The well-known research expertise in the School of Meteorology is the study of convective storms and mesoscale circulations utilizing high-resolution modeling and observational analysis including advanced radar systems and ground-based remote sensing. An outside review of the School during its last Academic Performance Review placed the School as a world-leading institution in these areas. This excellence is based on the close proximity and collaboration with the University’s research centers, the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center and the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Efforts to broaden the research portfolio has led to experts in fields ranging from polar meteorology to climate variations and atmospheric chemistry joining our team.
View the comprehensive list of research happening in SoM (pdf).
The School of Meteorology's home in the National Weather Center offers students access to some of the top meteorologists in the field, not only through faculty but through the scientists working in the following research centers.
The ARRC’s mission is to enhance safety, security, environmental quality, and economic prosperity through interdisciplinary research and development of innovative radar solutions to a wide range of societal challenges. This confluence of science and engineering in radar and applied electromagnetics empowers research, enhances collaboration, inspires discovery, and improves lives. The ARRC has always focused on developing cutting-edge radar technology for scientific discovery and has now expanded into many more applications of radar and applied electromagnetics.
CAPS's mission is to develop and demonstrate techniques for the numerical analysis and prediction of high-impact local weather and environmental conditions, with emphasis on the assimilation of observations from Doppler radars and other advanced in-situ and remote sensing systems.
CAPS strives to be the world leader in convective-scale data assimilation and numerical weather prediction, providing a venue for exploring bold new ideas, attracting the best scientists and students, and facilitating the transfer of knowledge and technology to academia, government and industry.
The Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) is the largest research center at the University of Oklahoma. CIWRO was established in 2021, and extends cooperative programs between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and OU that have existed continually since 1978. CIWRO connects the scientific and technical resources of OU and NOAA with the goal of improving the basic understanding of weather and transitioning that understanding to operations to produce better forecasts that save lives and property.
The Center for Spatial Analysis (CSA) is a multidisciplinary research center housed on the OU-Norman Research campus, specializing in applied geospatial technology research and development. We focus on providing services to:
OCS provides climatological services to the people of Oklahoma, conducts research on the impacts of climate on human activities, and serves as a support facility for the State Climatologist. OCS has a legislative mandate to acquire, process, and disseminate climate and weather data and information for use by the state's citizens.
The South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center provides decision makers with the science, tools, and information they need to address the impacts of climate variability and change on their areas of responsibility. The Center will transform how climate science is conducted and applied in the south-central United States.
August 15, 2024
The NSF-funded initiative will establish respectful and reciprocal partnerships between tribal communities and universities on climate resilience topics.
A School of Meteorology student receives one of three NSF GRFP honorable mention.
On March 11th, 2024, The American Geophysical Union selected 20 out of 344 students to receive the 2023 Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) for the Atmospheric Sciences Section. Out of these twenty students, three of them came from The University of Oklahoma, School of Meteorology.
The Applied Climate Dynamics Group is primarily focused on large-scale climate dynamics in both the atmosphere and ocean and all around the world. We focus on using observations (e.g., station data, satellite products, and reanalysis datasets) and climate models (both designed experiments and already-existing model output) for our studies. We use a variety of statistical approaches and forecasting techniques in our research with the goal of applying the results to operations in the science and in the private sector. Thus, graduate students and post-docs studying in this group have a well-rounded, application-oriented research experience.
AAARG focuses on the dynamics and physical mechanisms of high latitude atmospheric processes. We study Arctic and Antarctic processes using high-resolution regional and global numerical models such as NCAR’s Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and the Model for the Prediction Across Scales (MPAS). Since these locations are relatively data-sparse regions of the globe, we also study atmospheric predictability through ensemble data assimilation techniques using tools such as the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART) to better understand how to extend information provided by observations to improve numerical models.
Leader: Steven Cavallo
AAARG
With the purpose of utilizing and developing active and passive radiation measurements for characterizing spatio-temporal distributions and radiative properties of aerosols, clouds and trace gases, the ARRS Group focuses on the development of remote sensing theory in three fundamental aspects, which include:
With the purpose of utilizing and developing active and passive radiation measurements for characterizing spatio-temporal distributions and radiative properties of aerosols, clouds and trace gases, the ARRS Group focuses on the development of remote sensing theory in three fundamental aspects, which include:
The Boundary Layer Integrated Sensing and Simulation (BLISS) group acts as an umbrella under which all those in and connected to the National Weather Center community with an interest in boundary layer studies can come together and collaborate.
BLISS welcomes the participation of independent functioning research groups or centers (in part or in entirety), individual researchers of any affiliation (e.g., CIWRO, SoM, NSSL, etc.), faculty members, and students from any background with an interest in boundary layer studies from theory to observations to NWP applications. In short, the BLISS group aims to unite all those working on boundary layer-related problems across the board to foster a community of collaboration and support regardless of experience level, or affiliation with an active research group.
