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Overview
We engage in fundamental research in atmospheric science, both independently and in cooperation with federal and provincial laboratories and other research groups around the world. The emphasis of the research is on studies of processes and developing physical understanding of the atmosphere. The research commonly involves field or laboratory measurement and observation; data analysis and interpretation; and numerical model construction, modification and validation.
What makes the program unique?
Atmospheric scientists use principles of classical physics to study, explain, and predict atmospheric behavior on scales ranging from turbulent eddies through storm clouds to earth’s global circulation. We are motivated by weather-related big societal issues including climate change, air quality, and renewable energy. Important tools include big data (statistics, machine learning, scientific programming), geographic information systems and remote sensing. Our methods include lab experiments, field experiments, numerical weather prediction, and climate simulation. We support our grad students with government grants for pure research, with industry contracts for tailored meteorological applications, and with teaching assistantships. The UBC atmospheric science (ATSC) program is interdisciplinary, with professors in the departments of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science; Geography; Chemistry; Mathematics; Soil Science; and Mechanical Engineering. Internationally recognized textbooks written by ATSC professors over the past four decades’ span topics from the atmospheric boundary layer and urban climates to practical meteorology.
Quick Facts
Program Enquiries
Contact the program
Admission Information & Requirements
1) Check Eligibility
Minimum Academic Requirements
The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies establishes the minimum admission requirements common to all applicants, usually a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC). The graduate program that you are applying to may have additional requirements. Please review the specific requirements for applicants with credentials from institutions in:
Each program may set higher academic minimum requirements. Please review the program website carefully to understand the program requirements. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission as it is a competitive process.
English Language Test
Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application.
Minimum requirements for the two most common English language proficiency tests to apply to this program are listed below:
TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based
Overall score requirement: 100
Reading
22
Writing
22
Speaking
23
Listening
22
IELTS: International English Language Testing System
Overall score requirement: 7.0
Reading
6.5
Writing
6.5
Speaking
7.0
Listening
6.5
Other Test Scores
Some programs require additional test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Test (GMAT). The requirements for this program are:
The GRE is optional.
Prior degree, course and other requirements
Prior Degree Requirements
We encourage grad applicants from a wide variety of scientific, math, statistics, and engineering backgrounds. Applicants to not need a Bachelors degree in meteorology or atmospheric science. For example, current grad students have university degrees in physics, mathematics, physical geography, engineering, chemistry, computer science, and many other fields.
Course Requirements
Strong physics, math, and computational background is desired.
2) Meet Deadlines
September 2025 Intake
Application Open Date
01 October 2024Canadian Applicants
International Applicants
January 2026 Intake
Application Open Date
01 April 2025Canadian Applicants
International Applicants
September 2026 Intake
Application Open Date
01 October 2025Canadian Applicants
International Applicants
3) Prepare Application
Transcripts
All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study. Document submission requirements depend on whether your institution of study is within Canada or outside of Canada.
Letters of Reference
A minimum of three references are required for application to graduate programs at UBC. References should be requested from individuals who are prepared to provide a report on your academic ability and qualifications.
Statement of Interest
Many programs require a statement of interest, sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.
Supervision
Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.
Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for Master of Science in Atmospheric Science (MSc)
Applicants for the co-op Masters should first get a commitment of employment (including salary) from the relevant industry or agency for two or more work terms, and should also apply to the UBC Science Co-op office. Grad students hoping to work with one of the ATSC professors in an Engineering department should contact the UBC Engineering Co-op office. The Co-op office will work with the appropriate department to make recommendations for admission.
Citizenship Verification
Permanent Residents of Canada must provide a clear photocopy of both sides of the Permanent Resident card.
4) Apply Online
All applicants must complete an online application form and pay the application fee to be considered for admission to UBC.
Research Information
Research Focus
Research areas include weather-related natural disasters (forest fires and smoke, avalanches, floods), air pollution and atmospheric chemistry, micrometeorology (turbulent transport of heat, moisture, momentum and how they relate to forests and crops), cloud and aerosol physics, atmospheric radiation and remote sensing, fluid dynamics, climate dynamics and climate change, glaciology, atmosphere-ocean interactions, urban meteorology, transportation meteorology (roads, shipping, railroads), numerical weather prediction, artificial neural networks, big data, and much more.
Research Facilities
In 2012 a new Earth Sciences Building was completed. The $75 million facility was designed to inspire collaboration and creativity across disciplines. We have extensive lab facilities in the Chemistry, Soil Science, and Geography buildings, and have access to wind tunnels in Engineering. We deploy instruments for field work in forests, cropland, cities, glaciers, and oceans around the world. We have extensive cluster-computing facilities in our own departments, as well as high-performance computing facilities both at UBC and at large computing centers across Canada. We are increasingly using cloud computing for near-infinite processing power and data storage. In addition, software licenses paid by UBC covers powerful desktop data analysis, programming, and visualization apps.
Tuition & Financial Support
Tuition
| Fees | Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat | International |
|---|---|---|
| Application Fee | $116.25 | $168.25 |
| Tuition * | ||
| Installments per year | 3 | 3 |
| Tuition per installment | $1,875.34 | $3,294.66 |
| Tuition per year (plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%) | $5,626.02 | $9,883.98 |
| Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible) | $3,200.00 (-) | |
| Other Fees and Costs | ||
| Student Fees (yearly) | $1,116.60 (approx.) | |
| Costs of living | Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies. | |
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. Tuition fees are reviewed annually by the UBC Board of Governors. In recent years, tuition increases have been 2% for continuing domestic students and between 2% and 5% for continuing international students. New students may see higher increases in tuition. Admitted students who defer their admission are subject to the potentially higher tuition fees for incoming students effective at the later program start date. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.
