ATMS 360 Atmospheric Instrumentation [main page] [assignments]

Week 4: 9 February

Monday-Wednesday:

1. Discuss the accuracy and precision stated for the instruments by the manufacturers.
2. Discuss report writing.
3. Bring questions to class.
   
   
4. Next Assignment: Introduction to meteorological radar and assignment 7 (in-class).
   a. Preparation: Radar discussion and "under the dome" video.
   b. Example of current data.
   c. Weather radar presentation as powerpoint and as a pdf document for understanding radar and dbZ.
   

Week 3: 2 February

Friday:

1. Toured the weather stations on the roof of Physics.
2. Continued data analysis for the January 1-17 2026 case study. Bring your laptop or use the lab computers. If using lab computers, be sure email yourself the file or bring a USB drive to class.

• Scatter plots of Ambient vs Sonic wind speed, and wind direction. Finished all graphs.

UNR and other data from the Ambient WS5000 weather station .

Student Preparation for Class: We will continue with assignment 6. Bring questions to class.

Monday and Wednesday:

We will continue data analysis for the January 1-17 2026 case study. Bring your laptop or use the lab computers. If using lab computers, be sure email yourself the file or bring a USB drive to class.

• Time series for wind speed, direction, pressure, and temperature.
• Scatter plots of Ambient vs Sonic wind speed, direction, temperature, and pressure.

UNR and other data from the Ambient WS5000 weather station .

Student Preparation for Class: We will continue with assignment 6. Bring questions to class.

Some of the UNR and Desert Research Institute (DRI) meteorological instruments.

Atmospheric Instruments Textbook: See Appendix A on lab reports
Free through UNR Library: Online textbook for atmospheric instrumentation.

Week 2: 26 January

Monday and Wednesday:

Sonic anemometer measurement discussion. (Whiteboard notes).

Draw and explain U, V, and W wind components, meteorological wind direction and wind speed. (Whiteboard notes).

We will start data analysis on Wednesday. Bring your laptop or use the lab computers. If using lab computers, be sure email yourself the file or bring a USB drive to class.

UNR and other data from the Ambient WS5000 weather station .

Student Preparation for Class: Complete part 1 of assignment 6. Bring questions to class.

We will continue with assignment 6.

Some of the UNR and Desert Research Institute (DRI) meteorological instruments.

Atmospheric Instruments Textbook: See Appendix A on lab reports
Free through UNR Library: Online textbook for atmospheric instrumentation.

Week 1: 19 January

Friday:

Student Preparation for Class: Read assignment 6 and bring questions to class.

Continue with assignment 6.

Some of the UNR and Desert Research Institute (DRI) meteorological instruments.

Wednesday:

Introductions: Name, major, and goals for this class.
Places to learn about what is going on in this class:
Daily Notes (here).
Assignments. Assignments 1-6 have been posted, review them.
Syllabus.
Webcampus.

Related information.

Atmospheric Instruments Textbook:
Free through UNR Library: Online textbook for atmospheric instrumentation.

How to keep a lab notebook to record what you do and help in lab report writing:
a. Make a table of contents at the back.
b. Number the pages so you can add entries to the table of content.
Discussion of lab notebooking from CU.

A free, online Atmospheric Science textbook is available for students new to the field.
Free online Introductory Textbook for Atmospheric Science and local backup.

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