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• Burnside Hall, Room 945
• 805 Sherbrooke Street West
• Montreal QC H3A 0B9

• Telephone: 514-398-3764
• Fax: 514-398-6115
• Email: undergraduateinfo [at] meteo.mcgill.ca
• Website: www.mcgill.ca/meteo

The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences offers, at the undergraduate level, a broad range of courses and degree programs in atmospheric science (meteorology). At the postgraduate level, programs of study are offered in physical oceanography, air-sea interaction, and climate research as well as in different branches of atmospheric science. The study of atmospheric science is based largely on physics and applied mathematics. All required courses except those at the introductory level generally have prerequisites or corequisites in physics, mathematics, and atmospheric science. One of the goals of the discipline is to develop the understanding necessary to improve our ability to predict the weather, but atmospheric science is more than weather forecasting.

Another important area of study focuses on the possible changes in global climate caused by the changing chemical composition of the atmosphere. The approach is always quantitative. Like other parts of physics, atmospheric science attempts to create theoretical models of its complex processes as a means of analyzing the motion and composition of the air, its thermodynamic behaviour, and its interaction with radiation and with the solid or liquid surface beneath it.

From one viewpoint, the atmosphere may be studied as a large volume of gas by the methods of fluid mechanics: winds, circulation patterns, turbulence, and energy and momentum exchanges are the ideas employed in this approach. Alternatively, the atmosphere may be studied from the point of view of its detailed physics: how water condenses in the air; how cloud droplets make rain; how sunlight warms the ground and the ground warms the air above it by radiation and convection; and how the atmosphere and ocean interact to shape the weather and climate. A comprehensive understanding requires both viewpoints, and these are reflected in the curriculum.

The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences offers four main programs in Atmospheric Science: Honours, Major, Minor, and a Joint Major in Atmospheric Science and Physics. The Honours program is meant for students with high standing. It is based on courses similar to those in the Major program, but provides opportunities to perform research and to take advanced courses. The Major program, although somewhat less intensive, satisfies the requirements for a professional career as a meteorologist, and like the Honours program equips the student to undertake postgraduate study in meteorology, atmospheric science, and related sciences (physical oceanography) at any of the leading universities. The Department also offers a special one-year Diploma program to B.Sc. or B.Eng. graduates.

An undergraduate degree in Atmospheric Science is an excellent background for professional careers in government service or private industry and/or graduate study in the physical sciences. Environment Canada (more specifically the Meteorological Service of Canada) has traditionally been the main employer of graduating students at all levels, but provincial governments, private forecasting companies, environmental consulting and engineering firms, and insurance companies also employ Atmospheric Science graduates. Academic positions in teaching and research are available to M.Sc. and Ph.D. graduates. Students interested in any of the undergraduate programs should consult the undergraduate adviser, Daniel Kirshbaum (daniel.kirshbaum [at] mcgill.ca), or the main departmental office at Room 945, Burnside Hall.