The study of the atmosphere is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, math and computational methods. Scales of interest range from global to molecular, and from millennia to microseconds. Scientists carry out research using a variety of methods, from field work, to numerical analysis of large data sets, to numerical modeling and to lab work. Increasingly, atmospheric science has expanded to include interactions within Earth’s climate system, including the effects of the atmosphere on the oceans, land, ice, ecology and society.

Faculty study a range of topics within the atmospheric sciences, including air-sea interactions, climate dynamics and change, regional climate impacts, paleoclimate, polar processes, remote sensing and radiative transfer, and tropical meteorology. 

Affiliated faculty: Melanie Fewings, Jenny Hutchings, Andrea Jenney, Larry O’Neill, David Rupp, Andreas Schmittner, Karen Shell, Nick Siler, Eric Skyllingstad, Simon de Szoeke, Justin Wettstein, and Seth Zippel