Department of Atmospheric Science | Colorado State University
CSU President William Morgan visited Herbert Riehl at the University of Chicago to discuss the idea of developing a sub-program in atmospheric science within the Civil Engineering Department
Herbert Riehl
Herbert Riehl arrives in Fort Collins to start program in atmospheric science
For more information on Dr. Herber Riehl's contributions to the field of atmospheric science click here to read a BAMS paper titled:
Herber Riehl: Intrepid and Enigmatic Scholar by Lew et al (2012)
Initial faculty recruited: (including Herbert Riehl) Elmar Reiter, Ferdinand Baer, William Marlatt, Lewis Grant, Bill Gray
The department's first graduate student, James. L Rasmussen, talks with US Senator Peter Dominick on the occasion of the dedication of the Foothills Campus Building.
Department formally established
Ph.D. program started
outside the CE Hydraulics Lab on the Foothills campus. In the foreground is Jerry Price, one of Lew's co-workers, who is holding a syringe from the CSU Vet School. The syringe captured AgI particle generated by the Naval Ordnance Test Station (China Lake, CA) pyrotechnic just lit by Jack Donnon of the NOTS. The particles ice-crystal-nucleating abilities were tested in a deep-freezer made cloud chamber inside the Lab (pre-Simulation Lab). The pyrotechnic was invented by Dr. Bill Finnegan of the NOTS who joined Prof. Grant's group in the 1980's after retiring from the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake (post-NOTS).
The Grant family: Lewis, Patty, Andy, Laura, Brenda.
In 1966 CSU officially asked the Department to manage and develop the research facilities at Christman Field, just north across Laporte Avenue from the Department. (The field was Fort Collins first airport and a small exhibit with historical details is in the Fort Collins Museum). CSU had been given the field and its older hanger buildings years earlier and the Department needed facilities for instrument research in several areas as well as a place to host airborne research planes. At the time the airport also was used by an active CSU Ram Flying Club. A relatively newer facility on the site was the Department�s Atmospheric Simulation Lab being used for nucleation, dispersion and cloud chamber research. Professors Steve Cox, Tom Vonder Haar Peter Sinclair and colleagues remodeled one of the old hangers as an instrument machine shop supervised by Mr. Charles Wilkins, Senior Instrument Fabricator. Cox lead a team of scientists and engineers involved with surface, balloon-borne and aircraft measurements of solar and infrared radiation. From their base at Christman Field they participated and were co-leaders in numerous national and international field programs. Sinclair and colleagues were involved in numerous airborne research projects on severe storms and turbulence. From Christman Field, Sinclair�s Cessna 207 carried a package of instruments for airborne research, including studies of thunderstorm �outflow boundaries� by Dr. Jim Purdom (CSU, 1986) and Sinclair. Professor Vonder Haar, Cotton and others were active with the Flying Club. Many students departed Christman with Vonder Haar in his Cessna 201 Turbo for trips to research field sites (White Sands, NM; Miles City, MT; etc.) and to science meetings in Omaha, Salt Lake City, etc. A large number of students worked with instrumentation at Christman and it was used for class launches of rawinsondes and other �hands on� instrument learning.
New Atmospheric Science Building established at Foothills Campus on top of the hill
Establishment of the Colorado Climate Center with Tom McKee as the first Colorado State Climatologist
Around 1974, Colorado State University operated an F-101B aircraft as shown in this image. During its time under CSU control, the aircraft carried the civilian serial number N8234 and the nickname, �the Gray Ghost�. This aircraft was used to study severe storms under the direction of Professor Peter Sinclair of the Department of Atmospheric Science. During the program, it was based at the Buckley Air National Guard Base in Denver.
CSU contracted with Flight Test Research, Inc., of California who provided an experienced test pilot named Jim Lucy. Dr. Sinclair rode in the back seat running the instrumentation after selecting the storm to be penetrated. Most flights were made over northern Colorado and western Nebraska in thunderheads of 35,000 to 45,000 feet where the plane encountered high turbulence, lightning, and hail.
The plane was nicknamed "The Gray Ghost"; which became its call sign. The CSU F-101 was returned to the Air Force and is now located at the Air Museum in Topeka, Kansas.
Establishment of the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
In 1982, on the occasion of the Department�s 20th Anniversary celebration, a number of leaders in Atmospheric Science in the US provided unsolicited statements and remarks congratulating the Department of Atmospheric Science for ranking among the top three in the US. They were Dr. Earl Droessler, Chief Scientist of NOAA; Dr. Eugene Bierly, Director of the NSF Atmospheric Science Division; Professor Verner Suomi from Wisconsin (an AMS Rossby Award winner); Dr. Richard Hallgren, Director of NOAA�s National Weather Service; and others. (Droessler, Bierly and Suomi all served as Presidents of the AMS and Hallgren later became its Executive Secretary. Dr. Droessler had earlier been one of the NOAA co-founders of CIRA with Professor Vonder Haar and the faculty of 1979-80). In addition, at the 20th Anniversary Dinner, Professor Peter Hobbs of the University of Washington presented Vonder Haar and the faculty with a surprise gift. It was a red and white t-shirt styled after a popular AVIS rental car commercial of the time. It was labeled in bold letters �Number 2�. This ascribed 2nd position to our Department, following, of course, the No. 1 ranked Atmospheric Science Department at Washington, widely recognized as one of the most outstanding in our field.
