Application deadline

Type of course

Admission requirements

PhD students or holders of a Norwegian Master of Science degree of five years or 3+ 2 years (or equivalent) may be admitted. PhD students must upload a document from their university stating that there are registered PhD students. This group of applicants does not have to prove English proficiency and are exempt from semester fee.

Holders of a Master´s degree must upload a Master´s Diploma with Diploma Supplement / English translation of the diploma. Applicants from listed countries must document proficiency in English. To find out if this applies to you see the following list:

Proficiency in English must be documented - list of countries

For more information on accepted English proficiency tests and scores, as well as exemptions from the English proficiency tests, please see the following document:

Proficiency in english - PhD level studies

PhD students at UiT The Arctic University of Norway register for the course through StudentWeb .

External applicants apply for admission through SøknadsWeb.

Application code 9303

More information regarding PhD courses at the Faculty of Science and Technology is found here.

Course content

Recommended prerequisites

Objectives of the course

Knowledge - The student can:

• identify the basic equations relevant for the circulation in the atmosphere and ocean
• describe the concept and the characteristics of constant density, barotropic, and baroclinic fluids
• explain the implication on a fluid by rotation, and describe the concept of an f-plane and beta-plane.
• explain the advantages and limitations of the Boussinesq and anelastic approximations, and describe the reasons for, and implications of the density variations in the Earth's atmosphere and ocean
• describe the concept of thermal-wind balance
• explain the role of static stability and instability and its implications for gravity and acoustic waves
• describe the advantages and the limitations of the shallow-water approximation
• identify wave solution to the shallow-water equations such as Kelvin and Poincaré waves
• explain the Kelvin theorem and the concept of vorticity and potential vorticity
• describe the quasi-geostrophic approximation and identify its Rossby wave solution
• explain barotropic and baroclinic instability
• explain more advanced concepts concerning wave-mean flow interaction, such as the Eliassen-Palm flux and the transformed Eulean mean equations

Skills - The student can:

• solve basic problems within atmosphere and ocean fluid dynamics
• apply appropriate scaling of equations associated with atmosphere and ocean fluid dynamical problems
• apply more advanced theory for investigating wave-mean flow interaction.

General expertise - The student can:

• incorporate current knowledge and new scientific information into critical thinking
• communicate theories, problem descriptions, and solutions

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Lectures: 40 hours

Exercises: 20 hours

Assessment

An oral examination counts about 100 % of the assessment. Assessment scale: letter grades A-F.

Re-sit examination (section 22): There is no access to a re-sit examination in this course.

Postponed examination (sections 17 and 21): Students with valid grounds for absence will be offered a re-scheduled examination during the semester if possible, otherwise early in the following semester. 

See indicated sections in Regulations for examinations at the UiT The arctic university of Norway for more information.

Access to the final examination requires submission and approval of up to three assignments.