Dr. Andrew Dessler
| Title | Professor |
| Research Interests | Climate change, climate feedbacks, atmospheric chemistry, remote sensing, climate change policy |
| Education | B.A., Rice, 1986 Ph.D., Harvard, 1994 |
| Office Location | Room 906A, O&M Bldg |
| Office Phone | 979-862-1427 |
| Fax | 979-862-4466 |
| adessler~at~tamu.edu | |
| Mailing Address |
Department of Atmospheric Sciences Texas A&M University 3150 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3150 |
Research Interests
Climate Change and Water Vapor
The thread that runs through all of my group's research is the water molecule. In its vapor form, water is our atmosphere's most important greenhouse gas. In the form of clouds, it represents another extremely powerful moderator of our climate. Few constituents are as important to the atmosphere, or as hard to understand, or as interesting. The complexity of water and its multiple interconnections with other parts of the atmospheric/oceanic system means that water cannot be studied by itself, but must be understood as part of a larger, more complex system. In all cases, the goal of our work is two-fold: to improve our understanding of the physics of the atmosphere, and to provide "yardsticks" with which to test of the validity and accuracy of global climate models.
Our research on these topics includes:
- Simple, low-dimensional models of water vapor and ozone in the troposphere and lower stratosphere
- Analysis of constituent abundance and cloud properties measured in situ (from high-flying aircraft) and remotely (from satellites)
- Analyzing output from three-dimensional models of the atmosphere
Climate Change Policy
I spent 2000 as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office
of Science and Technology Policy (photo). While there, I became aware of a
profound lack of understanding among policymakers and the general
public about how science works and how to interpret the conflicting
claims one often hears in policy debates. I have recently completed a
book that uses examples from the climate change arena to explain how
science is used and misused in the policy arena. The book
Atmospheric Chemistry
Long ago, I spent most of my time working on the chemistry of the atmosphere. I
even wrote a book
Selected Recent Publications
Complete list of publications and reprints
Dessler, A.E. T.F. Hanisco, S. Fueglistaler, Effects of convective ice lofting on H2O and HDO in the tropical tropopause layer, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D18309, DOI: 10.1029/2007JD008609, 2007.
Dessler, A.E., and K. Minschwaner, An analysis of the regulation of tropical tropospheric water vapor, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D10120, DOI: 10.1029/2006JD007683, 2007.
Wu, W., A.E. Dessler, and G.R. North, Analysis of the correlations between atmospheric boundary-layer and free-tropospheric temperatures in the Tropics, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L20707, DOI: 10.1029/2006GL026708, 2006.
Dessler, A.E., S.P. Palm, W.D. Hart, and J.D. Spinhirne, Tropopause-level thin cirrus coverage revealed by ICESat/GLAS, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D08203, DOI: 10.1029/2005JD006586, 2006.
Dessler, A.E., and S.C. Sherwood, The effect of convection on the summertime extratropical lower stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 109(D23), D23301, DOI: 10.1029/2004JD005209, 2004.
Minschwaner, K., and A.E. Dessler, Water vapor feedback in the tropical upper troposphere: Model results and observations, J. Climate, 17, 1272-1282, 2004.
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