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Atmospheric/Air Chemistry The
study of the chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Topics
include
the emission, transport, and deposition of atmospheric chemical species;
the rates and mechanisms of chemical reactions taking place in the
atmosphere; and the effects of atmospheric species on human health, the biosphere, and climate.
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Atmospheric Dynamics
The study of those motions of the atmosphere that are associated with weather and climate.
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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.
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Climate The meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation,
and wind, that characteristically prevail in a particular region.
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Clouds and Cloud Physics
Cloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead to the formation, growth and precipitation of clouds.
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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.
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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.
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Numerical Weather Prediction
Numerical weather prediction uses current weather conditions as input into mathematical models of the atmosphere to predict the weather.
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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.
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Radiative Transfer
The physics and mathematics of how radiation passes through a medium that may contain any combination of scatterers, absorbers, and emitters.
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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.
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Statistical Meteorology
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Synoptic Meteorology
The study and analysis of macro-scale atmospheric processes, as well as weather prediction based on results of synoptic studies.
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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.
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Weather Risk
The role that weather plays as a source of financial and operational risk for businesses, markets and other institutions.
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