Department of Atmospheric Sciences

in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawai‘i

Graduate students awarded ARCS Foundation scholarships

Terrence J. “TJ” Corrigan, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, George and Mona Elmore ARCS Award, is a storm chaser. He will aim Stereo Atmospheric Motion Monitor cameras at the Ko‘olau range to gauge the interplay of wind and topography. His goal is to predict when simple tradewind showers will evolve into severe rotating thunderstorms, such as the 2018 supercell thunderstorm over Kaua‘i that shattered previous 24-hour U.S. rainfall records.

Two SOEST researchers in top 25 of international ranking

Two University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa faculty members, atmospheric scientist Bin Wang and oceanographer David Karl, were named in the top 25 researchers internationally according to the recent Research.com ranking. Based on a meticulous examination of 166,880 scientists on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph, the rankings report on the impact of research published by scientists in 21 disciplines.

SOEST scientists contribute to most comprehensive research on climate change, El Niño

Climate change is happening and accelerating. Earth will continue to warm. And these changes are unequivocally caused by human activities. Those are among the conclusions of the report published recently by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa assistant professor of oceanography Malte Stuecker as a contributing author.

SOEST recognized internationally for academic and research excellence

SOEST is No. 15 in the world in atmospheric sciences, No. 16 in oceanography and 51-75 in earth sciences, according to the 2021 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, considered one of the most comprehensive and objective rankings of world universities by subjects. A total of 15 University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa programs were ranked, including two others that earned top 100 marks.

Vog monitoring and forecasting continues during Kīlauea eruption

At 9:30 on the evening of December 20, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) detected a glow within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, indicating that an eruption had begun within Kīlauea’s summit caldera. The water lake at the summit of Kīlauea boiled away with an effusive eruption and vents continue to generate lava, pouring into a growing lava lake at the base of the crater. The University of Hawai‘i (UH) Vog Measurement and Prediction (VMAP) Project continues to create forecasts of dispersion and trajectories of volcanic smog, referred to as vog, which are available in real-time online.

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Aloha! Welcome to the home page of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. We are entering our second half century providing education in the atmospheric sciences here at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Since 1988 we have been part of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).To learn about our educational programs and our exciting research and service activities follow the links at left. For more information about the history and structure of the department, please visit our About the Department page.

The department also maintains an online Weather Server displaying real time weather observations, including information on current weather conditions, and forecasts for Hawai’i, the central Pacific region, and the continental United States.