Spring 2027

Radiation in the Atmosphere and Ocean

Introduction to radiation covering basic laws, radiative transfer, scattering, cloud/aerosol properties, and energy budgets in the atmosphere and ocean.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 David Henderson

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.57 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.63 GPA, 94.7% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.75 GPA, 90.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Define and explain the key concepts, physical laws, and meteorological context of atmospheric radiative transfer processes.

  • Describe the physical principles of atmospheric absorption spectra, scattering, and absorption by atmospheric particles.

  • Analyze the radiative transfer problem, including approximate solutions to multiple scattering in a plane-parallel atmosphere and radiative balance in simple systems.

  • Identify major absorption bands in the cloud-free atmosphere and compare the absorption, reflection, and emission of radiation by homogeneous and natural surfaces.

  • Design methods to compute and evaluate radiative transfer phenomena in atmospheric systems.

  • Share skills and techniques in analysis and interpretation with classmates.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(PHYSICS 202, 208, or 248) and MATH 234, or graduate/professional standing

  • (PHYSICS 202, 208, or 248) and MATH 234, or graduate/professional standing
ATMOCN 640

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • (PHYSICS 202, 208, or 248) and MATH 234, or graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.63 GPA, 94.7% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.75 GPA, 90.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DAVID HENDERSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.57 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.63 GPA, 94.7% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.75 GPA, 90.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Basic laws and clear-sky radiative transfer
  • Scattering by particles and multiple scattering
  • Radiative properties of clouds and aerosols
  • Energy budget

Skills

  • Explain atmospheric radiative transfer processes
  • Describe physical principles of absorption and scattering
  • Analyze radiative transfer problems and multiple scattering
  • Identify atmospheric absorption bands and surface radiation properties
  • Design methods to compute radiative transfer phenomena

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ATMOCN 640 · Spring 2027

Radiation in the Atmosphere and Ocean

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:640:012799",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN 640",
    "course_uid": "course_ee191425ed083158f11f2380",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "012799",
    "source_subject_id": "640",
    "title": "Radiation in the Atmosphere and Ocean",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "23e4b978e0c5393704c79b326d3c0ec5280bda5f662732cf21c7d7b97eda2736",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}