(Dates will likely be modified, depending on student progress and new fire cases.)
| Date | Item | Topic | Assignment | Learning Goals. By the end of this section, you will be able to ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
A1 | Indigenous vs. fire suppression policy. | Read the UBC Land Acknowledgement. See how past policy on fire suppression relates to increased fire danger today. View the "Returning Fire to the Land" video. | Appreciate the heritage of earlier peoples on Canadian lands, and state the name of the First Nation peoples on whose land UBC sits. Explain why wildfires are becoming more severe compared to 100 years ago. |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
A2a | Historical & recent past fires | Welcome, intro, and photographic overview of some of the historical significant wildfires in Canada. (Fire Basics item fb1) | List 3 major wildfires that affected western Canada since year 2000, and describe what weather conditions they had in common (if any). |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
A2b | Fire Weather Intro | Video overview of the 2023 wildfire season in British Columbia (BC). Lab Exercise A2b - Enhance awareness of weather effects on wildfires. |
Describe all the aspects of weather and climate that affected the BC wildfires in 2023, as discussed in the video. |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
A3 | Students | Your background in weather and computing. |
(The instructors will learn about your background in meteorology, and your computer programming skills. This will allow the instructors to tailor the course to give all students equal chance of success.) |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
A4 | This course | Read the material on the Home page of this website covering: Welcome, Course Info, Syllabus Overview, Course Goals, Instructors & TAs, and Textbooks. | Explain how this course works, and where you look for various resources and assignments. |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
A5 | This course | Read the material on the Home page covering: Evaluation and Getting Started. Explore the tabs at the top of the web pages. | Confirm that you know how you earn your grade in this course, how to start in the online aspects of this course, and what types of info you can get from the tabs at the top of the web pages. |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
A6 | This course | Skim all the material on the Home page within the "Guidelines, Info & Resources" section. Log into Canvas and do Quiz A6, which covers topics A4-A6 above. (For students who join the course late, we leave this quiz open for 2 weeks.) |
Confirm that you know not to cheat, and that you know where to get info on netiquette, academic & religious accommodation, learning commons, wellness info, teaching improvement, and course recommendations. |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
HW01 | Review of meteorological fundamentals. | Read Lackmann sections 1.0-1.2 . Do HW01 exercises (see Canvas). |
Define the meaning of synoptic and mesoscale, and how they relate to other scales of atmospheric motion. Explain meteorological phenomena associated with each scale. Utilize coordinate systems, meteorological variables, and SI units. |
| Date | Item | Topic | Assignment | Learning Goals. By the end of this section, you will be able to ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
B1 | Wildfire Triangles & Ranking System | Read Fire-Basics item fb2 on fire and wildfire triangles. Read the fb3 info on the BC wildfire ranking system. Do quiz B1 in Canvas. |
Explain why fires need fuel, oxygen and ignition/heat. Explain the roles of season, weather, and topography in wildfire. For different-intensity fires, explain how to classify them into ranks, and describe how they are fought. |
| Day 1. 3 Sep 2024 |
B2 | Case-study fires | Skim the Overview web page listing the wildfire cases that we cover in this course. | List 4 of the case-study fires that we cover in this course. |
| Day 2. 5 Sep 2024 |
B3 | Geography | Strengthen your geographical awareness regarding place names, topography, time zones, and airmass origins. Do quiz B3 in Canvas. |
Locate on a map all the Canadian provinces and territories, and western US states. Locate on a map the Rocky Mountains, Cascades, Olympics, Coast(al) Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Purcell Mtns, Selkirk Mtns, Monashee Mtns, and the Insular Mtns. Discuss how the topography of BC differs from the rest of Canada. Name and locate airmass source regions for North America |
