DEPARTMENT OF AGROMETEOROLOGY

MS Course Curriculum

Course Layout

Minimum Course and Research Requirement for MS Degree¹

¹Degree requirements may be changed on the recommendation of BOS and the Student's Advisory Committee

²Approved by the Student's Advisory Committee

Course Contents

Major Core:

AGM 501 General Climatology (3 Cr.):

Introduction to General Climatology and meteorological services; Atmospheric vertical structure; Pressure variation, general circulation & turbulence; Gas laws, vapor pressure and lapse rates; Clouds and hydrologic cycle; Air masses and fronts; Tropical and extra-tropical cyclones; Earth’s rotation, radiation and thermal balance; Climatic classification; Climatic models; Monsoon: Origin, types, onset, advancement and retreat.

AGM 515 Principles of Agrometeorology (3 Cr.):

Agricultural meteorology: Concept, scope and components; Agro-climatic classification, agro-climatic zones and agro-ecological regions of Bangladesh; Basics of meteorological parameters in agriculture; Water balance in ecosystems; Soil-water balance models and water production functions; Radiation physics; Concept of growing degree days; Solar energy conversion into dry matter production; Climate change impacts on agriculture; Environmental pollution and crop productivity; Major abiotic stresses affecting agricultural production: Concepts, types, causes and prediction; Crop stress detection; Crop weather calendar.

AGM 561 Crop-Weather Relationships (3 Cr.):

Weather elements on crop growth and development: Crop response to radiation, temperature, moisture, wind and humidity; Radiation use efficiency; Effect of soil moisture and temperature on seed germination and root growth; Physiological basis of crop stresses; Rhizosphere and microorganisms in relation to weather; Fertilizer and water use efficiency; Meteorological indices to predict crop production; Crop-pest-weather relationship: Competition and interaction of major agricultural crops and agroforestry systems with biotic and abiotic stresses; Agro-climatic indices and their estimation for crops; Crop performance in different ecosystems.

AGM 590 Weather Forecasting and Agro-advisory (3 Cr.):

Weather forecasting systems: Concept, scope and importance; Types of forecasting; Weather forecasting network; Approaches for weather forecasts: Methods of weather forecasts - synoptic, numerical prediction, statistical, analogue, persistence and climatological approach; Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) based forecasting; Methods of verification of location-specific weather forecast; Weather-based advisories: Interpretation of weather forecasts for farm operations, pest and disease development and epidemics, and crop production; Preparation of weather-based advisories and dissemination; Exercise on weather forecasting for various applications; Preparation of weather forecast based agro-advisories by using various approaches and synoptic charts.

Major Elective:

AGM 518 Hydrometeorology (3 Cr.):

Hydrologic cycle: Evaporation process, forms and types of precipitation, measurement and estimation techniques, temporal and areal variation of precipitation; Stream flow measurement, planning of stream flow network; Runoff: Components and classification, annual runoff volumes, estimating storm runoff volumes; Hydrographs: Recession curves, hydrograph separation, unit hydrograph concept, techniques of hydrological routing through watersheds, reservoirs and channels; Probability Analysis: Probability distributions, analytical and graphical methods of flood frequency analysis, low-flow analysis, estimation of dependable rainfall; Reservoirs: Physical characteristics, yield, capacity, sedimentation and site selection.

AGM 525 Agrometeorological Measurements and Instrumentation (3 Cr.):

Fundamentals of measurement techniques; Working principles of meteorological instruments; Introduction to barometers, thermometers, psychrometers, hygrometer, and thermohygrograph; Introduction to radiation and temperature measurement instruments; Introduction to instruments used for measuring soil moisture; Soil thermometers, soil heat flux plates; Introduction to automatic weather station; Working principles of data logger, data sensors and nano-sensors for measurement of weather variables; Computation and interpretation of weather data; analysis of automatic weather station data; Exposure and operation of meteorological instruments in AGROMET observatories.

AGM 540 Soil Water Climatology (3 Cr.):

Soil-plant-water relationship; Theories of evapotranspiration (ET) and their comparison, consumptive use, concepts of potential, reference and actual ET, plant, soil and cultural factors effect on ET; Measurement of ET: climatological method, aerodynamic, eddy correlation, energy balance, combination energy balance aerodynamics, turbulence measurement; Measurement of actual evapotranspiration; Soil moisture depletion studies, water balance method and other empirical methods, modified techniques of ET estimation and their applications; Computation of ET: energy balance method, aerodynamic method, Penman method, satellite remote sensing data and other methods; Crop coefficients; Irrigation scheduling; Water use efficiency; Estimation of ET through satellite imageries.

