andreas Christen

'Introduction to Biometeorology is an introductory course to the fundamental processes and concepts of climatology, and their relevance to vegetation and animal systems. We focus on interactions between vegetation and the atmosphere and gain an understanding of mass, momentum and energy exchange. We discuss large scale weather and climate processes relevant to applications in forestry and agriculture. The course consists of three one-hour lectures and a two-hour laboratory per week. The accompanying laboratory exercises provide hands-on experiences explaining physical principles and introducing instrumentation.

Geographical Biogeosciences Field Course

GEOB 309 - by Andreas Christen, Brett Eaton, Greg Henry and Michele Koppes

This course introduces you to basic methods of field work in Biogeosciences, including mapping and surveying, field sampling, instrumentation, electronic data acquisition, and approaches to the design and implementation of field research projects. There is one lecture or workshop per week during term following the midterm break and a 12 day field camp. The field camp will be located at the Barrier Lake Research Station at Kananaskis (University of Calgary).