Present basic and modified equations of motion for rotating fluids to explain large-scale ocean and atmosphere motions. Topics include: geostrophic approximation; conservation of potential vorticity; Ekman transport and pumping; quasi-geostrophic approximation baroclinic instability; Rossby and Kelvin waves.
4
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeGraduate students only
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeInteresting and easy class, highly recommend. Multiple choice 2 midterms and final. 6 assignments.
I found the material really interesting and Professor Ding was clearly very passionate about this course. He was very helpful during office hours and his grading curve ensured that everyone would pass with either an A or B.
seriously recommend this class if you want an easy GE, super passionate professor though his accent makes it hard to understand what he's lecturing on sometimes. It doesn't really matter though cuz you mainly learn through his slides which are pretty engaging and well made. The curves he gave were insane.
Very generous % to letter grade (86 or above was an A/A+). Easy, interesting class. "Mandatory" lecture but iClicker normally didn't even work, weekly section hw but sections not rlly mandatory. Prof very passionate and knowledgeable in class content, tried to make concepts fun to learn, gave study guides before midterms/final. Awesome time!