Atmospheric Sciences Department

The Atmospheric Sciences Department trains students to read atmospheric dynamics and weather systems by working hands-on with both observational data and numerical weather prediction (NWP) modeling. Students reproduce frontal theory and cyclogenesis through ensemble-forecast simulation and extend these results into climate-variability analysis. Graduates can independently design and carry out the full pipeline from observation through modeling to forecasting.

⚙️ GeoAcademy System Administration College 🖥️ AI & Computing Sciences College 🔬 Basic Sciences College ⚡ Intelligent Geophysical Exploration College 🛢️ Resource & Energy Engineering College 🌍 Applied Geoscience Solutions College 💼 Economics, Policy & Strategy for the Future College 🎓 Education & Training Development College 🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration College

Mathematics Department Physics Department Chemistry Department Biology Department Atmospheric Sciences Department Stratigraphy & Sedimentology Department Structural Geology & Tectonics Department Petrology & Mineralogy Department Geochemistry Department Paleontology & Evolutionary Biology Dept Remote Sensing & Earth Observation Dept Hydrogeology & Soil Science Department Physical Oceanography Department Marine Geology & Geophysics Department Chemical Oceanography Department Marine Biology & Ecology Department

🔑

⭐ Bjerknes

Chair

💡 atmospheric_dynamics

Researchers (real GeoVerse Lab members) 14

🔑

1898–1957

Carl-Gustaf Rossby

Researcher

💡 Identified and characterized the jet stream and the long planetary waves in the westerlies now called Rossby waves

🔑

1917–1981

Jule Charney

Researcher

💡 Devised the quasi-geostrophic filtering theory that made the first successful numerical weather forecast (ENIAC, 1950) possible

🔑

1891–1977

Tor Bergeron

Researcher

💡 Co-developed the Bergeron-Findeisen process explaining precipitation formation via ice-crystal/supercooled-droplet interaction, and pioneered synoptic air-mass and frontal analysis at the Bergen School

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1914–1997

Bernard Vonnegut

Researcher

💡 Discovered that silver iodide could nucleate ice crystals and be used for cloud seeding to induce snow and rain

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1920–2004

Gilbert Plass

Researcher

💡 Calculated the radiative effect of rising atmospheric CO2 on global temperature using quantitative infrared radiative transfer, closely anticipating later measured warming

🔑

1933–2021

Paul Crutzen

Researcher

💡 Nobel Prize (1995) for explaining the formation and decomposition of atmospheric ozone; popularized the term 'Anthropocene'

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1921–2007

Andrei Monin

Researcher

💡 Co-developed Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, the foundational statistical framework for atmospheric boundary-layer turbulence

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1915–1997

Herbert Riehl

Researcher

💡 Widely regarded as the father of tropical meteorology; identified 'hot towers' and their role in transporting energy poleward via the Hadley circulation

🔑

1920–1998

Tetsuya Theodore Fujita

Researcher

💡 Created the Fujita scale of tornado intensity and discovered downbursts/microbursts

🔑

1924–2015

David Atlas

Researcher

💡 Pioneer of radar meteorology, developing quantitative radar-reflectivity methods for precipitation and severe storm observation

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1915–1995

Verner Suomi

Researcher

💡 Considered the father of satellite meteorology; invented the Spin Scan Camera/Radiometer used on operational geostationary weather satellites

🔑

1917–2008

Edward Lorenz

Researcher

💡 Founded modern chaos theory and established the theoretical basis of weather/climate predictability limits ('butterfly effect')

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1922–1995

Cesare Emiliani

Researcher

💡 Founder of paleoceanography; developed the marine oxygen-isotope stage timescale of Pleistocene climate cycles

🔑

1923–2019

Norman A. Phillips

Researcher

💡 Built the first successful general circulation model of the atmosphere (1956), simulating monthly/seasonal tropospheric patterns