Centers and Facilities

O&M Building The Department of Atmospheric Sciences occupies upper floors of the 15-story Oceanography and Meteorology Building. The Doppler weather radar on the roof of the building is a campus landmark. Students gain hands-on experience operating the radar in courses and research projects. The department is part of a consortium that is building two truck-mounted 5-cm wavelength Doppler radars, the Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radars. These radars will be used in national and international field campaigns to study cloud physics, remote sensing, and storm dynamics. The department also receives a continuous, comprehensive stream of meteorological data from ground stations, balloons, aircraft, radars, and satellites around the world. Data and forecasts are available from the department web site, and are archived for research and teaching purposes. Two well-equipped computer labs are regularly upgraded to provide state-of-the-art equipment. The university provides computing infrastructure such as campus networking and high-speed Internet access. In addition to campus libraries, the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and Oceanography together maintain a Working Collection of scientific journals, books, and reports.

There are several institutes and offices associated with the Department of Atmospheric Sciences including the Cooperative Institute for Applied Meteorological Studies, the Center for Texas Climate Studies, and the Office of the State Climatologist.

CIAMS Cooperative Institute for Applied Meteorological Studies

The Cooperative Institute for Applied Meteorological Studies (CIAMS)The Cooperative Institute for Applied Meteorological Studies (CIAMS) is affiliated with the Southern Region Headquarters of the National Weather Service located in Fort Worth. The Institute employs research scientists and graduate students in a broad program of applied research and service to Texas and surrounding states in the areas of weather forecasting, lightning and severe weather research, and Doppler radar and computer model studies of precipitation and severe storms.

Aggie Doppler Radar

The Aggie Doppler Radar (ADRAD) is a 10-cm Doppler radar located on the roof of the Eller O&M Building and is regularly used in teaching and research.

SMART R SMART Radar

The Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radar (SMART-R) facility consists of a mobile 5-cm Doppler radar with an 8-foot diameter dish. SMART-R is operated jointly between Texas A&M University and the University of Oklahoma and is used to study convective and mesoscale atmospheric processes

Supercomputing Facility

The Texas A&M Supercomputing Facility provides supercomputing resources to the university.

Center for Atmospheric Chemistry and the Environment

The Center for Atmospheric Chemistry and the Environment (CACE) is an interdisciplinary center whose goal is to provide the highest quality information based on laboratory, field and calculation relevant to sustaining our environment and maintaining air quality.

The Office of the State Climatologist (OSC) The Office of the State Climatologist (OSC) is a component of the Department and the Texas Center for Climate Studies. The OSC maintains a large climatic database covering Texas, publishes regular reports and monographs, and undertakes research on climate patterns and applied climatology.

Computer Labs
		Weather Center The Texas A&M Weather Center is a multi-purpose facility containing an electronic wall of real-time meteorology displays. Access is always available for students and faculty to check the latest “charts” and observations (and even their Facebook!). The focus is on informal learning opportunities, including peer-to-peer student interaction. Weekly map discussions, and severe weather “chase” briefs are also held in the Center. The Weather Center has an attached soundproof room for student-led radio broadcasting for KAMU-FM and for podcasting.
RADAR Room The radar room is on the 12th floor of the Eller O&M building and houses the Aggie Doppler Radar (ADRAD) signal processor and antenna controller. ADRAD is operated and monitored using Sigmet's IRIS software. Undergraduate and graduate students run ADRAD when significant precipitation is within a 150-km radius of the radar.
		Television Broadcast Area The television broadcast area is equipped with high-quality broadcast equipment including an HD camcorder, teleprompter, flat panel monitors, professional lighting, and a NewTek TriCaster switcher. Students produce weather podcasts on a regular basis and the area hosts the spring broadcast class.
Radio Broadcast Room The Texas A&M Broadcasting club is a way for students who have interest in broadcast meteorology to get involved with the department while gaining on air experience forecasting for the College Station area. Students who enjoy the broadcast aspect of meteorology volunteer their time once a week to learn more about this career option and utilize the equipment that the department has provided us to create weather hits, which go to the Texas A&M's Battalion website and 90.9 FM KAMU, a local radio station.
		Server Room
		Lab 1104 Eller O&M Dr. Schade and graduate student Lijun Zhou (bottom left) operate a GC-FID/MS system in the laboratory for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in air and semivolatile organics in diverse aerosols. Dr. Schade's graduate student Chang Hyoun Park (left) operates another, portable GC-dual-FID system for VOC concentration and flux measurements. Field Studies (http://atmo.tamu.edu/yellowcabtower/). Dr. Schade's EPA-funded field site in Houston consists of an instrumented tall tower from which the his group measures urban turbulence and energy exchange, and both anthropogenic and biogenic trace gas fluxes from the urban environment. These are used to study the urban heat island, effects of dispersion on air quality, or validate emission inventories."