Dr. Liz Ritchie is a professor of atmospheric sciences in the School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment and the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University. Prof. Ritchie’s broad research interests are tropical cyclones, tropical meteorology, extreme weather and climate impacts on societies.

Professional Engagement: Prof. Ritchie is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, an editor of Weather and Forecasting and former editor of the Monthly Weather Review. She is a member of the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Working Group on Tropical Cyclones and the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society's expert group on weather and weather prediction, has served on numerous NASA panels including Chair of the Senior Review, is a former Councillor of the American Meteorological Society, served on the U.S. Joint Hurricane Testbed Steering Committee, and has served in a number of leadership roles for the WMO International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones.

Publications: Prof. Ritchie has over 60 peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters, and 150+ conference papers.

Funding: Prof. Ritchie is currently funded by an ARC Discovery project grant.  She has successfully obtained significant external funding for her research that includes the US Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Basic Research: Physical understanding, estimation, and prediction of tropical cyclogenesis, tropical cyclone structure and intensity change, the extratropical transition of tropical cyclones and their downstream impacts, and tropical cyclone landfall impacts on natural environments and societies. Climate and environmental impacts on extreme weather behaviour. Weather Phenomena. Tropical cyclone storm surge and sedimentation from fresh-water inundation.

Applied Research Areas: Remote sensing detection, estimation, and prediction of tropical cyclones and other extreme weather. 

- tropical cyclone structure and intensity change

- tropical-extratropical interactions

- tropical cyclone atmosphere-ocean energy exchange

- remote-sensing of tropical cyclones, and other mesoscal phenomena (mesoscale convective systems, tropical cloud clusters, extratropical cyclones, east coast lows)

- physical impacts of tropical cyclones - rainfall, wind, and storm surge

- high-impact weather impacts on the built and natural environment

- changing environments and their effects on tropical cyclone behaviour