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Caltech
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences

Tapio Schneider

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Tapio Schneider

Theodore Y. Wu Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering
Vordipl., Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, 1993; Ph.D., Princeton University, 2001. Assistant Professor, Caltech, 2002-08; Associate Professor, 2008-09; Professor, 2009-10; Gilloon Professor, 2010-18; Wu Professor, 2018-; Director, Linde Center, 2011-12; Executive Officer, 2011-12; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist, 2016-24.
Research Summary
Climate dynamics of Earth and other planets; turbulence and turbulent transport in atmosphere and ocean; cloud dynamics; climate modeling.

Research Options

Environmental Science and Engineering; 

Profile

Our climate dynamics group studies atmospheric dynamics, both here on Earth and on other planets, on scales from clouds to the globe.

We aim to elucidate fundamental questions about climate such as, What controls the surface temperatures and winds? What shapes rainfall patterns? Where and when do clouds form in the atmosphere?

To answer such questions, we analyze observational data and perform systematic studies with numerical models, with which we simulate flows ranging from the meter-scale motions in clouds to global circulations. Thanks to the availability of unprecedented observations from space and ever increasing computational power, ours is the age in which the physical laws that govern climate as an aggregate system will likely be discovered. Our goal is to contribute to that discovery.

We strive to translate scientific discoveries into improved models for weather forecasting and climate prediction. The same observations and numerical tools that enable new scientific discoveries have the potential to transform modeling of the climate system. We are contributing to the development of next-generation models and model components that will allow us to predict the climate system more accurately.

Selected Awards

2019 Rosenstiel Award, University of Miami (in recognition of "outstanding contributions to atmospheric science and climate dynamics")
2012 World Economic Forum Young Scientist
2010 Houghton Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2008 Discover Magazine "20 Best Brains under 40"
2005-2010 David and Lucile Packard Fellow
2004-2006 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow
2004 James R. Holton Junior Scientist Award, American Geophysical Union

Publications

For a complete publications list, see feeds.library.caltech.edu
2025-26
ESE 101. Earth's Atmosphere. 9 units (3-0-6); first term, 2025-26. Introduction to the fundamental processes governing atmospheric circulations and climate. Starting from an overview of the observed state of the atmosphere and its variation over the past, the course discusses Earth's radiative energy balance including the greenhouse effect, Earth's orbit around the Sun and climatic effects of its variations, and the role of atmospheric circulations in maintaining the energy, angular momentum, and water balances, which determine the distributions of temperatures, winds, and precipitation. The focus throughout is on order-of-magnitude physics that is applicable to climates generally, including those of Earth's past and future and of other planets.
Instructor: Schneider
ESE 134. Cloud and Boundary Layer Dynamics. 9 units (3-0-6); third term, 2025-26. Prerequisites: ESE 101 or instructor's permission. Introduction to the dynamics controlling boundary layers and clouds and how they may change with climate, from a phenomenological overview of cloud and boundary layer morphologies to closure theories for turbulence and convection. Topics include similarity theories for boundary layers; mixed-layer models; moist thermodynamics and stability; stratocumulus and trade-cumulus boundary layers; shallow cumulus convection and deep convection.
Instructor: Schneider
2024-25
ESE 101. Earth's Atmosphere. 9 units (3-0-6); first term, 2024-25. Introduction to the fundamental processes governing atmospheric circulations and climate. Starting from an overview of the observed state of the atmosphere and its variation over the past, the course discusses Earth's radiative energy balance including the greenhouse effect, Earth's orbit around the Sun and climatic effects of its variations, and the role of atmospheric circulations in maintaining the energy, angular momentum, and water balances, which determine the distributions of temperatures, winds, and precipitation. The focus throughout is on order-of-magnitude physics that is applicable to climates generally, including those of Earth's past and future and of other planets.
Instructor: Schneider
ESE 134. Cloud and Boundary Layer Dynamics. 9 units (3-0-6); third term, 2024-25. Prerequisites: ESE 101 or instructor's permission. Introduction to the dynamics controlling boundary layers and clouds and how they may change with climate, from a phenomenological overview of cloud and boundary layer morphologies to closure theories for turbulence and convection. Topics include similarity theories for boundary layers; mixed-layer models; moist thermodynamics and stability; stratocumulus and trade-cumulus boundary layers; shallow cumulus convection and deep convection.
Instructor: Schneider
2021-22
ESE 101. Earth's Atmosphere. 9 units (3-0-6); first term, 2021-22. Introduction to the fundamental processes governing atmospheric circulations and climate. Starting from an overview of the observed state of the atmosphere and its variation over the past, the course discusses Earth's radiative energy balance including the greenhouse effect, Earth's orbit around the Sun and climatic effects of its variations, and the role of atmospheric circulations in maintaining the energy, angular momentum, and water balances, which determine the distributions of temperatures, winds, and precipitation. The focus throughout is on order-of-magnitude physics that is applicable to climates generally, including those of Earth's past and future and of other planets.
Instructor: Schneider
ESE 132. Tropical Atmosphere Dynamics. 9 units (3-0-6); third term, 2021-22. Prerequisites: ESE 101 and ESE 130, or instructor's permission. Phenomenological description of tropical atmospheric circulations at different scales, and theories or models that capture the underlying fundamental dynamics, starting from the large-scale energy balance and moving down to cumulus convection and hurricanes. Topics to be addressed include: large-scale circulations such as the Hadley, Walker, and monsoonal circulations, the intertropical convergence zone, equatorial waves, convectively coupled waves, and hurricanes. Given in alternate years; not offered 2021-2022.
Instructor: Schneider
ESE 134. Cloud and Boundary Layer Dynamics. 9 units (3-0-6); third term, 2021-22. Prerequisites: ESE 101 or instructor's permission. Introduction to the dynamics controlling boundary layers and clouds and how they may change with climate, from a phenomenological overview of cloud and boundary layer morphologies to closure theories for turbulence and convection. Topics include similarity theories for boundary layers; mixed-layer models; moist thermodynamics and stability; stratocumulus and trade-cumulus boundary layers; shallow cumulus convection and deep convection.
Instructor: Schneider