| Day 2. 5 Sep 2024 |
B4 | Map Analysis | Learn (or re-learn) how to analyze weather maps by drawing isopleths (mc01.1) (lines of equal value) based on observations of weather variables. Practice by analyzing upper-air charts (mc01.2). Lab Exercise B4 - Hand Analysis of Upper-air Maps. |
Find online sources of upper-air and surface weather data. Interpret station plot models and hand-analyze these maps to draw isotherms, isotachs, isobars or height, isohumes, etc. Analyze and interpret upper-air weather maps. |
| Day 3. 10 Sep 2024 |
B5 | Wildfire Fuels | Study the horizontal and vertical distribution of fuels (Fire Basics item fb4). Read about different fire-danger rating systems (fb5). Learn about fuel characteristics/arrangements from item fb6 in the Fire Basics tab. Do quiz B5 in Canvas. |
Describe how the fuel layers of deep duff (& peat), duff, surface, understory, and crown relate to wildfires. Compare the Canadian, US and Mark 5 fuel systems. Explain why fuel (e.g., tree) quantity, spacing, diameter, and moisture are important in classifying potential fire behavior. |
| Day 3. 10 Sep 2024 |
B6 | Wildfire fuel types, layers, and moisture codes | Read Fire Basics item fb8 on fuel moisture. Skim all 16 Canadian fuel types (fb18). Read Fire Basics item fb10 for an overview of the Fire Weather Index (FWI) system. Learn about the 3 fuel moisture codes used in Canada (fb11). Do quiz B6 in Canvas. |
Give examples of several of the 16 fuel types of the Fire Behavior System. Explain the concepts and utility of fine fuels, duff, & deep duff/root layers. Calculate and use the Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC), Duff Moisture Code (DMC), Drought Code (DC) |
| Day 3. 10 Sep 2024 |
B7 | Synoptics - Part 1: Extra-tropical cyclones | In Lackman Chapter 5 Extratropical Cyclones: read sections 5.0 - 5.2, (skip section 5.3 temporarily), and read section 5.4. In Stull Chapter 13 on Extratropical Cyclones: read section 13.0 - 13.1 |
Explain the role of cyclones in the global heat transport. Locate cyclone storm tracks on a map. Identify regions of climatologically frequent cyclone formation (i.e., cyclogenesis). Summarizing the understanding of cyclones and their evolution as developed by the Bergen school, and how that has influenced modern meteorology. |
| Day 4: 12 Sep 2024 |
B8 | Upper-Air Maps (continued), and Cyclones | More practice on drawing isopleths on upper-air maps. Interpretation of jet-stream patterns (mc01, topic 2b). Overview of mid-latitude cyclone evolution and movement (mc04.1) Lab Exercises - (1) Analyze another upper-air map. (2) Give a weather briefing. |
Describe typical stages in the life cycle of a cyclone, including central pressure, winds, clouds, and movement. Gain proficiency in analyzing upper air maps, including height contours and isotachs. Use the resulting contours to identify troughs, ridges, positive & negative tilted troughs, cut-off lows, omega and rex blocks, and other typical patterns. |
| Day 5: 17 Sep 2024 |
B9 | Cyclolysis & Cyclogenesis | Learn how boundary-layer drag kills cyclones (Cyclolysis: mc04.2), and how divergence aloft can create cyclones (Cyclogenesis-1: mc04.3). Read Stull section 13.2. Read Lackmann section 5.3.0 - 5.3.4. Lab Exercise - Give a weather briefing. [see Piazza for the weather briefing schedule] |
Explain the competing roles of boundary layer convergence and upper-air divergence in cyclogenesis and cyclolysis. For cyclogenesis theories, compare the vorticity view, pressure view, quasi-geostrophic (QG) interpretation, and evolution of upper-air troughs. |
| Day 5: 17 Sep 2024 |
B10 | Cyclogenesis (continued) | Learn how upper-air ridges and troughs (Cyclogenesis-2: mc04.4) . Read Lackmann sections 5.3.5 - 5.3.6. Read Stull section 13.4.
Lab Exercise - Give a weather briefing. [see Piazza for the weather briefing schedule] Do HWxx exercises (see Canvas). |
For any of the weather maps that we use, give its approximate height (km) above ground. If there are multiple fields on the map, explain how the fields are used together. State the meaning of lines and symbols on the map. Explain what the words "Init" and "Valid" indicate. Discuss cyclone self development, and explain the potential vorticity (PV) framework for understanding cyclone evolution. |
(Being revised.)
| Date | Item | Topic | Assignment | Learning Goals. By the end of this section, you will be able to ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day xx xx Sep 2024 |
C1 | xxx | xxx | xxx |
| Day x | xx |
