Meteorology group

If you are considering to do your bachelor´s or master´s project in Meteorology, you´ll find some ideas below. This is not to say that these are the only ones. They are just for inspiration, so have a chat with us, if your ideas are moving in a different direction.

Contact: Eigil Kaas, Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen and Aksel Walløe Hansen

The Development of Precipitation

According to IPCC climate simulations more situations with intense precipitation are expected to take place in a warmer climate in the future. To some it is already common knowledge that this has already happened, because of the several occurrences with heavy precipitation in recent years. In this project the observations of precipitation must be critically reviewed. It could be in Denmark, in Sweden or globally. The weather situations must be analyzed with a view to the stability and water content of the air.

Improved Predictions of Cloudbursts

Assimilation of radar and other relevant data in a state of the art NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) system. The aim is to improve short term weather predictions of cloudbursts – a very hot topic within modern NWP.

Ultra Low Frequent Atmospheric Variability

Formulation and analysis of horizontal diffusion/mixing and its effect on ultra low frequent atmospheric variability in climate models with medium to low resolution, used for paleoclimatic studies.

Realistic Parametrization in a Lagrangian based geophysical Fluid Dynamic Model

Formulation and parametrization of a minimally artificial mixing numerical transport scheme in a geophysic fluid dynamic model. (Based on a new, hybrid Eulerian Lagrangian approach). A collaboration with Li Dong, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS, Beijing.

Projects with the WRF model

WRF is NBI´s state of the art atmosphere model, which can be used for a number of student projects, including thesis and bachelor´s projects.

  • Simulations of concrete weather situations, e.g. the storm in October 2013.
  • What does it mean for the windsystems if we deploy 5000 10 MW windmills?

Stochastic Resonance in a Physically Based Energy Balance Model

This project is an attempt to formulate a simple, but sufficiently non-linear, physically based energy balance model of the climate system, which can produce stochastic resonance.

The Greenhouse Effect

The greenhouse effect has increased in the last 100 years because of the continuous outlet of a series of gasses like CO2, CH4 and CFC gasses. It has not yet been possible to verify their effects on the radiation flux at the surface of the Earth directly. In this project the task is to try to verify the increasing greenhouse effect indirectly by analyzing temperature measurements at night. The idea is that cooling at the surface has declined compared to 25, 50 and 100 years ago because of the isolating effect of the greenhouse gasses.

New Methods for solving the fully compressible Euler Equations

This master project will examine different options for numerically solving the un-approximated governing equations for atmospheric flow, i.e., at least six coupled, and highy non-linear partial differential equations. New numerical methods can be designed to ensure high efficiency and accuracy at the same time while still formally fulfilling fundamental physical principles such as mass and energy conservation.

The Inter-hemispheric Oscillation

It has been found that there is a fast (weekly - monthly time scale) communication between the surface pressure and thereby wind conditions near the two poles. This is called the Inter-hemispheric Oscillation (IHO). This project will investigate the IHO further with special emphasis on the role in forcing the Southern Ocean on time scales from months to millennia. The possible role in the bi-polar seesaw should be considered.

Collaboration with DMI

Through our close collaboration with DMI, we can present yet another series of potential projects for your inspiration. These projects must be carried out with the aid of an NBI - internal supervisor as well. Note that Peter Lang Langen and Jens Hesselbjerg at DMI can act as the only supervisor, as they are adjunct professors here at NBI. You´ll find descriptions of the projects in the link to the right.

Mesoscale Meteorology

Studies of atmospheric dynamics on scales from tens to hundreds of kilometers. It will often focus on convection clouds and their organization into larger complexes. The projects will often involve observed/analyzed data and/or numerical simulation models. Mesoscale meteorology is also linked to the climate issue.