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Prof. Kristen Rasmussen teaches a class on mountain meteorology

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Department of Atmospheric Science graduate students Sean Freeman, Kristen Tucker, Jennie Bukowski, Rick Schulte, Faith Groff and Kyle Chudler represented CSU at Weather and Science Day at Coors Field.

News

April 14, 2025

Welcoming new surface-atmosphere interaction faculty member

eight people in front of satellite dishes

The newest member of CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science has visited 31 of the 63 national parks in the United States. On her road trip from California to start her new position here, Dien Wu checked several more parks off her list. Wu’s appreciation for nature fuels her research and teaching interests, especially with a rapidly changing climate. “As an atmospheric scientist, I have always been intrigued by complex land-atmosphere interactions,”…

April 10, 2025

With new database, researchers may be able to predict rare milky seas bioluminescent event

For generations, sailors around the globe have reported a mysterious phenomenon: Vast areas of the ocean glow steadily at night, sometimes for months on end. The light is bright enough to read by and is oddly similar to the green and white aura cast by glow-in-the dark stars that have decorated children’s rooms. Stretching over ocean space as broad as 40,000 square miles, the light can, at times, even be…

April 8, 2025

Researchers predicting above-average Atlantic hurricane season for 2025

Colorado State University hurricane researchers are predicting an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in their initial 2025 forecast. CSU’s Tropical Cyclones, Radar, Atmospheric Modeling, and Software (TC-RAMS) Team within the Department of Atmospheric Science cites above- average subtropical eastern Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea surface temperatures as a primary factor for their prediction of nine total hurricanes this year. When waters in the eastern subtropical Atlantic are much warmer than normal in the spring, it…

Under the Arctic ice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3DIKAOqlvc&t=1s When Colorado State University researcher Jessie Creamean first sent her GoPro down the five-foot hole through Arctic ice, she didn’t know if it would make it back up. At the beginning of the seven-week expedition, the water was blue and clear, and the GoPro returned intact from its trip . Creamean kept sending the GoPro down holes left from collecting ice cores throughout the expedition. At the end as…

March 11, 2025

Prof. Maria Rugenstein awarded AMS 2025 Outstanding Early Career Award

Professor Maria Rugenstein was awarded the 2025 Outstanding Early Career Award by the American Meteorological Society Committee on Climate Variability and Change. This is one of the prestigious Scientific and Technological Activities Commission awards granted by AMS. Maria was cited “for contributions to understanding of climate sensitivity and community leadership through LongRunMIP, Green’s Function MIP, and the U.S. CLIVAR Pattern Effect Workshop.” Congratulations Professor Rugenstein on this well-deserved honor!

March 6, 2025

Women shaping CSU history

For Women’s History Month, SOURCE has created a collection of stories and images to celebrate the array of research activity led by women across Colorado State University and highlighted two faculty from our community. Kristen Rasmussen has quickly become a leader in research and education at Colorado State University since joining the Department of Atmospheric Science in 2016. Rasmussen earned her M.S. (2011) and Ph.D. (2014) from the University of…

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