Research
At Texas Tech our research focus includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Thunderstorms (convective initiation, tornadogenesis, lightning)
- Hurricanes (wind flow characteristics and boundary layer structure)
(Click the image to the right to view the Hurricane Research Team web site) - Numerical Weather Prediction and Data Assimilation
- Boundary Layer Processes
- Wind Power Meteorology
- Observational Networks
- Dust Storms
- Doppler Radar
To enhance both research and teaching, faculty and students utilize several modern observational tools including
- The West Texas Mesonet consisting of nearly 60 instrumented sites across west Texas and eastern New Mexico
- Two high resolution Ka-band mobile Doppler radars , the first of its kind.
- A large array of portable, rapid-deployable observing platforms called Stick-Nets
- VorTECH - A 10 meter diameter chamber to simulate velocity and pressure profiles of tornado-like vortices.
- A 200 meter instrumented tower
- A fleet of five Mobile Mesonets
- A radiosonde platform
- A 900 MHz lower-troposphere wind profiler
In addition, students and faculty may access the Measurements and Analysis Laboratory and the High Performance Computing Center.
The Atmospheric Science Group maintains a close working relationship with the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center at Tech.
The local National Weather Service Forecast Office affords an opportunity for faculty and students to interact with operational forecasters.