Atmospheric Environment: Growing in the Wind, AGECO 122

  • Instructors: Dr. Scott A. Isard
  • Credits: 3
  • Semesters Offered: Fall
  • Texts:
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Syllabus:

Course Description:

Dynamic effects of weather on ecosystems and habitation of Earth

GROWING IN THE WIND is for 30 first-year students who are interested in learning about the atmospheric environment and its influence on animals, plants, and humans. It is about how processes at the ground surface and in the atmosphere govern weather conditions on the Earth. Growing in the Wind focuses on five major weather elements: energy, temperature, moisture, pressure, and wind. Emphasis is given to human impacts on weather and climate and the influence of weather on plants and animals. The course is organized around the central theme that the unequal distribution of incoming solar energy (both spatially and temporally) produces temperature and pressure contrasts at the Earth’s surface and in the atmosphere that in turn cause storms and control the weather.

No prerequisites are required. A sincere interest in agriculture and the environment helps.

Laboratory session will be held in a computer classroom. The exercises are designed to reinforce lecture and reading materials and provide students with the computer skills that they need to excel at Penn State. We will complete one laboratory exercise per week using meteorological data and other resources on the Internet. In doing these exercises, students will improve their skills using a variety of software products including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Throughout the semester, we carry out numerous calculations with weather data in Excel and graph the results, then students import the plots and tables into Word files. Maps and drawing in Powerpoint as well as materials from the Internet are also imported into the same files to support answers to questions. The small computer classroom facilitates an informal educational environment with students helping each other learn the software tools. Students in the past have enjoy expanding their computer skills and have subsequently used these tools to their advantage in other courses.