Advanced Atmospheric Physics

This course attempts to impart knowledge on advanced aspects of atmospheric and space physics. Starting with the basics of inertial and non-inertial forces and various dynamical phenomenon it leads to understanding various important aspects such as atmospheric waves and instabilities. The second half of the course is devoted to the understanding of various phenomenon related to ionosphere, the coupling between solar energy and magnetosphere, single particle motion in a variety of electric and magnetic fields, formation of earth’s radiation belts etc. This course can be an extension to the earlier NPTEL course: Introduction to atmospheric and space sciences.INTENDED AUDIENCE :B.Tech (4thyear), MSc (2ndyear), MTech (1styear), Pre-PhDPRE-REQUISITE :NilINDUSTRY SUPPORT :Relevant for R & D based organizations such as ISRO, NCMRWF, IMD, DRDO.

Week 1:Atmospheric dynamics, Apparent forces, effective gravity, Coriolis force, pressure gradient force, gradient wind
Week 2:Thermal wind, continuity equation, perturbation theory and atmospheric waves
Week 3:Sound waves, gravity waves and Rossby waves, Momentum and energy transports by waves in the horizontal and the vertical
Week 4:Atmospheric instabilities, Atmospheric instabilities, dynamical instabilities, barotropic instability,
Week 5:baroclinic inertial instability, Necessary condition of barotropic and baroclinic instability.
Week 6:Combined barotropic and baroclinic instability. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
Week 7:Ionosphere: Formation of Ionosphere, Chemical processes, Ionospheric conductivity
Week 8:Planetary ionospheres, Ionospheric exploration using rockets and satellites
Week 9:Langmuir probe, temperature measurements, airglow and aurora, radio wave propagation in the ionosphere.
Week 10:Magnetosphere: Earth as a magnet, solar wind, types and theory of solar wind
Week 11:Frozen-in magnetic field, interaction of solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field and formation of magnetosphere, single particle motion in in homogeneous electric and magnetic fields
Week 12:Inter planetary magnetic field (IMF), geomagnetic storms, van-allen radiation belts, plasmasphere, coronal holes, CMEs, satellite observations of various plasma domains and plasma instabilities.