Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Meteorology is an applied physical science that studies the processes that govern the behavior of the atmosphere and its interactions with the Earth’s surface, especially with the ocean. Its objective is to understand and predict atmospheric phenomena by use of traditional physical equations as well as mathematical and computational tools.

Recently, several extreme weather and climatic events have affected the country and, in particular, many of these events occurred in the state of Santa Catarina, such as: floods, tornadoes, snow and hail precipitation, cyclones and the hurricane Catarina. The meteorologist has a central role in the understanding and forecasting of these events.

In the early stages, UFSC Meteorology students take general courses that give the basis for the understanding of complex atmospheric processes: Physics, Calculus and Computer Science. In the later stages, thermodynamic knowledge is applied to the study of precipitation and cloud formation and development; the physics of radiation is applied for the understanding of the atmosphere thermal structure and the establishment of methods for the observation and measurement of atmospheric phenomena; and the principles of fluid dynamics are learned to understand the movements of weather systems which determine weather and climate on all scales. All these processes are diagnosed through an extensive use of computational techniques.

Meteorologists are required in a number of activity sectors that use information on weather and climate. These include civil defense, agriculture, civil and military aviation and navigation, energy and water resources management sector, environmental impact studies and pollution control, market and economic planning, insurance sector, and support to the organization of sport, tourism and entertainment events.

Courses are held during the day.