The science of Climatology seeks to improve our understanding of the varying and changing conditions of our environment, and of the natural and human-influenced processes and events that affect those conditions.
Questions about climate change, and its causes and implications, are among the central environmental question of our time, and the climatology faculty are providing key answers to these questions. The climatology faculty research focus on land/ocean/ice– atmosphere interactions, and climate dynamics and variability with a particular emphasis on understanding the role of snow and ice in our climate system. The faculty employ a wide range of models, from cloud scale to climate scale, and use environmental observations including surface, upper air, and satellite data, along with state-of-the-art methods of analysis and modeling to study our climate system.
The faculty who are actively involved in some or all of these areas of climate science are: Drs. Cristina Archer, Tracy DeLiberty, Cathleen Geiger, Brian Hanson, Dan Leathers, David Legates, Sara Rauscher, and Dana Veron. The department also houses The Office of the Delaware State Climatologist and the Delaware Environmental Observing System. Both centers provide weather and climate information and decision making tools to State agencies and citizens of Delaware.