With our weather becoming increasingly volatile, we’ve had a lot more interest in our Climate Science course. We thought we’d explore some of the jobs you can do within this field if you were taking your studies further.
Storm Chaser
This is as epic (and dangerous) as it sounds. Someone who literally stays out in terrible weather, such as tornados or severe lightning storms, to film, photograph and monitor these weather phenomena. While many do it as an expensive hobby, those that make careers out of this are probably Atmospheric Scientists who are taking important readings and measurements of these frightening and awesome weather incidents.
Meteorologist
A meteorologist is a scientist who specialises in predicting the weather in the short term. When you see bad weather warnings, when you look up whether it may rain or not in an app, a team of forecasters is behind that information. While the role is now made a little more accurate with the use of technology and computer programmes, you are still required to have at least a degree in meteorology or atmospheric science to get into his role.
Climatologist
Another branch of Atmospheric Science, sometimes Physical Geography, a Climatologist is someone who specialises in predicting or observing climates in a specific area or larger areas. Unlike forecasters, they are interested in the long-term patterns of weather and collate a much larger pool of data and often try to predict why these long term changes may or may not happen. A Climatologist will gather data and look at patterns of weather that can span decades.
And if you’re interested in some amazing, free resources for studying atmospheric sciences, check out the National Meteorological Library and Archive, it’s open to everyone!