Atmosphere and Climate
Students fascinated by weather phenomena and aiming to understand the atmosphere and climate system are welcome in the major Atmosphere and Climate.
You want to move from reading newspaper articles on climate change and looking at fascinating pictures of tornadoes and hurricanes to investigating and understanding them to become an expert. You would like to gain a quantitative understanding of climate processes and their interactions – ranging from the molecular to the global scale and from short-lived phenomena to changes over millions of years, and you are interested in the broader view of how climate change links to society and policy and how the complex atmospheric dynamics can be described by numerical models? Consider specialising in Atmosphere and Climate.
Module courses (Core Courses)
Students choose lectures from three of the five following modules:
- Weather systems and atmospheric dynamics
- Climate processes and feedbacks
- Atmospheric composition and cycles
- Climate history and paleoclimatology
- Hydrology and water cycle
Labs, practical courses, field work and seminars
Students gain professional expertise in weather discussions, atmospheric chemistry labs, atmospheric physics labs or a climatological and hydrological field course. You are trained in scientific writing and presentation and communication skills in seminars.
Electives
Students either delve into specialised courses in Atmosphere and Climate or broaden your profile by taking e.g. a minor in Sustainable Energy Use or Physical Glaciology. Alternatively you can take courses from other majors or you can choose from basically any MSc course offered at ETH Zurich.
Exchange with University of Bern
The major Atmosphere and Climate has a vital exchange with the University of Bern and their graduate school at Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research. The students are encouraged to take complementary courses at the University of Bern.
Interests/ Prerequisites
- Mathematics
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Programming
Education and Learning objectives
- The education is provided by the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science
- Quantitative understanding of atmospheric dynamics, climate processes and feedbacks, biogeochemical cycles, paleoclimatology as well as hydrology and water cycle
- In-depth training in numerical modelling of weather and climate
- Work in the atmospheric chemistry and physics labs
- Participate in field courses and discuss the current weather in a weekly weather discussion
Possible careers
- Energy sector: Experts in the emerging field of renewables including hydrological forecasting for hydropower or consulting for solar or wind energy
- Reinsurance: Financial sector and consulting risk modelling, numerical and statistical modelling
- Public services: Climate and weather services, air quality, hydrological forecasting, climate policy
- Engineering: Monitoring, design of new instruments
Contact
Institut für Atmosphäre und Klima
Universitätstrasse 16
8092
Zürich
Switzerland