Research Topics
- What effect does increasing the concentration of CO2 have on temperatures in the troposphere, in the stratosphere and at the Earth’s surface? How can climate models be used to show this?
- What is the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole and how was this theory confirmed?
- For month ahead and season ahead forecasts, what role does the stratosphere play in driving variability in the North Atlantic?
Further Reading
The World Meteorological Organisation present a range of female meteorologists of different nationalities: https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/women-meteorology
Notable male meteorologists (mostly historical): https://www.thoughtco.com/famous-meteorologists-3444421
Additional Role Models in Meteorology
Detailed below are further examples of role models and influential figures in the field of meteorology that you may be interested in finding out more about.
| Name | Occupations | Research Interests and Achievements | University of Reading Module Links | Web Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ann Henderson-Sellers | Emeritus Professor of the Department of Environment and Geography at Macquarie University, Sydney. | Participates in Climate Risk Concentration of Research Excellence (CORE) at Macquarie, which focusses on the risks associated with climate change. | MT38B Climate Change. | https://australianmuseum.net.au/science-direct-professor-ann-henderson-sellers http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/department_of_geography_and_planning/staff/ann_henderson-sellers |
| Eric Eady (1915-1966) | Joined the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College in 1946. | Baroclinic instability. General circulation of the atmosphere. Fluid mechanics. Dynamics of the sun and earth’s interior. Biochemistry. | MT37E Dynamics of Weather Systems. | Vallis, K.G., 2006: Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, 376. |
| Eunice Foote (1819-1888) | American scientist and advocate of women’s rights. | Conducted early work on the warming effect of the sun on air, and how it was increased by carbon dioxide, later called the greenhouse effect (1856). | MT38B Climate Change. PH103 Global Environmental Chemistry. | http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/edswahs/2017/03/13/eunice-foote/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_Newton_Foote |
| J. Marshall Shepherd | Director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia. 2013 President of the American Meteorological Society. | Urban weather/climate; mesoscale weather processes; precipitation; tropical weather hazards; satellite remote sensing. | http://geography.uga.edu/directory/profile/shepherd-marshall/ http://www.ametsoc.org/boardpges/cwce/docs/profiles/ShepherdJMarshall/profile.html |
|
| Jule Gregory Charney (1917-1981) | Director of theoretical meteorology at Institute for Advanced Study (1948-1956). Professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1956-1981). | Helped establish a NWP unit within the U.S. Weather Bureau (1954). At MIT he researched dynamics of atmospheres and oceans. | MT37E Dynamics of Weather Systems. MT38C Numerical Weather Prediction. | http://honors.agu.org/bowie-lectures/charney/ |
| Keith Browning | Professor emeritus in the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading. | Mid-latitude storms and precipitation systems. Mesoscale meteorology. Radar meteorology. | MTMG25 Hazardous Weather Analysis. | https://www.rmets.org/about-us/people/keith-browning |
| Mario Molina | Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California. Previously a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. | Developed the CFC ozone depletion theory with Professor Sherwood Rowland in 1974. | MT38B Climate Change. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_J._Molina |
| Owen M. Phillips (1930-2010) | Spent most of his career at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore. | Energy transfer from the wind to the ocean interior and energy transfer in waves and the ocean mixed layer. | MT24A Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Martin_Phillips |
| Ronald B. Smith | Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University. | Remote sensing; regional climates; mountain meteorology; applied physics and dynamics; applied mathematics. | MT24A Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics. | http://people.earth.yale.edu/profile/ronald-smith/about http://oyc.yale.edu/geology-and-geophysics/gg-140 |
| Sir Brian Hoskins | Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London from 2008-2014, of which he is now chair. | Research in weather and climate, especially the understanding of atmospheric motion from frontal to planetary scales. Climate change. | MT37E Dynamics of Weather Systems. MT38B Climate Change. | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/b.hoskins https://royalsociety.org/people/brian-hoskins-11648/ |
| Susan Avery | The first female scientist and first atmospheric scientist to become the director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 2008-2015 | Studies of atmospheric circulation and precipitation; climate variability and water resources; development of new radar techniques and instruments for remote sensing. | MT37D Remote Sensing Methods and Applications. | https://science.nasa.gov/science-committee/members/dr-susan-avery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Avery |
| Valerie Masson-Delmotte | Senior scientist at the Commissariat for Atomic Energy since 2008. Elected co-chair of Working Group 1 of the IPCC in 2015. | Climate variability and climate change; climate archives from tree rings and polar ice cores; water stable isotopes. | MT38B Climate Change. | http://www.lsce.ipsl.fr/Phocea/Pisp/index.php?nom=valerie.masson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Masson-Delmotte |
| Venkatachalam Ramaswamy | Director of NOAAs Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Also teaches atmospheric radiation at Princeton University. | Climatic effects due to radiatively active gases, aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere; regional and global climate variations and change; hydrological cycle in the atmosphere | MT38B Climate Change. MT24B Atmospheric Physics. | https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/v-ramaswamy/ https://www.princeton.edu/aos/people/faculty/v._ramaswamy/ |
| Warren Washington | Senior scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research. | Currently researching impacts of climate change in the 21st century. Specialises in computer modelling of the Earth’s climate. | MT38B Climate Change. | http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/staff/wmw/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_M._Washington |
| Yadvinder Malhi | Professor of ecosystem science at the School of Geography and Environment at Oxford University. | Understanding the interactions between forest ecosystems and the atmosphere. | http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/ymalhi.html http://www.yadvindermalhi.org/ |
This list is by no means exhaustive, as there are many more role models in meteorology that can be found online, should none of the ones presented suit you.