12/05/03
Prospective students of the atmospheric sciences department view a demonstration of the Coriolis effect. by Tamar Libicki / Contributing writer.
Off the seventh floor of the atmospheric sciences geophysics building, the view is breathtaking. On this partly cloudy day, Mount Rainier is clear in the sky, and the landscape spans the Space Needle to Terry and Lander halls, from Portage Bay to Interstate 5.
Dennis Hartmann, the 6-foot-5-inch chair of the atmospheric sciences department, said one can predict weather from the clouds. Of course, that's not all that atmospheric science is about.
Atmospheric science is forecasting weather for the first balloon traverse over Mount Rainier. It is about collecting snowflakes and determining where they come from in the atmosphere; sometimes it's about discovering the quasi-biennial oscillation in the stratosphere.
According to Hartmann, atmospheric science is broken up into three practical fields: weather, climate and air quality.
The idea is to predict [the weather] more accurately and with more precision for longer periods of time, Hartmann explained.
The department is playing a major role in improving the accuracy of weather prediction. The Northwest Environment Prediction System, a regional-forecast model started by the UW in 1995, puts together information from about 24 observation sources to predict high-resolution weather -- with a radius of up to four kilometers. This model works so well that it correctly predicted the wind activity that knocked over the Ivar's in Bellingham, while the National Weather Service did not.
Climate and air quality are no less important in the field.
The climate has changed and will change in the future, Hartmann said. [We are at] the time in earth's history when humans are actually competing with the natural forces acting on the planet's systems to determine the future evolution of Earth's climate.
Students come into atmospheric science by two main routes.
There are some students from an early age who like meteorology, said Cliff Mass, the undergraduate adviser to atmospheric science. Others, an estimated one-third of the major, according to Mass, are drawn in by the 101 course.
There is a further division within the major.
There is really two ways that people come to the field, said Mass. One is the people who just love weather, and then there are the others that are kind of intrigued by the mathematics of it. There are the weather-lovers and the more theoretical types.
Garrett Wedham, a senior in the department, describes students in the major as having a passion for weather since an early age.
People don't scan the list of UW majors and just happen to stop at atmospheric science, said Wedham. The students who are doing the meteorology track are here because they have been that weather person for as long as they remember.
Once they're in, undergraduates are required to take core classes and then have flexibility in the rest of their degree. Suggested tracks range from atmosphere and the environment to education.
Classes can be demanding, but "shared enthusiasm definitely helps us get through the harder classes together," said Wedham. Internships at several TV stations and the National Weather Service as well as research are open for undergraduates, and jobs ranging from TV forecasting to environmental consulting are available after graduation.
Graduate students take a year of intensive general courses, select their research area at the end of the first year, and spend the rest of their time as teaching assistants, doing research and working on their theses. Graduates in the department come from mixed backgrounds -- mostly from physics, chemistry and atmospheric sciences.
Some, like Matt Garvert, come from totally unrelated areas, such as economics.
" I guess I decided econ because I found it somewhat interesting and marketable in the real world," said Garvert. When I graduated, I worked in the econ department of a firm and hated it. I realized I had to pursue the passion I had since childhood, of the weather and anything relating to it. And so I ended up here.
There are about 10 to 15 in an upper-level course, the undergraduate program being 50 to 60 strong in its entirety. The graduate program has 65.
If you're a major, its almost like going to a small, expensive liberal-arts college, Hartmann said.
Indeed, the department is considered the best in the country.
It all began in 1947 as the department of meteorology and climatology when Phil Church came over from the geography department. Hartmann described him as charismatic and talented -- a man who hired good people to carry on after him.
The faculty is still the department's biggest asset, noted Garvert. Besides being among the top in their field, the professors are accessible because of the size of the department, which brings students and faculty into a very close community where camaraderie is abundant.
The department's great in that it's small enough that you know everybody and you're able to talk with some of these guys that have really good reputations said Garvert. And here you are a stupid grad student or first-year talking with these guys who have substantial reputations in the field and they're always very supportive
They are also known for their crazy holiday parties.
The department of atmospheric sciences at the UW has a certain prestige in the international community. The amount of contributions to the field is extensive -- from work on El Nino and global warming to the effect of mountains and forest fires on the weather. Many of the textbooks used around the world were written by the UW staff; the Web site, www.atmos.washington.edu, is used by everyone from laymen to the military to international weather forecasters. It receives about 100,000 hits a day, according to Hartmann.
These days, the department is looking to expand its undergraduate department. It sponsors booths at University fairs, opens its orientation to all interested, and is trying to get more scholarship money and encourage out-of-state students.
We could double the number of undergraduate students and not really have to extend our resources, said Hartman.
But mathphobes beware, a full year of calculus is a required part of the major.