The Departmnet of Atmospheric Science 20th Anniversary.
Read the 20-year Perspective [here]
On October 4, 1984, the Space Shuttle Challenger was launched at dawn from Cape Kennedy carrying the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS). The ERBS principal instrument (ERBI) and 2 identical ones launched later on the NOAA-9 and NOAA-10 satellites were developed over an 8-year period by a national team of CSU/NASA/NOAA/Ball Aerospace/TRW scientists and engineers. Professor Tom Vonder Haar of the Department was the Lead Scientist along with Dr. Robert Curran and Mr. Ed Harrison of NASA, Dr. Herb Jacobowitz of NOAA and Dr. Ed Vande Noord of Ball. Ball Aerospace of Colorado built the satellite and it was launched from the Shuttle by Ms. Sally Ride, Mission Specialist, using the robotic arm. The entire Earth Radiation Budge Experiment (ERBE) was very successful with data used for climate research by thousands of scientist around the world. Instruments on ERBS collected data for more than 20 years.
Development of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS)
CHILL NSF National Radar Facility moved to CSU (Greeley)
Expansion of Atmospheric Chemistry program with arrival of Sonia Kreidenweis and Jeff Collett
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Professor Tom Vonder Haar elected to CSU�s University Distinguished Professor group. |
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Professor Tom Vonder Haar elected to the National Academy of Engineering. |
Atmospheric Science-CIRA Research Center (ACRC) Building dedicated
CIRA personnel visited Ball Aerospace to see the progress in the construction of CloudSat.
Atmospheric Chemistry Building dedicated
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Professor Graeme Stephens elected to CSU�s University Distinguished Professor group. |
Center for Multi-scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) founded
CloudSat launched (Graeme Stephens, Director)
ATS-West dedicated
After 15 years of effort, the National Research Council has came out with rankings of Atmospheric Science, Meteorology, and Oceanography departments. There are many categories in the NRC data, but CSU's Department of Atmospheric Science came out number one in a number of categories. This ranked CSU as one of the top two colleges in the country.
The Department of Atmospheric Science celebrated its 50th anniversary. Read up and watch all the speakers here.
Lewis Grant was a member of our faculty from 1959 to 1993 when he retired to Emeritus status
Herbert Riehl was a member of our faculty from 1960 to 1972 when he retired
Ferdinand Baer was a member of our faculty from 1961 to 1972
Bill Gray was a member of our faculty from 1961 to 2004 when and retired to Emeritus status
Elmar Reiter was a member of our faculty from 1961 to 1988 when he retired to Emeritus status
Bill Marlatt was a member of our faculty from 1962 to 1970
Peter Sinclair was a member of our faculty from 1965 to 1992 when he retired to Emeritus status
D.B. Rao was a member of our faculty from 1966 to 1974 when he retired
Myron Corrin was a member of our faculty from 1967 to 1978 when he retired to Emeritus status
Bernhard Haurwitz was a member of our faculty from 1968 to 1978 when he retired to Emeritus status
Jim Rasmussen was a member of our faculty from 1968 to 1972
Steve Cox was a member of our faculty from 1969 to 2002 when he retired to Emeritus status
Alan Betts was a member of our faculty from 1970 to 1979
Tom Vonder Haar joined our faculty in 1970
Helen Poland was a member of our faculty from 1972 to 1976
Wayne Schubert joined our faculty in 1973
Bill Cotton was a member of our faculty from 1974 to 2011 when he retired to Emeritus status
Tom McKee was a member of our faculty from 1974 to 2000 when he retired to Emeritus status
Duane Stevens was a member of our faculty from 1978 to 1991 when he retired
Dick Johnson joined our faculty 1979
Dick Pearson Jr. was a member of our faculty from 1981 to 1988
Roger Pielke was a member of our faculty from 1981 to 2006 when he retired to Emeritus status
Graeme Stephens was a member of our faculty from 1984 to 2010 when he retired to Emeritus status
Dave Randall joined our faculty in 1988
Steve Rutledge joined our faculty in 1988
Sonia Kreidenweis joined our faculty in 1991
Mike Montgomery was a member of our faculty from 1992 to 2006
Jeff Collett joined our faculty in 1994 and is part of our current faculty
Scott Denning joined our faculty in 1998
Chris Kummerow joined our faculty in 2000
Dave Thompson joined our faculty in 2001
Hendrik Dijkstra was a member of our faculty from 2003 to 2005
Taka Ito was a member of our faculty from 2007 to 2011
Colette Heald was a member of our faculty from 2008 to 2011
Eric Maloney joined our faculty in 2008
Thomas Birner joined our faculty in 2009
Sue van den Heever joined our faculty in 2009
Russ Schumacher joined our faculty in August 2011
Chris O'Dell joined our faculty in August 2012
Elizabeth Barnes joined our faculty in August 2013
Emily Fischer joined our faculty in January 2013
Jeffery Pierce joined our faculty in January 2013
