ABE 898 - Land-Atmosphere Interactions

Syllabus (2012-2013 T2)

Instructor Information:
Warren Helgason, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Assistant Professor
Chemical and Biological Engineering
Office: 1A13 Engineering Building
Phone: 966-5315
email: warren.helgason@usask.ca
office hours: by appointment
Lectures: Thursdays 8:30-11:30 Location: 1A73 Engineering
Prerequisites:
Permission of the instructor is required prior to registration.
Students should have taken previous courses in hydrology and environmental physics.
Enrollment limit: 10 students
Course Description:
This course investigates the transfer of energy at the earth surface as it pertains to hydrological and
climatological applications. In addition to developing an understanding of the structure of the
atmospheric boundary layer, the following physical processes are covered in detail: turbulent heat
exchange, evaporation, ground heat storage, radiation heat transfer, and snow melt. The course will
also cover measurement techniques for each of the aforementioned processes. The learning objectives
will be accomplished through independent readings of seminal and current literature, problem sets,
computer modeling exercises, and a term project. The course will focus on applications within natural
and agricultural environments.
Course Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, students will:
1. have developed a comprehensive understanding of energy transport processes occurring at the
earth-air interface;
2. be aware of techniques used to measure and model energy transport processes within
hydrological and meteorological applications;
3. be able to quantitatively evaluate energy exchange concepts found in relevant literature.
Course Delivery / Approach:
This course will be delivered through a combination of lectures that serve to review fundamental
concepts and group discussions of assigned readings. The students will be required to complete
assignments that explore concepts presented in the readings through the use data analysis tools (i.e.
Matlab, R, Excel). Each student will also be required to complete a term project on an assigned
hydrological process, for which they will have to complete a literature survey, find a suitable model for,
and then set parameters for their model and test against a collected data set.

Course Evaluation:

Participation in class discussion:

Interim assignments (approx. 5)
Course project:
Final exam (take home):

10%
25%
25%
40%

Course Policies:

Assignments are to be submitted on the date specified. Late assignments will only be accepted if
prior permission has been granted by the instructor.
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this class. Any confirmed misconduct will result in
an automatic failing grade and a possible academic misconduct action being filed. For more
information on what constitutes academic misconduct please consult the University Council
document on academic misconduct (www.usask.ca/honesty)

Course Outline:
Week of:
Jan. 7

Topics:
Introductory concepts in the land-surface energy balance
and the atmospheric boundary layer:
definitions, properties, states, etc.
stability concepts, Monin-Obukhov similarity
theory

Jan. 14

Wind flow and momentum transfer:

equations of motion and their simplifications
wind profile descriptions
roughness lengths, blending heights
turbulence in canopies

Jan. 21

Measurement of turbulent exchange rates

aerodynamic approach; bowen ratio; eddy
covariance; surface renewal

Jan. 28

Principles of turbulent heat and mass transfer:

Reynold's analogy
scalar transfer relationships

Feb. 4

Evaporation mechanisms and modelling concepts Part I

combination aerodynamic-energy balance
approaches; equilibrium evaporation
introduction to parameterization

Feb. 11

Evaporation mechanisms and modelling concepts Part II

advanced vegetation schemes
evaporation scaling concepts
NO CLASSES SCHEDULED - READING WEEK

Assigned literature:
SEE WEBSITE FOR ASSIGNED
READING

Feb. 25

Scaling of convective exchange processes and

representation in models
up-scaling procedures
land-surface modeling
land-atmosphere feedback mechanisms

Mar. 4

NO CLASSES SCHEDULED

Mar. 11

NO CLASSES SCHEDULED

Mar. 18

Stable boundary layer

boundary layer complexities associated with
stable flows

Mar. 25

Radiation energy exchange processes

processes and parameterization

Apr. 1

Energy storage
soil temperature and ground heat flux

TBD

Field trip - Saskatchewan Boreal Forest