Understanding and experiencing the fascination of weather

Weather is an area of continuous change and development and the result of fascinating interaction of various processes which is true for extreme weather as well as for ordinary everyday weather. The development, highlights, and prognosis of weather are in the focus of the weekly performed “Wetterbesprechung”.

How does the global „weather machine“ work? What kind of processes can change a small harmless low into a strong gale? Why do we observe different types of thunderstorms? Basics for the understanding of the weather-changing processes and their interaction in the three-dimensional system of the atmosphere are content of the modules “Einführung in die Meteorologie“ and “Synoptik“.

The Meteorological Institute operates a measuring site at the “Wettermast Hamburg“ delivering continuously weather data between surface and 250 m height. As another project the institute runs a very high-resolving rain radar. Weather can be experienced firsthand during the “Instrumentenpraktikum“ and “Lehrexkursion“ and sometimes  during a meteorological field campaign performed by aircraft or ship.

A real-time diagnostic of global circulation based on the ECMWF analyses and forecasts and focusing on the equatorial waves is carried out by the MODES diagnostic package.

Working groups: Atmospheric Dynamics and Predictability, Atmospheric Measurements / Process Modelling