Overview
The atmospheric sciences naturally include the study of the composition of earth’s atmosphere and the transformation of chemical compounds in the atmosphere. The gaseous, liquid, and solid phases determine the radiative and dynamical properties of the atmosphere and sustain life on this planet. In turn, life influences the chemical composition of the atmosphere in both beneficial and deleterious ways. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are engaged in projects ranging from laboratory and theoretical studies of the composition and chemistry of cloud and aerosol particles to field measurements of trace compounds in the atmosphere using ground-, aircraft-, and satellite-based sensors. Recent research topics include:, natural and anthropogenic causes for variations of ozone in the earth’s stratosphere, the influence of volcanoes on atmospheric chemistry and radiative balance, the coupling of stratospheric ozone and dynamics, , remote sensing of clouds, microphysics of polar, midlatitude and tropical clouds, measurements of pollutants in the urban troposphere and assessment of their effects on human health, the response of mesospheric temperatures to changes in carbon dioxide, laboratory studies of uptake and reactivity of trace species on atmospheric aerosol particles, and studies of photo-reactive molecules and their clusters.
Boulder is arguably one of the world’s centers in the fields of Atmospheric Chemistry & Air Quality Research, thanks to the high concentration and quality of faculty and researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (NOAA ESRL). Additional resources in these areas can be found at, nearby Colorado State University (CSU) and the University of Denver (DU).
Core faculty
Other researchers
- Veronica Bierbaum, Department of Chemistry
- Eleanor Browne, Department of Chemistry
- John W Daily, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Joost de Gouw, Department of Chemistry
- Ray R Fall, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
- Michael Hannigan, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Daven Henze, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- James Hynes, Department of Chemistry
- Jose-Luis Jimenez, Department of Chemistry
- Jana Milford, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Shelly Miller, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Margaret Tolbert, Department of Chemistry
- Veronica Vaida, Department of Chemistry
- Rainer Volkamer, Department of Chemistry
- Paul Zieman, Department of Chemistry
Relevant courses
- ATOC 3500 Air Chemistry and Pollution
- ATOC 5151 Atmospheric Chemistry
- ATOC 5600 Physics and Chemistry of Clouds and Aerosols
Other resources
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- NCAR Atmospheric Chemistry Observations & Modeling (ACOM)
- Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC)