Overview
Geography 365: Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate is a three-credit course in meteorology, the atmospheric science that makes the news and impacts everyone’s life every day. This course is built around widely adopted and acclaimed instructional materials designed by the American Meteorological Society and the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training. This course is a study of the fundamentals of meteorology, with examples drawn from all around the globe, but it focuses primarily on the extremely diverse weather of North America.
GEOG 365 introduces the physical principles and processes that govern Earth's atmosphere; the nature of weather and climate; the formation of weather systems, including severe weather; and important aspects of weather monitoring, analysis, and forecasting. GEOG 365 includes a home-lab component, which involves completing a set of applied investigations of atmospheric concepts and data, as well as quantitative exercises with varying degrees of mathematical difficulty using both metric and imperial units.
Outline
GEOG 365 comprises the following 15 units:
- Unit 1: Monitoring the Weather
- Unit 2: Origin, Composition, and Structure of the Atmosphere
- Unit 3: Solar and Terrestrial Radiation
- Unit 4: Heat, Temperature, and Atmospheric Circulation
- Unit 5: Air Pressure
- Unit 6: Humidity, Saturation, and Stability
- Unit 7: Clouds, Precipitation, and Weather Radar
- Unit 8: Wind and Weather
- Unit 9: General Circulation of the Atmosphere
- Unit 10: Midlatitude Weather Systems
- Unit 11: Thunderstorms and Tornadoes
- Unit 12: Tropical Weather Systems
- Unit 13: Weather Analysis and Forecasting
- Unit 14: Light and Sound in the Atmosphere
- Unit 15: Climate and Climate Change
Evaluation
To receive credit for GEOG 365, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least a D (50 percent). You must achieve a minimum grade of 60 percent on the final examination. You must complete and submit all of the assignments, quizzes, and case studies, and achieve a minimum grade of 40 percent on each to receive credit for the course. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Fifteen (15) Lab Assignments (2% each) | 30% |
| Fifteen (15) Timed Quizzes (1% each) | 15% |
| Two (2) Weather Case Studies (12.5% each) | 25% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
The final examination for this course must be requested in advance and written under the supervision of an AU-approved exam invigilator. Invigilators include either ProctorU or an approved in-person invigilation centre that can accommodate online exams. Students are responsible for payment of any invigilation fees. Information on exam request deadlines, invigilators, and other exam-related questions, can be found at the Exams and grades section of the Calendar.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Note that students may complete the weather case studies independently or in pairs.
A bonus mark up to a maximum of 6% will be granted for completing optional math exercises in the lab assignments.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Mills, E. W. (Ed.). (2020). Weather studies: Introduction to atmospheric science (7th ed.). American Meteorological Society.
American Meteorological Society. (2024). Weather studies eInvestigations manual: 2024–2025 & summer 2025. American Meteorological Society.
Contact the Course Professor for more information on a printed version of the textbook eInvestigations Manual.
Challenge for credit
Overview
The challenge for credit process allows you to demonstrate that you have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university-level course.
Full information about challenge for credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Evaluation
To receive credit for the GEOG 365 challenge registration, you must achieve a minimum grade of 60 percent on the examination and a minimum grade of 50 percent on the weather case studies. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Two (2) Weather Case Studies (20% each) | 40% |
| Challenge Exam | 60% |
| Total | 100% |
Challenge for credit course registration form