Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Earth and Planetary Sciences

Atmospheric Science research

Atmospheric Science is a subfield of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Science Explorer counts 635k research works in it since 1950. 21.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: umbrella term for the study of the atmosphere.

Research works
635k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
134k
per year above
Top-10% rate
21.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
13
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+13%
the tick is no change

What is Atmospheric Science research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Climate Change, Remote Sensing, Paleoclimatology, Hydrology, Sea Level Rise, Glacial Cycles. Gaining share since 2009–13: Decline, Sea Ice, Arctic, Carbon Feedback, Permafrost. Losing share: Geohazards, Hyperspectral Imaging, Remote Sensing, Ice Nucleation.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 33 words, with their numbers
  1. Climate Change64k▲ 1.24×7 topics
  2. Remote Sensing29k▼ 0.72×3 topics
  3. Paleoclimatology25k◆ 1.02×2 topics
  4. Hydrology22k▲ 1.51×2 topics
  5. Sea Level Rise21k▲ 1.39×2 topics
  6. Glacial Cycles21k◆ 0.98×1 topic
  7. Holocene21k◆ 0.98×1 topic
  8. Arctic17k▲ 1.55×2 topics
  9. Atmospheric Aerosols16k▲ 1.25×1 topic
  10. Black Carbon16k▲ 1.25×1 topic
  11. Data Assimilation15k▲ 1.25×1 topic
  12. Ensemble Kalman Filter15k▲ 1.25×1 topic
  13. Global Warming14k▲ 1.26×3 topics
  14. Glacier13k▲ 1.48×1 topic
  15. Water Availability13k▲ 1.48×1 topic
  16. Ozone Depletion9,572◆ 0.93×1 topic
  17. Stratospheric Water Vapor9,572◆ 0.93×1 topic
  18. Carbon Feedback9,123▲ 1.55×1 topic
  19. Permafrost9,123▲ 1.55×1 topic
  20. Hurricanes8,753▲ 1.27×1 topic
  21. Tropical Cyclones8,753▲ 1.27×1 topic
  22. Geohazards8,614▼ 0.32×1 topic
  23. Hyperspectral Imaging8,614▼ 0.32×1 topic
  24. Decline7,491▲ 1.56×1 topic
  25. Sea Ice7,491▲ 1.56×1 topic
  26. Precipitation5,161▲ 1.54×1 topic
  27. Satellite5,161▲ 1.54×1 topic
  28. Ice Nucleation4,459▼ 0.72×1 topic
  29. Melting4,459▼ 0.72×1 topic
  30. Temperature Variability4,289▲ 1.31×1 topic
  31. Tree Rings4,289▲ 1.31×1 topic
  32. Earth Systems Science1,184◆ 1.04×1 topic
  33. Gaia Hypothesis1,184◆ 1.04×1 topic

Which countries lead Atmospheric Science research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Atmospheric Science. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (30k and 16k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 22.7% top 10% · 30k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 20.7% top 10% · 16k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #3 all time 24.7% top 10% · 3.5k works
  4. 4 Germany · #4 all time 24.1% top 10% · 3.6k works
  5. 5 France · #5 all time 21.5% top 10% · 3.6k works
  6. 6 India · #15 all time 16.0% top 10% · 4.8k works
  7. 7 Australia · #9 all time 25.5% top 10% · 1.4k works
  8. 8 Italy · #7 all time 24.4% top 10% · 2.1k works
  9. 9 Canada · #6 all time 19.0% top 10% · 2.5k works
  10. 10 Switzerland · #8 all time 30.6% top 10% · 1.1k works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 50 countries ranked in Atmospheric Science. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Atmospheric Science

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 30k works
  2. 2 United States 16k works
  3. 3 India 4.8k works
  4. 4 Russia 4.2k works
  5. 5 France 3.6k works
  6. 6 Germany 3.6k works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 3.5k works
  8. 8 Canada 2.5k works
  9. 9 Japan 2.5k works
  10. 10 Italy 2.1k works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 41.2%United States: 21.7%India: 6.7%Russia: 5.8%6 others listed: 24.5%41%largest
China30k · 41.2%United States16k · 21.7%India4,844 · 6.7%Russia4,233 · 5.8%6 others listed18k · 24.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Atmospheric Science research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Atmospheric Science on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #3 all time 26.9% top 10% · 1.7k works
  2. 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #44 all time 28.5% top 10% · 821 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #4 all time 25.1% top 10% · 528 works
  4. 4 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology China · Nanjing · #73 all time 18.4% top 10% · 896 works
  5. 5 Wuhan University China · Wuhan · #58 all time 30.2% top 10% · 326 works
  6. 6 China University of Geosciences China · Wuhan · #98 all time 31.5% top 10% · 309 works
  7. 7 Peking University China · Beijing · #64 all time 29.4% top 10% · 329 works
  8. 8 China Meteorological Administration China · Beijing · #89 all time 16.0% top 10% · 761 works
  9. 9 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #56 all time 31.1% top 10% · 274 works
  10. 10 Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources China · Lanzhou 29.3% top 10% · 360 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 301 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Atmospheric Science.

