Research Specialties and Opportunities

Atmospheric Business and Policy The study of atmospheric policy decisions and ethics.	Atmospheric/Air Chemistry We feature one of the largest concentrations of faculty and graduate research opportunities on air chemistry and climate change. Field studies to investigate trace gas emissions, transport, and deposition in rural and suburban environments are carried out in many regions of the world. Of particular interest is the transformation of gases to particles and how such particles can directly and indirectly influence climate.
Atmospheric Dynamics The study of those motions of the atmosphere that are associated with weather and climate	Boundary Layer and Turbulence In physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is that layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a bounding surface. In the Earth's atmosphere, the planetary boundary layer is the air layer near the ground affected by diurnal heat, moisture or momentum transfer to or from the surface.
Climate The meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and wind, that characteristically prevail in a particular region.	Clouds and Cloud Physics Cloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead to the formation, growth and precipitation of clouds.
Earth-Atmosphere Interactions The study interactions between the earth's surface, especially terrestrial ecosystems, and the atmospheric boundary layer, and the impacts of these interactions on weather and climate.	Mesoscale Meteorology The study of weather systems smaller than synoptic scale systems but larger than microscale and storm-scale cumulus systems. Horizontal dimensions generally range from around 5 kilometers to several hundred kilometers. Examples of mesoscale weather systems are sea breezes, squall lines, and mesoscale convective complexes.
Oceanography Oceanography is an interdisciplinary science that uses insights from biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and physics to analyze ocean currents, marine ecosystems, ocean storms, waves, ocean plate tectonics, and features of the ocean floor, including exotic biomes such as cold seeps and hydrothermal vents.	Radiative Transfer The physics and mathematics of how radiation passes through a medium that may contain any combination of scatterers, absorbers, and emitters.
Remote Sensing The science of acquiring information about the Earth's surface without actually being in contact with it. This is done by sensing and recording reflected or emitted energy and processing, analyzing, and applying that information.	Synoptic Meteorology The study and analysis of macro-scale atmospheric processes, as well as weather prediction based on results of synoptic studies.
Tropical Meteorology The study of atmospheric structure and behavior in the areas astride the Equator, roughly between 30° north and south latitude. The weather and climate of the tropics involve phenomena such as trade winds, hurricanes, intertropical convergence zones, jet streams, monsoons, and the El Niño Southern Oscillation.	Weather Risk