Meteorologist

Job overview
Meteorologists and atmospheric scientists work at institutions dealing with weather and climate, which play a fundamental role in the lives of people whose daily activities, ranging from agriculture, travel, sport etc., depend on the weather.

What do people do in this occupation?
Meteorologists may become weather forecasters, researchers, climatologists or consultants.

Forecaster?
The Central Forecasting Office receives weather data from around the globe.

It is the duty of the forecaster to analyse this data. ?To predict the weather the meteorologist uses models running on powerful computers.

Researcher?
In order to maintain effective and improved services meteorologists need to research all aspects of the weather and climate.

Climatologist?
The large volume of data gathered by the Weather Bureau and others must be saved in a databank managed by the climatologist. ?Research to predict climate change on the seasonal scale has become increasingly important. ?This service is provided by the Weather Bureau, universities and research organisations.

Consultants
A few meteorologists operate as consultants in the private sector, as well as via the universities. ?They usually provide specialised research services.

What kinds of people are suitable for this career?
Candidates should have a powerful compulsion to understand how the physical world and especially the atmosphere and oceans work.

What qualifications are needed?
A BSc degree with major in physics as a basis, plus postgraduate studies in meteorology.