AGM 541 Crop Micrometeorology (3 Cr.):

Microclimate near the bare ground, unstable and inversion layers; Micrometeorology of plant canopies: Distribution, utilization and biological effects of radiation, temperature, humidity, vapour pressure, wind and carbon dioxide; Quantification and measurements of crop microclimate; Variation in microclimate under irrigated and rainfed conditions, soil moisture and temperature variation with depth; Modification of microclimate due to cultural practices and intercropping; Influence of topography on microclimate; Effects of ambient weather conditions on growth, development, and yield of crops; Measurement of global and diffuse radiation; Measurement of albedo over natural surfaces and cropped surfaces; Net radiation measurement at different levels; PAR distribution in plant canopies and interception including wind, temperature and humidity profiles in short and tall crops; Energy balance over crops, LAI and biomass estimation.

AGM 545 Applied Agrometeorology (3 Cr.):

Precipitation indices; Climatic water budget: potential and actual evapotranspiration and their computation; Measurement of precipitation, calculation of water surplus and deficit, computation of water budget and their applications, preparation of climatic water budget, assessment of dry and wet spells, available soil moisture, moisture adequacy index and their applications; Agroclimatic indices and their application: thermal indices and phenology, cardinal temperatures; Heat unit and growing degree day concepts for crop phenology, crop growth and development; Insect-pest development; Crop weather calendars; Agro-climatic requirement of crops; Assessment of frequency of disastrous events; Bioclimatic concepts: evaluation of human comfort, cold surge index, heat stress index, comfort indices and clothing insulation; Climate, housing and site orientation; Weather-pest-disease interactions; Calculation of comfort indices and preparation of chirograph. 

AGM 555 Climate Change (3 Cr.):

Radiation, heating and cooling the Earth, radiation balance; Atmospheric composition and global warming during post-industrial revolution; Anthropogenic changes & emissions of natural GHGs, and contributing to sulphate aerosols in the troposphere; Physical basis of climate change; Human impact on the atmosphere; Impact of agriculture on climate change; Impacts of climate change on life systems, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, agriculture and food systems, water resources, and other economic sectors; Climate models; Adaptation and mitigation options; Policy related response to climate change; Climate change negotiations, UN,WFCC, IPCC; Outcomes of negotiations.

AGM 570 Remote Sensing and GIS in Agrometeorology (3 Cr.):

Remote sensing (RS), GIS, and GPS; Signals, sensors, and sensing systems; Remote sensing in agrometeorology; Electromagnetic radiation and interaction with Earth’s special features; Imaging and non-imaging systems; Framing and scanning systems; Resolution of sensors; Data acquisition, data processing, and storage; Radar data analysis, digital image interpretation, crop acreage and yield estimation; Crop stress detection; Ground water inventory; Monitoring of crop disease and pest infestation using RS and GIS techniques; Soil and land resource inventory, LULC classification and mapping, land evaluation and crop suitability assessment; Watershed monitoring by using RS and GIS; Crop growth and yield modeling; Crop production forecasting; Use of spectrometer, satellite imagery and aerial photography for computing vegetation indices.

AGM 580 Crop Weather Modelling (3 Cr.):

Crop production in relation to ecophysiology; Quantifying relationships between weather elements and photosynthesis, respiration, and crop development; Quantifying assimilates partitioning and growth of individual organs; Crop modelling, types, and scope including climate change scenarios; Procedure of crop simulation modelling: Model development, evaluation, sensitivity analysis and experimentation with models; Requirements and processing weather data for crop modelling; Development and working with MS Excel-based simple models with respect to crop growth, development and disease and pest infestation; Understanding and use of DSSAT, Oryza and APSIM model platforms; Comparing the outputs from DSSAT, Oryza & APSIM platforms; Use of modelling output in agrometeorological advisory services.

AGM 680 Weather Risk Management (3 Cr.):

Reviews and theories of weather modifications and risks; Basics of weather modifications: clouds, hails, fog, frost, storms; Air and water pollution; Common agroclimatic risks around the world; Characterization of weather and climate related risks in crops; Social and economic risk factors related to weather and climate; Approaches, tools and strategies for monitoring and prediction of agro-climatic risks; Combating agro climatic risks using remote sensing and GIS; Adopting mitigation practices, contingency planning and responses; Disaster risk mainstreaming; Preparedness for weather and climate risks; Weather aberrations and livelihood of farmers and mitigation measures to cope up the crisis; Preparation of contingency plans against different weather vagaries; Coping strategies including transferring risks through insurance schemes, products and protocol development; Combining challenges to disaster risk mainstreaming, mitigation practices; Shelter belts and wind breaks, mulches and antitranspirants; Protection of plants against climatic hazards.

Minor Core:

STT 540 Statistical Methods for Agrometeorology (3 cr):

Collection and presentation of  agrometeorological data; Measurement of central tendency, dispersion, bivariate and multivariate data and their application in agrometeorological data analysis; Correlation and regression analysis; Discrete and continuous probability distribution (binomial, pois son, normal);  Sampling distribution: Chi-square, t and F distribution and their application in significance testing of agrometeorological data; Parametric and nonparametric tests; Basics of time series data analysis, stationary and non-stationary time series data, AR, MA, ARMA, ARIMA and ARDL time series model and their application in forecasting and interpretation of agrometeorological data for decision making.