Leader: Petra Klein
OU-BLISS
The CVC research group aims to further our knowledge of climate, climate variability and weather-climate interactions, with a focus on precipitation. This is accomplished through the use of observations and model simulations to provide a means to increase our understanding of essential mechanisms and processes across the globe, but with a focus on regions surrounding the Tropical Atlantic and the United States.
Our research interests include the following areas:
Leader: Elinor Martin
CVC@OU
The (CL)2EAR research group is led by Dr. Jens Redemann. The group specializes in the following research interests:
Leader: Jens Redemann
(CL)2EAR
The McFarquhar cloud physics group focuses on the study of small-scale processes (microphysics) occurring in clouds. Some of the most fundamental and complex problems in climate and weather research today are our poor understandings of the basic properties of clouds and our inability to determine quantitatively the many effects cloud processes have on weather and climate. Current climate models indicate that Earth’s average surface temperature will warm from 1.5 to 4.5°C by 2100 due to increases in greenhouse gases, with the large uncertainty attributed to different treatments of clouds in climate models. Winter weather significantly impacts the transportation and power industries, schools and businesses, and severe thunderstorms can cause significant damage and flooding. Improved quantitative precipitation forecasts require a greater understanding of how cloud processes and the related energy release affect the structure and dynamics of storms. Research within the McFarquhar group addresses the overarching theme of clouds and their relation to climate and weather using a combination of field observations, satellite retrievals and numerical modeling studies. Prof. McFarquhar’s work at Oklahoma aims at making fundamental advances in our understanding of cloud properties and processes, and improving our ability to represent clouds in weather and climate models.
Leader: Greg McFarquhar
Cloud Physics Group
CCC group research falls within three topic areas of atmospheric science: Radar & Satellite Meteorology, Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UTLS) studies, and Climate Variability and Change. Many of the topics that we work on are cross-cutting in that they require and contribute to knowledge in more than one of these areas. For example, thunderstorms are capable of reaching the tropopause: the boundary between the lowest layer of the atmosphere and that in which we live (the troposphere) and the layer immediately above (the stratosphere). If a storm overshoots the tropopause and extends into the stratosphere, it may lead to transport of air between the two layers (stratosphere-troposphere exchange or STE). STE affects the composition of the UTLS, which in turn leads to changes in the radiation budget and climate. Studying such problems enables the CCC group to broadly impact the atmospheric sciences. Additional details on our research activities and research identity can be found below.
Leader: Cameron Homeyer
CCC
The Convective Storm Dynamics Research Group seeks to better understand the two-way feedback between convective cloud systems and larger scales, often called the weather–climate interface. Cloud–radiation feedback in tropical convection is a major recent focus of our work and a prime example of this interaction: while the structure and distribution of clouds are greatly shaped by climate, clouds profoundly alter both the albedo and local greenhouse radiative trapping. The impact of this cloud–radiative forcing is not only on climate: our research is peeling back the veil on how this forcing affects convective storm behavior, including tropical cyclone formation. To study such links, we invoke knowledge and tools across a range of scales, including observations, high-resolution numerical models, and theory. Topics of special emphasis include
The HyRes group seeks is to improve weather and water prediction by better understanding the processes that govern atmospheric precipitation and its hydrologic impact at all scales. We combine state-of-the art remote sensing tools, innovative analysis of ground and satellite observations, and modeling. Our research improves the state of knowledge as well as real-world applications and operations.
Leader: Pierre Kirstetter
HyRes
Research in the IDEA Lab focuses on developing and applying data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning techniques with a focus on high-impact real-world applications. Our research foci include the development of:
Leader: Amy McGovern
IDEA Lab
The Salesky research group focuses on the structure and dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer, turbulence, and interactions between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. We use analytical methods, field experiments, and numerical simulations to address scientific questions of importance for weather and climate, air quality, water resources, and human health.
Recent topics of interest include convective boundary layers, boundary layers over complex surface topography, transport in the urban environment, and particle-laden flows. We also develop new numerical tools to study these problems using large eddy simulation.
