Department of Atmospheric Physics came into being in 2002 after a fusion of the Department of the Radiation and Climate with the Department of Physics of the Boundary Layer of the Atmosphere of the former Geophysical Institute of SAS. Consequently, the newly-formed Department of the Atmospheric Physics took over most of research activities within the framework of the physics of the atmosphere which were previously carried out  in the former Division of the  Physics of the Atmosphere.

At present, the staff of the Department of Atmospheric Physics is created by 2 researchers and 5 members of the technical staff and their main task is the experimental and theoretical research on the physics of the boundary layer of the atmosphere, especially as to the processes taking place at the interface between the earth's surface and the atmosphere.