Term Paper

The goal is to explore some climate- or weather-related topic in more detail than is gone into in class, and it need not be related to what is in the syllabus. The topic might be something that might be useful in your research, or has always bugged you. It need not necessarily be an original research question, but should incorporate results from the scientific literature. It might be a straight literature review, a well-argued research proposal, or some preliminary analysis. Particular weight will be placed on a critical evaluation of the material. We can discuss questions you are interested in, and I'll help find sources of information.

Result should be a 5 to 10 page paper, and a 20-30 minute classroom presentation at the end of the quarter. Abstracts due by week 5 of the quarter (April 25th), and come talk to me before then with ideas for projects. The abstract should be a paragraph or two outlining the topic and the approach you are intending to take.


Examples of previous topics:

2003:
Weather modification – Wendy McCausland
Titan precipitation – Steve Vance
Climate records in isotopes – Steve Price
Seiche waves  - Aggeliki Barrberopolou
Wave-driven sediment transport – Andy Ganse
Droughts and soil moisture – Hyo-Seok Park
Remote sensing of atmospheric water vapour - Amit Muskin

2004:
Interactions between volcanic plumes and the atmosphere - Joe MacGregor
Short-term storminess conditions along the western US coast - Drew Stolar
Localized warm spots on the surface of a glacier - why? - Michelle Koutnik
Dimthyl sulphide and the little phytoplankton that could - Andy Gendaszek
The Lorenz equations and their implication for long-range weather forecasting - Hans Schwaiger
The problem with predicting tornadoes - Travis Orloff

2005:
Scientific basis of popular weather sayings - Sanjoy Som
Volcanoes and the little ice age - Katie Crieger
Circulation dynamics of extrasolar planets - Michelle Cash
Cloud microphysics and precipitation - Jennifer Fletcher
Physics of the ozone layer - Tom Schnackenberg