Atmosphere and its origin State of the atmosphere Constituents of air Structure of Atmosphere Gas laws Ideal gas Law Temperature, thermodynamics systems and variables.
Thermodynamics of dry air: Equation of state, Expansion of gas under constant pressure Law of conservation of energy specific heats of a gas First law of thermodynamics Adiabatic process in the atmosphere Potential temperature Equation state of dry air Poisson’s equation for dry air Alternative forms of the energy equation Entropy Reversible and irreversible processes and enthalpy.
The thermodynamics of water vapour and moist air: Water in the atmosphere three states of water substances The Classius and Clapeyron equation Equation of state for water vapour Moisture variables (Absolute humidity, specific humidity, relative humidity, mixing ratio) Virtual temperature skew-T diagrams moisture variables on the skew-T diagrams and lifted condensation level moist adiabatic lapse rate equivalent potential, and wet bulb temperatures.
Environmental lapse rate, Standard atmosphere, Hydrostatic equilibrium, Hydrostatic equation, Vertical stability of the atmosphere: Dry adiabatic lapse rate Standard adiabatic lapse rate Equilibrium states the parcel method Application of the parcel method, The slice method.
Characteristics of the sun, nature and importance of solar radiation in Earth’s atmosphere Characteristics of solar radiation Definitions and concepts in radiation Transfer of radiation through a medium Terrestrial radiation Characteristics of terrestrial radiation Absorption of terrestrial radiation Transmission of terrestrial radiation through the atmosphere Radiative cooling or heating of the atmosphere Overview of Earth’s radiation budget the atmospheric greenhouse effect Rayleigh and Mie Scattering Multiple Scattering.

To impart knowledge relating to atmospheric thermodynamics and radiation.

After finishing the course, the students would be able to understand the basics relating to structure of the atmosphere, associated thermodynamics and atmospheric radiation. It will help them preparing for various national level exams like GATE/CSIR-NET/UGS-NET etc.

Chandrasekar A., Basics of Atmospheric Science, PHI Learning Private Limited, Delhi

Hess S. L., Introduction to Theoretical Meteorology, Krieger Publishing Company Malabar, Florida

Roland B. Stull, Meteorology (for scientists and engineers), Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning

Houghton H. G., Physical Meteorology, MIT Press