Financial Support
Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.
Program Funding Packages
Masters students are guaranteed a minimum of salary of CAN$ $25,500 per year for the first two years, which can consist of research assistantships (RAs) to help professors with their grants and contracts, teaching assistantships (TAs) to help teach courses and labs and grade assignments, scholarships and prizes, and combinations of all the above. An exception is students in the ATSC co-op masters program, who earn a salary from an agency (industry, government, or academia) during their work terms, but not during their academic terms.
Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)
All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.
Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)
Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.
Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)
Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union.
Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)
Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.
Financial aid (need-based funding)
Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans.
All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.
Foreign government scholarships
Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.
Working while studying
The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.
International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week.
A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement.
Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals
Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.
Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.
Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.
Cost Estimator
Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.
Career Options
Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats
These statistics show data for the Master of Science in Atmospheric Science (MSc). Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile.
ENROLMENT DATA
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applications | 30 | 22 | 37 | 9 | 17 |
| Offers | 6 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| New Registrations | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Total Enrolment | 8 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
Completion Rates & Times
Disclaimer
Research Supervisors
Supervision
Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.
Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for Master of Science in Atmospheric Science (MSc)
Applicants for the co-op Masters should first get a commitment of employment (including salary) from the relevant industry or agency for two or more work terms, and should also apply to the UBC Science Co-op office. Grad students hoping to work with one of the ATSC professors in an Engineering department should contact the UBC Engineering Co-op office. The Co-op office will work with the appropriate department to make recommendations for admission.
Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a supervisor. They are not program specific.
This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.
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Allen, Susan (Atmospheric sciences; Oceanography; coastal oceanography; coupled bio-physics and chem-physics and all three models; forecast models; Oceans and Inland Waters; physical oceanography; Prediction and Climatic Modeling)
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Austin, Philip (global climate; climate change; greenhouse effect; global warming; clouds; lightning; storms, Cloud physics, radiative properties of layer clouds, status cirrus formation, global climate, cloug aerosol feedbacks and climate)
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Balmforth, Neil (Fluid mechanics, nonlinear dynamics and applied partial differential equations)
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Bertram, Allan (Atmospheric sciences; Chemical sciences; Atmosphere (Including Chemical Aspects); Physical and analytical chemistry of atmospheric aerosols)
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Black, Thomas Andrew (Biometeorology; Soil physics; Microclimate modification)
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Borduas-Dedekind, Nadine (Chemical sciences; atmospheric chemistry; chemical mechanisms; atmospheric ice nucleation; Biogeochemistry; mass spectrometry; Photochemistry; indoor chemistry; atmospheric aerosols; singlet oxygen)
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Donner, Simon (Atmospheric sciences; Oceanography; Other media and communication; Climate Science; climate change impacts; Climate policy; Coastal Ecosystems; Marine Environment; Climate modelling and prediction; Science communication; Net-zero emissions; Coral reefs)
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Giang, Amanda (Atmospheric sciences; Mechanical engineering; Natural environment sciences; Atmospheric Pollutants; Chemical Pollutants; Climate Changes and Impacts; Public Policies; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection)
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Orsi, Anais (Atmospheric measurement techniques; Physics of snow and ice; Cryosphere processes, n.e.c.; Isotope geochemistry; Geochronology; Environmental geochemistry; Quantitative methods for environmental sciences; Earth system sciences; Climate change impacts and adaptation; climate change; Polar climate; Data analysis, inverse modeling; Paleoclimate)
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Pawlowicz, Richard (Oceans and Inland Waters; ocean physics; properties of seawater; geophysical fluid dynamics; Nonlinear waves)
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Radic, Valentina (Atmospheric sciences; Geophysics; Climate Changes and Impacts; Climate Science; Glaciology; Meteorology)
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Stull, Roland (Meteorology and weather; weather; Meteorology; atmospheric science; numerical weather prediction; clean energy meteorology; storms; transportation weather; forest fire weather; weather disasters; atmospheric boundary layers; aviation meteorology)
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Waterman, Stephanie (Atmospheric sciences; Oceanography; Arctic oceanography; geophysical fluid dynamics; Jets, eddies & scale interactions; Ocean dynamics; Oceanic processes; Scale interactions; Southern ocean dynamics; Western boundary current jets)
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White, Rachel (Atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics; Climate modelling; Atmospheric dynamics; climate change; Extreme weather events; Climate impacts)
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Zimmerman, Naomi (development and application of real-world-based tools to quickly and quantitatively assess the impact of our policy and technology decisions on air pollution and climate outcomes, and to use the knowledge gained to support better environmental policy planning; air quality)
Sample Thesis Submissions
Further Information
Specialization
Atmospheric Science at UBC offers these areas of graduate research:
- boundary layers and micrometeorology, including turbulence, urban meteorology, and mountain meteorology
- numerical weather prediction for transportation, weather disasters, and clean energy (hydro, wind, solar)
- air pollution, pollutant transport and dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry
- climate, including climatology, climate variability and prediction, earth system modelling, climate change, glaciers
- satellite remote sensing, cloud microphysics, aerosols
- ocean-atmosphere interactions, ocean dynamics
- biometeorology, including agricultural and forest meteorology, trace gas exchange, carbon cycling, vegetation water use
- geophysical fluid dynamics
- machine-learning tools including artificial neural networks, gene-expression programming
Program Website
Faculty Overview
Academic Unit
Program Identifier
Classification
September 2025 Intake
January 2026 Intake
September 2026 Intake
Program Enquiries
Contact the program
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