Atmospheric Physics seminars

Lisa Dang explores how observations reveal the three-dimensional atmospheres and climates of close-in exoplanets. Kepler and TESS have established a diverse population that tests theories of planetary formation and evolution. Tidally locked short-period planets offer strong atmospheric signals but their large day–night contrasts make one-dimensional interpretations inadequate. Measurements from JWST and precise ground-based observatories can expose these spatial differences and determine whether an atmosphere is present. The talk reviews discoveries about intensely irradiated planets and explains how the same observational techniques now investigate temperate rocky worlds and their potential habitability.

Hélène Brogniez examines atmospheric water vapour as a major component of the climate system. The seminar explains how its relationship with temperature amplifies warming and connects this feedback to the water cycle. Observations and numerical models are considered as complementary tools for weather prediction and climate projections.

This lecture explains the physics and historical development of the greenhouse effect, including why rising concentrations of heat-trapping gases alter Earth's temperature. It addresses misconceptions about saturation and compares greenhouse forcing with other natural and human influences on the planetary energy balance. Measurements provide a basis for evaluating their relative contributions.

This lecture introduces atmospheric aerosols from deserts, oceans, volcanoes, fires and human activities. It examines how these particles travel and are deposited far from their sources. Their climatic effects are discussed alongside the satellite and ground-based observing programmes used to measure them.

The three lectures examine how physical theory can make sense of complex systems with fluctuations and many interacting components. Syukuro Manabe describes the construction of climate models that connect atmospheric radiation, heat transport and carbon dioxide to changes in surface temperature. Klaus Hasselmann addresses the relationship between short-term weather variability and long-term climate, including methods for distinguishing human influence from natural variation. Giorgio Parisi examines disordered systems and the coexistence of multiple equilibria, with spin glasses providing a central setting for understanding apparently irregular collective behaviour. The programme preserves both parts of the prize: quantitative climate science and the statistical physics of disorder, rather than treating either as a substitute for the other.