Leader: Scott Saleksy
Salesky Research Group
Search for a faculty members, research areas, and email addresses in the following table.
| Name | Research Areas | |
|---|---|---|
| Otavio Acevedo | ABL Structure, Amazon Forest, Atmospheric Turbulence, Stable Boundary Layer, Turbulence Parameterizations | otavio.costa.acevedo-1@ou.edu |
| Michael Biggerstaff | High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Cloud Electrification, Cloud & Precipitation Microphysics, Radar Observations | drdoppler@ou.edu |
| Howard Bluestein | High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Synoptic Scale, Radar Observations, Surface Active | hblue@ou.edu |
| David Bodine | Mesoscale, Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology & Turbulence, Radar Observations | bodine@ou.edu |
| Steven Cavallo | Data Assimilation, High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Synoptic Scale, Polar, Climate Variability and Change | cavallo@ou.edu |
| Jason Furtado | High Impact & Severe Weather, Polar, Tropical, Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) | jfurtado@ou.edu |
| Aaron Hill | Numerical Weather Prediction, Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI) | ahill@ou.edu |
| Stacey Hitchcock | High Impact & Severe Weather | stacey.hitchcock@ou.edu |
| Cameron Homeyer | High Impact & Severe Weather, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Tropical, Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Chemical Transport, Air Quality/Pollution, Radar Observations, Satellite & Airborne Observations & Retrievals | chomeyer@ou.edu |
| Pierre Kirstetter | Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI), High Impact & Severe Weather, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Hydrometeorology, Droughts & Floods, Precipitation Extremes & Variability, Cloud & Precipitation Microphysics, Radar Observations, Surface Active, Satellite & Airborne Observations & Retrievals | pierre-emmanuel.kirstetter@ou.edu |
| Petra Klein | Physical Process Parameterization, Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology & Turbulence, Chemical Transport, Air Quality/Pollution, Surface Active | pkklein@ou.edu |
| Zachary Lebo | Numerical Weather Prediction, Mesoscale, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Climate Variability and Change | zachary.lebo@ou.edu |
| Marcela Loría-Salazar | Data Assimilation, Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology & Turbulence, Chemical Transport, Air Quality/Pollution, Fire Weather, Aerosols, Satellite & Airborne Observations & Retrievals | mloria@ou.edu |
| Elinor Martin | High Impact & Severe Weather, Tropical, Climate Variability and Change, Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S), Droughts & Floods, Precipitation Extremes & Variability | Elinor.Martin@ou.edu |
| Greg McFarquhar | Physical Process Parameterization, Polar, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Satellite & Airborne Observations & Retrievals | mcfarq@ou.edu |
| Amy McGovern | Numerical Weather Prediction, Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI), High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Fire Weather | amcgovern@ou.edu |
| Robert Palmer | High Impact & Severe Weather, Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology & Turbulence, Radar Observations, Surface Active | rpalmer@ou.edu |
| Dave Parsons | Numerical Weather Prediction, Ensemble Forecasting, Physical Process Parameterization, High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Radar Observations, Surface Active | dparsons@ou.edu |
| Kathy Pegion | Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ensemble Forecasting, Tropical, Climate Variability and Change, Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S), Droughts & Floods, Precipitation Extremes & Variability | kpegion@ou.edu |
| Jens Redemann | Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Chemical Transport, Aerosols, Light Scattering & Radiative Transfer Theory, Satellite & Airborne Observations & Retrievals | jredemann@ou.edu |
| James Ruppert | Numerical Weather Prediction, High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes | jruppert@ou.edu |
| Naoko Sakaeda | Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Tropical, Climate Variability and Change, Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) | nsakaeda@ou.edu |
| David Schvartzman | High Impact & Severe Weather, Cloud Electrification, Cloud & Precipitation Microphysics, Radar Observations, Satellite & Airborne Observations & Retrievals | dschvart@ou.edu |
| Scott Salesky | Physical Process Parameterization, Polar, Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology & Turbulence, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Chemical Transport, Air Quality/Pollution | salesky@ou.edu |
| Chenghao Wang | Physical Process Parameterization, Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology & Turbulence, Hydrometeorology, Climate Variability and Change, Air Quality/Pollution | chenghao.wang@ou.edu |
| Xuguang Wang | Numerical Weather Prediction, Data Assimilation, Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ensemble Forecasting, High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Synoptic Scale, Polar, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes | xuguang.wang@ou.edu |
| Feng Xu | Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Aerosols, Light Scattering & Radiative Transfer Theory, Satellite & Airborne Observations & Retrievals | fengxu@ou.edu |
| Ming Xue | Numerical Weather Prediction, Data Assimilation, Ensemble Forecasting, Physical Process Parameterization, High Impact & Severe Weather, Mesoscale, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Tropical, Climate Variability and Change, Droughts & Floods, Precipitation Extremes & Variability, Cloud & Precipitation Microphysics | mxue@ou.edu |
| Guifu Zhang | Physical Process Parameterization, Cloud and Precipitation Properties & Processes, Hydrometeorology, Cloud & Precipitation Microphysics, Radar Observations, Surface Active, Light Scattering & Radiative Transfer Theory | guzhang1@ou.edu |
