大气物理学研究大气现象的物理学分支，同气象学密切相关。

大气物理学的主要任务之一是为地球或其他行星的大气运动创建数学模型。为达到这一目的，需要使用流体力学方程，辐射平衡理论等物理理论。为天气现象创建模型也是大气物理学的重要任务。为此，需要用到散射理论，统计力学，非线性动力学等。

Atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, chemical models, radiation budget, and energy transfer processes in the atmosphere (as well as how these tie into other systems such as the oceans). In order to model weather systems, atmospheric physicists employ elements of scattering theory, wave propagation models, cloud physics, statistical mechanics and spatial statistics which are highly mathematical and related to physics. It has close links to meteorology and climatology and also covers the design and construction of instruments for studying the atmosphere and the interpretation of the data they provide, including remote sensing instruments. At the dawn of the space age and the introduction of sounding rockets, aeronomy became a subdiscipline concerning the upper layers of the atmosphere, where dissociation and ionization are important.