Chair's Message
The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill has a long tradition of frontier research and teaching in meteorology dating from the establishment of first meteorology group in 1856 and McGill observatory in 1862 to the great "stormy weather" radar research group who established cutting edge radar research in the midst of the Second World War. Today our department's research is quite diverse and our expertise can provide incoming students the opportunity to learn from experts in wide spectrum of research domains such as physical meteorology, dynamics, radar and satellite remote sensing, physical oceanography, air-sea ice/snow-ocean interactions, atmospheric chemistry and physics as well as air pollution and climate. Research activities in our department are challenging and yet our working is collegial and friendly providing wide opportunities for personal and academic growth.
This website contains useful information for prospective students and provides several aspects of our department's research actities. It contains group activities and links to centers of research, individual research member's activities and interests as well as application forms for both undergraduate and graduate programs, course listings and aspects of living in the cosmopolitan and exciting environment of the city of Montreal.
The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences is located in Burnside Hall in the downtown Montreal Campus. The department is equipped with state-of-the-art computational, observational and laboratory facilities. Part of the department's infrastructure also includes the Marshal radar facility in the West Island of Montreal.
Climate change is arguably the most important challenge of our time. There is an urgent need to address Earth system climate uncertainties with comprehensive data monitoring to enhance our quantitative predictions of climate change, extreme weather and air pollution. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you as a student and colleague in our department to face these challenges, together.
Parisa A. Ariya
James McGill Professor and Chair of the Department