Climatology is the study of climate, defined as weather conditions averaged over a long period of time (traditionally interpret as the 30-year average). Climatology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences and a subfield ofphysical geography concerned with both the description of the climate and the analysis of the causes of climatic differences and changes and their practical consequences. Climatology now includes aspects of oceanography and biogeochemistry. Climatology treats the same atmospheric processes as meteorology, but it seeks as well to identify the slower-acting influences and longer-term changes of import, including the circulation of the oceans and the small yet measurable variations in the intensity of solar radiation. Basic knowledge of climate can be used within shorter term weather forecasting using analog techniques such as the El Nino - Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the Arctic oscillation (AO), the Northern Pacific (NP) Index and others. Climate models are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the weather and climate system to projections of future climate. The study of climatology is done primarily with the numerical simulation of climate and climatic change, employing models of atmospheric processes based on fundamental physical equations. In our lab we use the NASA GISS ModelE2 global climate model for climatological studies.

Meteorology is the study of the physics, chemistry, and dynamics of the earth's atmosphere, including the related effects at the air-earth boundary over both land and the oceans. Fundamental topics include the composition, structure, and motion of the atmosphere. The goals ascribed to meteorology are the complete understanding and accurate prediction of atmospheric phenomena. In our lab we use the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model for weather predictions. WRF is a next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system designed to serve both atmospheric research and operational forecasting needs. It features two dynamical cores, a data assimilation system, and a software architecture allowing for parallel computation and system extensibility. The model serves a wide range of meteorological applications across scales ranging from meters to thousands of kilometers.