Top 100 Atmospheric Science institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 1.7k works
  2. 2 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology China 896 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 821 works
  4. 4 China Meteorological Administration China 761 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France 528 works
  6. 6 Lanzhou University China 415 works
  7. 7 Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources China 360 works
  8. 8 Beijing Normal University China 358 works
  9. 9 Nanjing University China 356 works
  10. 10 Institute of Atmospheric Physics China 350 works

Who are the leading researchers in Atmospheric Science?

Among the most productive authors in Atmospheric Science, Lídia Morawska, Susan Solomon and Yang Liu rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Lídia Morawska Australia · #114 worldwide 6.4k citations · 210 works
  2. 2 Susan Solomon United States · #561 worldwide 4.5k citations · 103 works
  3. 3 Yang Liu United States · #805 worldwide 3.2k citations · 110 works
  4. 4 Eugenia Kalnay United States · #936 worldwide 5k citations · 95 works
  5. 5 Paul J. Crutzen Germany · #943 worldwide 2.7k citations · 120 works
  6. 6 Adrian E. Raftery United States · #976 worldwide 5k citations · 92 works
  7. 7 Jean‐François Lamarque United States · #1,188 worldwide 2.6k citations · 134 works
  8. 8 William D. Collins United States · #1,270 worldwide 4.7k citations · 86 works
  9. 9 J. van der Plicht Netherlands · #1,632 worldwide 1.8k citations · 110 works
  10. 10 Shilong Piao China · #1,710 worldwide 2.6k citations · 94 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,889 highest-output authors in Atmospheric Science. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Atmospheric Science researchers

Where is Atmospheric Science research done?

The largest centres of Atmospheric Science research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Moscow (Russia) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pākāla, Seogwipo and Tsukuba.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 9.2k works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 2.4k works
  3. 3 Moscow Russia 1.7k works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 1.4k works
  5. 5 Guangzhou China 1.2k works
  6. 6 Wuhan China 1.2k works
  7. 7 Paris France 1.2k works
  8. 8 Lanzhou China 1.1k works
  9. 9 Xi'an China 1k works
  10. 10 Boulder United States 960 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PākālaIN · 37.0 works73×
  2. SeogwipoKR · 30.1 works71×
  3. Tsukuba59.1 works58×
  4. HepingCN · 26.4 works53×
  5. LanhamUS · 52.1 works52×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Atmospheric Science than the world average.

See Atmospheric Science on the map

Atmospheric Science research by country

The best places for Atmospheric Science research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Atmospheric Science?

Among universities, judged by research, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Aerospace Information Research Institute and China University of Geosciences score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 25.01%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology: 896, 18.4%Aerospace Information Research Institute: 183, 26.8%China University of Geosciences: 309, 31.5%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 821, 28.5%University of Alaska Fairbanks: 156, 22.8%University of Colorado Boulder: 272, 25.2%Lanzhou University: 415, 24.3%ETH Zurich: 251, 32.0%University of Reading: 139, 23.7%Colorado State University: 257, 16.9%China University of …University of Chines…Aerospace Informatio…Nanjing University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology China 62.118.4%24.2×896 +66.8%
2Aerospace Information Research Institute China 57.126.8%17.1×183 —
3China University of Geosciences China 53.131.5%7.4×309 -21.6%
4University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 52.528.5%5.5×821 +3.2%
5University of Alaska Fairbanks United States 51.922.8%31.4×156 -7.6%
6University of Colorado Boulder United States 51.325.2%7.8×272 +15.8%
7Lanzhou University China 49.924.3%7.9×415 -25.3%
8ETH Zurich Switzerland 47.932.0%4.1×251 +2.2%
9University of Reading United Kingdom 47.223.7%7.9×139 -7.8%
10Colorado State University United States 46.616.9%8.0×257 +36.2%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Atmospheric Science research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 13% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Climate change and permafrost, Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics and Cryospheric studies and observations.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

  1. Climate change and permafrost+115%
  2. Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics+108%
  3. Cryospheric studies and observations+107%
  4. Precipitation Measurement and Analysis+86%
  5. Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research+78%
  6. Tree-ring climate responses+75%
  7. nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions-5%
  8. Remote Sensing and Land Use-50%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Atmospheric Science include?

Geology and Paleoclimatology Research: 121k fractional worksAtmospheric chemistry and aerosols: 76k fractional worksMeteorological Phenomena…68kMeteorological Phenomena and Simulations: 68k fractional worksRemote Sensing and Land …65kRemote Sensing and Land Use: 65k fractional worksAtmospheric Ozone and Climate: 64k fractional worksCryospheric studies and observations: 50k fractional worksnanoparticles nucleation…43knanoparticles nucleation surface interactions: 43k fractional worksTropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research: 37k fractional worksClimate change and permafrost: 35k fractional worksArctic and Antarctic ice dynamics: 30k fractional worksPrecipitation Measurement and Analysis: 21k fractional worksTree-ring climate responses: 19k fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.