Synoptic Lab
The Synoptic Laboratory is a central facility located on the 16th floor of the Green Building supporting teaching and research in Meteorology, Oceanography and Climate. It provides access to weather related data to faculty members and graduate/undergraduate students.
The lab comprises a cluster of interconnected workstations, mass-store devices and a large hyperwall used to analyze and display synoptic data. Real time meteorological observations, analyses and forecasts are received through the Internet within the IDD - the Internet Data Distribution system - managed by Unidata/UCAR. Advanced meteorological software packages, such as GEMPAK and IDV, are used to access and display the data. We are able to receive data and software from Unidata as part of our Membership to UCAR.
The laboratory is used extensively in undergraduate and graduate courses:
- DEAPS: Freshman Pre-Orientation Program in EAPS
- 12.003: Atmosphere, Ocean and climate Dynamics (Undergrad-Fall)
- 12.310: Introduction to Weather Forecasting (IAP)
- 12.307: Climate and Weather Laboratory - (Undergrad-Spring)
- 12.818: Intro to Atmospheric Data and Synoptic Meteorology (Grad-Fall)
- 12.843: Large-scale Dynamics Laboratory (Grad-Fall)
Access to Synoptic data can be found online here
The Synoptic Lab is also a hub for extra-curricula meteorology
activities, including:
The Weather and Climate Club. Read more here
The MIT's Weather Forecasting Club. Read more here
Contact Lodovica Illari for more information