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2. Course code

ATM354

Aikaisemmat leikkaavat opintojaksot 53634 Pilvifysiikka, 5 op

3. Course status: compulsory

-Which degree programme is responsible for the course?
Master's Programme in Atmospheric Sciences

-Which module does the course belong to?
ATM300 Advanced Studies in Atmospheric Sciences (compulsory for Study Track in Meteorology)

-Is the course available to students from other degree programmes?
Yes

4. Course level (first-, second-, third-cycle/EQF levels 6, 7 and 8)

Master’s level, degree programmes in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine = secondcycle
degree/EQF level 7
Doctoral level = third-cycle (doctoral) degree/EQF level 8

-Does the course belong to basic, intermediate or advanced studies (cf. Government Decree
on University Degrees)?
Advanced studies

5. Recommended time/stage of studies for completion

-The recommended time for completion may be, e.g., after certain relevant courses have
been completed.

• Can be taken in the early or later stages of studies. 

6. Term/teaching period when the course will be offered

-The course may be offered in the autumn or spring term or both.
-If the course is not offered every year, this must be indicated here.
-Specification of the teaching period when the course will be offered

• Given every year in the spring term.

7. Scope of the course in credits

• 5 cr

8. Teacher coordinating the course

• Dmitri Moisseev

9. Course learning outcomes

-Description of the learning outcomes provided to students by the course
- See the competence map (https://flamma.helsinki.fi/content/res/pri/HY350274).

• You will learn how clouds work and how cloud droplets and ice crystals form and grow
•  You will understand how ice crystals evolve into diverse shapes and what a snowflake can tell about clouds above
• You will also learn how precipitation develops in warm and colds clouds
• Modern cloud and precipitation observation methods will also be introduced

10. Course completion methods

-Will the course be offered in the form of contact teaching, or can it be taken as a distance
learning course?
-Description of attendance requirements (e.g., X% attendance during the entire course or
during parts of it)
-Methods of completion

• Exercises and final exam

11. Prerequisites

-Description of the courses or modules that must be completed before taking this course or
what other prior learning is required

• Thermodynamics:  Suitable courses at the University of Helsinki are Atmospheric Thermodynamics (53604)

12. Recommended optional studies

-What other courses are recommended to be taken in addition to this course?
-Which other courses support the further development of the competence provided by this
course?

• If you are interested in earning how cloud and precipitation processes are studied  you can attend ATM323 Advanced Course in Radar Meteorology
  
  

13. Course content

-Description of the course content

• Brief overview of thermodynamics and cloud macrophysics (cooling mechanisms, mixing and stability)
• Cloud microphysics, formation of the liquid and solid phase, vapor-growth of liquid drops and ice crystals, growth by collection
• Warm Clouds, evolution of supersaturation and precipitation formation 
• Cold Clouds, ice initiation, glaciation, secondary ice production,  snow and cold rain 
• Weather modification and cloud seeding, a brief introduction to aerosol-cloud interactions
• Representation of clouds in numerical weather prediction models
• Observations of clouds and precipitation

14. Recommended and required literature

-What kind of literature and other materials are read during the course (reading list)?
-Which works are set reading and which are recommended as supplementary reading?

• D. Lamb and J. Verlinde, Physics and Chemistry of Clouds

15. Activities and teaching methods in support of learning

-See the competence map (https://flamma.helsinki.fi/content/res/pri/HY350274).
-Student activities
-Description of how the teacher’s activities are documented

• Weekly lectures and exercises (individual work).  Total hours 135.

16. Assessment practices and criteria, grading scale

-See the competence map (https://flamma.helsinki.fi/content/res/pri/HY350274).
-The assessment practices used are directly linked to the learning outcomes and teaching
methods of the course.

• Final grade is based on exercises (30%) and final exam (70%).

17. Teaching language

• English