Climate Physics and Chemistry
The newest of the PAOC degree programs was created to exploit the overlapping nature of
the atmospheric, oceanic and geological sciences as they relate to climate and its
changes. Students have access to the unique breadth of expertise in all aspects of climate
including paleoclimatology and the geological record, all of atmospheric and oceanic
physics and chemistry, fluid dynamical modeling of the climate system, hydrology, and
geophysics. Because of the breadth of the issues making up the study of climate, each
student can construct, in collaboration with an adviser, a program uniquely suited to the
student's interests.
Ongoing research foci in Climate include the study of high latitude North Atlantic
deep-sea cores as records of the climate of the past 200,000 years; coupled models of
air-sea interaction being developed in MIT's Climate Modeling
Initiative; studies of
possible mechanisms of the Permo-Triassic Mass
extinction, Atlantic Climate
Variability;
and global biogeochemical cycles - see here
for more details.
The degree program in
Climate Physics and Chemistry capitalizes on expertise in
atmospheric dynamics and chemistry, oceanography, marine geochemistry, hydrology, and
paleoclimatology within the Department of Earth,
Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, the Center for Global Change Science, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
A wide choice of academic programs is available to each student.
Apply Here:
MIT Admissions
Graduate Application Request Page
You may also request a brochure and application by writing to:
Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate
Room 54-910
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
Students interested in the graduate programs in Atmospheric Science, Oceanography, or
Climate Physics and Chemistry should indicate on their application form that they are
seeking entrance to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, and
indicate which of the three Ph.D. programs is of interest. (Note that applications to
any one of the three programs will be reviewed by all three.)
