Extended Abstract (124K)J1.3
Space weather and terrestrial weather: What common and uncommon themes do undergraduates encounter?
Delores J. Knipp, U.S. Air Force Academy, USAF Academy, CO; and L. Krause, T. Koehler, M. G. McHarg, and K. Brueske
The US Air Force Academy’s mission is to develop air and space leaders of the future. Since we anticipate our graduates operating in both air and space, the Academy’s meteorology program requires a course in space weather and environment, in addition to eleven required courses in terrestrial weather and climate. We offer the space course during the second semester of the junior year. At that point our meteorology majors will have completed three courses - climatology, a survey course in atmospheric science, and a course in weather data, analysis and quantitative methods, and will be concurrently enrolled in their introductory class in atmospheric physics. This presentation will describe the common themes in the space weather and terrestrial weather courses: temporal and spatial scale, terminology, equations of motion, energy sources and sinks, wave behavior, observations and forecasting. We will also discuss the aspects of the space weather course that appear radically “new” to students: plasma behavior, electromagnetic applications and impacts on technology systems. The three primary challenges in teaching the space weather and environment course are 1) explaining the origin and effects of non-blackbody radiation; 2) quantifying electromagnetic influences on charged particles, and 3) investigating the interaction of high energy particles with their surroundings. We will highlight the challenges posed in integrating a space weather course into an undergraduate meteorology curriculum.
Joint Session 1, Education and Outreach Activities in Space Weather (Joint Between the 13th Symposium on Education and the Symposium on Space Weather) (Room 615/16)
Monday, 12 January 2004, 1:30 PM-5:30 PM, Room 615/616
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