Clouds and aerosols are ubiquitous in planetary atmospheres, where they impact climate, atmospheric chemistry, remote sensing, and weather.  Clouds are a vital link in the global and regional weather climate and hydrological cycle.

Research conducted by ATOC builds on knowledge of the fundamental set of thermodynamic and physical principles by applying them to quantitatively describe the behavior of cloud development and precipitation enhancement, and develop quantitative and qualitative analysis of thermodynamic and microphysical processes relevant for cloud development for certain phenomena such as nimbostratus clouds, extra-tropical cyclones, cumulus dynamics, thunderstorms, mesoscale convective systems, hurricanes, and orographic clouds.

Dr. Avallone’s expertise centers on the development of instrumentation for measuring trace atmospheric species at high data rate and with high sensitivity and specificity. Instrumentation designed and built by her group has been employed in numerous field projects to study the formation and radiative impact of cirrus clouds, the formation and dispersion of rocket exhaust plumes, and polar boundary-layer ozone fluxes and ozone budget. She has participated in field experiments in Svalbard; Alert, Canada; Kiruna, Sweden; on the annual sea ice north of Alaska and on the Ross Ice Shelf near McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Dr. Friedrich’s research focuses on investigating kinematic and microphysical processes relevant for cloud formation.

Dr. Toohey's research addresses the role of trace gases and aerosols on Earth's climate, atmospheric oxidation, and air quality. He develops instruments for fast-repsonse in situ measurements from the ground, balloons, and aircraft. He has participated in numerous field campaigns to study topics such as stratospheric ozone depletion over the Arctic, the impact of rockets on stratospheric chemistry, long-range transport of pollutants, and the role of aerosols in modification of cloud properties. He has conducted work in Antarctica, Spitsbergen, New Zealand, Sweden, Nepal, the Virgin Islands, Alaska, Hawaii, and throughout the continental United States.

Dr. Toon’s research group conducts modeling, laboratory and field studies in aerosol and cloud physics, climate and atmospheric chemistry on Earth and other planetary bodies.  This group conducts numerical simulations of the interactions between tropspheric aerosols and clouds. They have constructed a numerical model of stratospheric volcanic aerosols over the past two decades. For many years Dr. Toon has been involved in using NASA aircraft to address various issues in stratospheric and tropospheric science.

Current Research: 

• Cloud Properties Across the Arctic
• Colorado Airborne Multi-phase Cloud Study (CAMPS)
• Concordiasi Science – McMurdo Station, Antarctica
• Experimental Investigations of Tropospheric and Stratospheric Phenomena
• Ice in Clouds Experiment – Tropical (ICE-T)
• Microphysics in Thunderstorms: Analysis and observations of particle size distribution in supercell thunderstorms
• Midlatitude Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX)
• Polar Mesopsheric Clouds (PMCs)
• Polar Straospheric Clouds (PSCs)
• Storm Peak Validation Experiment (StormVEx)
• Stratospheric Aerosol Theory
• Tropospheric Clouds, Aerosols, and Radiative Transfer

ATOC Faculty:

• Linnea Avallone, Professor
• Katja Friedrich, Assistant Professor
• Cora Randall, Professor
• Darin Toohey, Professor
• O Brian Toon, Professor

Other Faculty and Researchers:

• Matthew Shupe, Associate Scientist, NOAA/CIRES/ESRL/PSD
• Jeffrey Thayer, Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder

Other Resourses:

• Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
• Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)