Observing Projects _Fall_

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					                             Physics 137, Section 1, Fall Semester

                                 Severe and Hazardous Weather
                                       OBSERVATION PROJECTS

During the present semester each student will be required to complete and submit a report on one
observational project or present one TV-type weather forecast. A list of a few possible observational
projects is here provided. Students who desire to do a project of their own design rather than one of the
suggested projects are encouraged to do so. However prior approval of the instructor should be obtained
for an individually designed project. Use of simple personal instruments such as thermometers,
barometers, etc. is permitted, but certainly not required, for many of the suggested projects or for
individually designed projects.

Generally the projects are intended to be simple enough that they easily can and should be completed
individually. Exceptions can be made to this policy, if permission to do so is obtained from your
instructor in advance, only for projects where collaboration is clearly advantageous to the quality of the
project, e.g., for a project requiring comparison of simultaneous data from multiple local sites. All
project reports should be prepared individually!

For many of the projects it is advantageous, or even necessary, to begin working early in the semester
since observations are required over an extended period of time. Procrastination will significantly limit
the number of projects from which you may choose and may adversely affect your grade.

The Report

Reports should be brief but should include all essential data, results, conclusions, and should show or
explain how the results and conclusions were inferred from the data. Depending on the nature of the
project, information in the report might include times, dates and places of observations; weather
conditions at the times of observations, data tables, charts, sketches, graphs, descriptions of what was
observed, calculations, and statements and explanations of results and conclusions. Estimates of the
errors in both one's data and in one's conclusions should be made. It is appropriate to report what is
personally learned from the project, including personal impressions. Extensive background material is
neither expected nor desired.

It is expected that besides containing the above information the report will conform to the standards of
good writing. It will be graded in accordance with those standards. Thus errors in grammar, punctuation,
and spelling as well as lack of clarity and awkward structure will be penalized. The report may be either
handwritten or mechanically produced, but, if handwritten, must be neat enough to be read without
difficulty in order to avoid penalty.

Honesty is valued above impressive data in grading reports. If there is evidence that data have been
copied or fabricated (and it is usually more difficult to fabricate convincing data than to obtain them
honestly) an appropriately low score, probably zero, will be assessed. If the accuracy of some of your
data is questionable, indicate possibly bad data, with an explanation, in your report and assign it an
appropriately low weight in drawing conclusions.

A caution: Some of the suggested projects involve making observations at the same time each day or, at
least, recording of the time of day. Remember that we switch from Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) to
Mountain Standard Time (MST) on the first Sunday of November (November 4 in 2012) and that MDT =
MST + 1hour. Remember to allow for the change of time, e.g., if you are recording the temperature each
day at 6 pm MDT before the first November Sunday, your observation time should be 5 pm MST on that
date and thereafter.

Suggested Observational Projects

(*Additional instructions or materials are available for projects with asterisks.)

1. Make an accurate sketch (or use a photograph) of the western horizon as seen from some convenient
location from which you can observe the setting sun on successive occasions. (Any open location to
which you have easy access at the appropriate time of day is suitable.) Mark the due west point on your
sketch. Watch the sunset at least once or twice each week of the semester and mark on your sketch the
location, the date and the time of each sunset. Over the period of the semester both the north-south
motion of the sun and the variation in the time of sunset will be readily apparent. You should also be
able to note changes in both the rate of north-south motion of the sun and the rate of change in the
time of sunset.

In order to obtain good results you must (1) have an accurate representation of the western horizon as
it appears from your observation point, (2) confine your observations to that same point (a
displacement of even a few tens of feet could noticeably change the silhouette of the apparent horizon
and introduce significant errors into your results) and (3) make regular observations throughout the
term. You may obtain, by clicking below, a sketch of the western horizon as it appears from the hilltop
above the stairs to the Richards PE Building. However, do not use this sketch if you plan to observe from
your apartment or any location other than the one for which it has been prepared! In those cases, if
possible, you should photograph the western horizon from your point of observation and use an
enlargement of that photograph for plotting the point at which the sun sets. For this purpose, a high
resolution photo is not necessary. Even an enlargement of a cell phone photo will be of sufficient
quality. If you choose this project, please begin very early, within the first few days, in the semester.
Otherwise you will miss much of the total change. If you have accurate data over much of the semester,
you should also also be able to make some inferences about the rates at which the daily rates of change
of both the time and position of sunset themselves change.

