Tropical Meteorology
MIT OpenCourseWare's graduate course on the large-scale circulation of the tropical atmosphere and the dynamics behind it. Topics include radiative-convective equilibrium, the Hadley and Walker circulations, monsoon systems, tropical boundary layers, and how the atmosphere responds to localized sea-surface temperature anomalies. The syllabus continues through intraseasonal oscillations, equatorial waves, El Nino/Southern Oscillation, easterly waves, and tropical cyclone formation. Materials include lecture notes and problem sets used in MIT's actual course, free to access through OCW under a Creative Commons license. No certificate is offered, since MIT OCW publishes course materials rather than running an instructed session, but the full set of readings and assignments is available for self-study. The course assumes prior background in atmospheric dynamics and is pitched at an advanced level, suited to students already familiar with basic fluid dynamics and thermodynamics.