How to Be a Climatologist

Climatology is often confused with meteorology, the difference being that the former studies short-term weather patterns and create forecasts based on those. Climatologists study long-term climate trends, trying to predict long-term changes and how those changes affect the world. This area of study has become more popular as increased awareness of the dangers of global warming spread.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Study hard in science and math while still in high school to become a climatologist. Take whatever areas of physical and biological sciences are available as well as advanced math classes. This provides a good basis for future studies in college.

2. Know that becoming a climatologist requires more than just meteorology and climatology classes. This profession studies not only long-term weather trends, but also looks at ocean temperatures and current changes, atmosphere and solar conditions and even uses information gathered from plant and animals to predict long-term changes.

3. Be prepared to study a variety of classes including physics, meteorology, biology, zoology, botany, paleontology, geology, entomology, microbiology, oceanography and astronomy. Clearly there is a need for knowledge in a vast array of areas to become a climatologist.

4. Add in math and computer science classes, as making long-term predictions will not only require the science backgrounds, but also uses advanced math skills to chart these predictions and computers to help generate them.

5. Decide where you feel the most comfortable. Some climatologists work in lab conditions analyzing data and charting detailed predictions, while others are out in the field traveling across the world to do research.