Training practice in meteorology (Practice in primary professional skills)

According to the curriculum, there are two training practices on the 1^st year of a bachelor’s degree: meteorological and hydrological in the second semester for 6 weeks.

The meteorology practice (3 weeks) takes place usually at the beginning of summer at the "Hydrometeorology, climatology and ecology of the atmosphere" educational and scientific laboratory of the Institute of Natural Sciences. It has a unified program for all students. The general purpose of practice is the consolidation of theoretical knowledge in the discipline “Climatology with the basics of meteorology”.

The methodological framework of practice is built in accordance with these goals. The practice has three stages: preparatory, field and laboratory.

Preparatory stage.

At the beginning of the practice, students receive a safety briefing. Then students are divided into groups of 5-6 - field training teams. Students prepare their observations diaries and familiarize themselves with the methodology of meteorological observations.

Each student group learns about the area where the practice is conducted through various educational activities fundamental geographical characteristics of the area (location, geology, relief, climate, hydrography, soils, and vegetation) and river (name, location, general characteristic, flow conditions, river usage).

Field stage. Students conduct meteorological observations on the training meteorological site. Students are given a tour around the meteorological site in the Institute of Natural Sciences. Under the supervision of an instructor, students familiarize themselves with special observational devices.

Each group organizes a small monitoring area, where they conduct various observations: instrumental and visual (measurement of the current air temperature, of the maximum and minimum soil surface temperature, of the soil temperature at depths of 5, 10, 15, 20 cm; determination of the air humidity main characteristics (water vapor elasticity, maximum water vapor elasticity, relative humidity, saturation deficit, dew point); establishment of the wind direction; visual observations: intensity of sunlight by the sharpness of shadows from objects; total and lower cloud cover in points; shape of clouds according to their international classification; atmospheric phenomena (type, time of beginning and ending of phenomenon, its intensity). All data are recorded in the observation diaries. 

Laboratory stage. At the end of the practice, each student group presents a written report. The report contains weather analysis and weather forecast for the next 1-2 days, as well as maps, graphs, tables, and figures. A group uses the report in subsequent practices and analyze correlations between the components of the geographic environment.

Students are provided with educational literature, topographic and thematic maps, visual educational material, as well as with the necessary specialized meteorological equipment.

A weather area with modern devices has been installed and monitors the climate of Yakutsk and its surroundings. The work of the educational and scientific laboratory "Hydrometeorology, climatology, and atmospheric ecology" includes various meteorological, hydrological and ecological researches on climate monitoring, water resources, studying the effects of anthropogenic factors on climate, the state of natural environment and the health of population, hydrography, water regime, ecological state of rivers and other water bodies, climate elements, their spatial dynamics, characteristics of microclimate of industrial centers and remote areas, sustainability of ecosystems in global climate change in Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and entire North-East of Russia.