Teaching
Below are information and links about the current and past courses taught by Andrea Lang
For Non-Majors
ATM 100: The Atmosphere
Non-technical survey of the atmosphere; the physical environment of society and its historical development; intentional and unintentional
modifications of the environment; cloud types and structure; severe storms; weather forecasting; air pollution; major wind and weather
systems. Spring 2023.
ATM 110: Weather & Climate Issues
Honors College course. You can't avoid it, everyone experiences the weather and climate! This course will examine the physics that explains
weather and climate variability as well as climate change. The science will inform classroom discussions and projects focused on 21st century
issues related to weather and climate here in the US and across the world. Fall 2014 and 2016.
Visit the T ATM 110 course page.
AOS 100: Introduction to Weather and Climate
The collection of phenomena we call the weather is the interesting and fascinating subject of this course. As your instructor I hope to motivate
you to make the course material personal, how do you own experiences fit in with what we're learning? In lecture we will dissect the weather,
including fronts, cyclones, severe weather, and hurricanes, in an intelligent way while keeping in mind our own real world examples.
Taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Spring 2009.
For Majors
ATM 210: Atmospheric Structure, Thermodynamics, and Circulation
A technical survey of the atmosphere that introduces and applies essential principles and
concepts from atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics, radiative energy transfer, and cloud
and precipitation physics to describe and understand the processes that govern weather and
climate that impact our environment.
Fall semesters, in person and online. Visit the A ATM 210 course page
ATM 317: Dynamic Meteorology II
An application of the governing equations to describe and understand synoptic to planetary scale phenomena, including vertical motion, jet streaks,
and the frontal cyclone; introduction to the concepts of vorticity and potential vorticity.
Spring semesters, in person and online. Visit the A ATM 317 course page.
For Grad Students
ATM 525: Troposphere-Stratosphere Interaction
An introduction to the structure, composition, dynamics, chemistry and radiational properties of the stratosphere.
We will analyze the two-way interaction between the troposphere and stratosphere in the tropics, extra-tropics and high latitudes and the implications
of troposphere-stratosphere interactions on both weather and climate timescales. Fall 2013, 2015, and Spring 2020.
Visit the A ATM 525 course page.
Classroom Conversation Starters
These are a few items that I've developed for my classroom that others have asked to use in their classrooms
Atmospheric Thickness: Sometimes students find it hard to conceptually understand why that atmosphere's thickness might change. To help with this explanation, I created this atmospheric thickness in an animated gif to show how temperature and density are directly related to the distance between two different pressure surfaces in an atmospheric column.
Make your own study guide: As a way to keep fresh on concepts from class, I created a 'fortune teller' game for my class using the classic game from childhood but applied in a new way to quiz yourself on class topics. This is a photo of the one I created for ATM 210 but you can find the template as a PDF or a PPTX you can edit.