                               Click here for a BYU Campus horizon sketch.

2. Keep a daily log of one or more weather elements from the beginning of the semester to the project
report deadline. Possible elements include (1) temperature at a particular time of day, or daily
maximum, minimum, mean or range; (2) barometric pressure, (3) humidity, (4) cloud cover, (5)
precipitation, (6) visibility and (7) wind speed. You may record these elements at any location you
choose but that location should be the same every day. You may use personally owned instruments to
make observations at a location of your choice (preferred option) or you may make observations at BYU
using the data available in the office of the Geography Department, 690E Kimball Tower (SWKT). You
may also acquire your (somewhat limited) data from the display on the north side of the Eyring Science
Center foyer or from the charts posted in the ground floor hallway, southeast section, of the Kimball
Tower. Be sure to state in your report the exact location of the instrument(s) used for observations.

If you use a personally owned thermometer to make observations make sure that that instrument is
located out of the sun, about 5 feet above the ground, preferably over grass, and away from buildings so
that it will give as accurate a reading of air temperature, consistent with the adopted standards for
meteorological measurement, as possible. (An interesting variation on this project is to use two
instruments, one positioned in accordance with Weather Service standards, and the second positioned
very nearby in violation of at least one of those standards to see what effect these modifications have
on the recorded temperature, but, if you compare readings from two different instruments, correct for
any systematic differences in the readings yielded by those two instruments. Another interesting
variation is to use multiple instruments in relatively nearby locations and compare and explain the
results, e.g., BYU campus versus the Provo Airport or Orem, or even the ESC rooftop instruments versus
the official BYU weather station instruments which are located below the bench location of most of the
campus or the SWKT rooftop instruments.)

What systemic changes do you see in your chosen element(s) over the course of the semester?

3. An interesting variation on project #2 is to compare some weather element, e.g., the daily maximum
or minimum temperature, with the forecast value for that element taken from the previous day's
weather forecast. If you do this project the results will be most meaningful if you always get your
weather forecasts from the same source at the same time of day. What kinds of weather are associated
with the most and least accurate forecasts of meteorologists?

3.5 A interesting variation on the project of recording the maximum temperature each day is to also
record the time of the day's maximum temperature. You can easily determine this by regularly visiting
the website http://marvin.byu.edu/Weather/cgi-bin/textbritish24hr. (Caution, some days may require
you to visit the website more than once to capture all of the necessary data.) Plot the time of
temperature maximum versus date. What trends do you see. Try to explain your observations.

4. How accurate are the Weather Service's precipitation forecasts? Keep a log comparing the number of
precipitation forecasts at each percentage level with the number of times measurable precipitation
actually occurred, e.g., what percentage of the time, on days when a 40-percent probability of
precipitation was forecast, did measurable precipitation actually occur? (If you do this project, make
sure your observations extend over the entire semester to maximize to data base. Even then your
conclusions may not be statistically well-supported if we have an unusually dry semester. You could get
better statistical support by choosing to do the project for a city with a wetter climate than Provo.
However your results would probably not hold true locally.)
5. Use a daily log of weather elements to look for correlations between various weather elements or
correlations involving relationships between those elements. For example, the daily temperature range
(the difference between the daily maximum and minimum temperatures) could be related to the
relative humidity, the amount of cloud cover and even the time of year. Investigate such a relationship
then attempt to explain what you learn.

6. Abrupt changes in weather are often associated with frontal passages. Use daily logs to look for such
correlations, e.g., keep track of how many times during the semester the daily temperature change (the
temperature difference on successive days obtained by comparing highs, lows or means) is . . . ., -3ºF, -
2°F, -1°F, 0°F, +1°F, +2°F, +3°F, . . . . How many times for each of those changes was there a frontal
passage during the intervening day?

