The Program is designed to produce Ph.D. graduates who will take leading roles in atmospheric and oceanic research. Entering students typically have undergraduate degrees in physics, chemistry, mathematics or engineering.

     The Program is affiliated with the Department of Geosciences, and with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), a research laboratory of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), the federal agency responsible for daily weather forecasts, and for keeping the nation informed about longer-term climate fluctuations and climate changes. The scientists at GFDL have powerful facilities (including a super-computer) for comprehensive modeling of the atmosphere and oceans. The combination of university resources with a major national laboratory allows the Program to offer a unique environment for graduate students. The student/faculty ratio is usually close to one. Program students begin research soon after enrollment and typically are treated as equal colleagues by the faculty at an early stage of their studies. Originally the focus of the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences was mainly on the motion of the Earth's two fluid envelopes, the atmosphere and ocean. Over the past decade the Program has become much more inter-disciplinary to accommodate research on problems related to the Earth's carbon cycle, the ozone layer of the atmosphere, and bio-geochemical cycles. As a result some recent students have had co-advisors, in the Program and in the Department of Geosciences or another university department.

     A student usually takes seven to ten courses during his/her first two years to prepare for the General Examination. The General Examination is normally administered in the spring of the second year. This exam consists of two parts. Students take a written examination covering the basics of meteorology, oceanography, and geophysical fluid dynamics. Each student is also asked to give an hour-long seminar in which he/she presents and defends his/her work on an original research problem.

     If the student passes the General Examination, he/she pursues research for the Ph.D. thesis. This may or may not be a continuation of the research that was used as a basis for his/her General Examination seminar. Normally the thesis is finished at the end of the student’s fifth year in the Program. Each thesis must be approved by the student’s faculty advisor and two other faculty members who act as readers. Finally the student defends his/her thesis at the Final Public Oral Examination.