7. Keep track of the elevation of the snowline as it descends to the valley floor during the fall semester.
Immediately after each storm record the date and the approximate elevation of the snowline associated
with that particular storm. To do this project you will need to consult some local topographical maps (or
use the data in Appendix A of the Course Outline) to determine the approximate elevation of the
snowline. Why doesn't the snowline (usually) progress smoothly to the valley floor with the passage of

8. Use data as in project #7 to calibrate a crude local temperature-snowline relationship. What is the
temperature on campus when the snowline during an ongoing storm is right at the summit of
Timpanogos, at the summit of Y Mountain, at the summit of Squaw Peak, at the block "Y", just at the
level of campus, etc.? (When the cloud bases are above the snowline as is often the case during our fall
storms one can sometimes tell where the snowline is from the opacity of the precipitation.) Do these
questions always have the same answer or just approximately so? If there is variation, about how much
does that appear to be?

9. During the course of the semester observe as many types of atmospheric optical phenomena as
possible (at least 6 different kinds of phenomena are required in order to be eligible for the maximum
possible 50 points on the report of this project). A partial list of such phenomena includes crepuscular
rays, unusual coloration of the sun or moon, variations in the color of the clear sky, stellar twinkling or
scintillation, the green flash, a superior mirage, an inferior mirage, a solar halo, a lunar halo, an upper
tangent arc, a lower tangent arc, a sundog, a sun pillar, rainbows (primary and/or secondary; be sure to
note the relative brightness of the sky inside the primary, between the bows and outside the secondary),
a circumzenithal arc, a solar or lunar corona, cloud iridescence, the glory, the brocken bow and the
heiligenschein. Describe your observations in as much detail as possible. Be sure to give the places,
times and dates of your observations, the location of each phenomenon in the sky with respect to the
sun and/or moon, sky conditions, weather conditions, approximate temperatures, and any other data
you believe might be relevant to your observations. Attempt to explain, in each case, the physical causes
of the phenomenon observed. Sketches or diagrams, including estimates of angular scale, should be
used to the extent possible. When possible observe each type of phenomenon on two or more
occasions, note differences in the observations, and attempt to explain those differences.
10. Compare the behavior of some weather element(s) at various sites, e.g., how does the average daily
temperature range for Fall Semester compare at Provo, and a selected group of other sites. Such
comparisons are interesting whether the comparative sites are highly local, restricted to Utah, national
or international. In any case, make your best attempt to explain your observations, i.e., explain why the
element(s) you have chosen exhibit(s) the general site-to-site differences in behavior that you observe.

11. Observe the nocturnal radiation inversion by using two or more thermometers set at different
heights. (Beware of systematic differences in the readings of the two instruments.) There are several
different possibilities here, e.g., (a) Take simultaneous measurements at several heights to get the
vertical temperature profile. (b) Observe the correlation between the strength of the inversion and
other relevant weather variables such as wind or cloud cover. (c) Observe the strength of the inversion
on the same mornings at different sites (which cannot be widely separated unless someone assists you).
(One past student was sufficiently enthusiastic about this project, that he made eight early morning
hikes to the "Y" to record the temperature difference between there and the valley floor! If you should
do likewise, be sure to complete you observations before sunrise occurs at any site before you record
the temperature there, so that the temperature remains relatively stable.)

12. Monitor the temperature change in some body of water such as Utah Lake or Deer Creek Reservoir
over the duration of the semester. (If you choose this project, measure the water temperature at least
weekly, taking each measurement at the same site, at a constant depth and at the same time of day. An
interesting variation of this project would be to measure the vertical temperature profile in a body of
water at two or three widely separated times during the semester.)

13. Take a long mountain hike or a drive with a contour map or elevation enabled GPS, an accurate,
appropriately calibrated thermometer, a backpack stove and a container of water to measure how the
boiling point of water depends upon elevation. Be sure to span a sufficient range of elevations to get
easily measurable results.

Be creative! The last three projects were invented by students in recent classes!

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