William R. Cotton

Infobox Scientist


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name = William R. Cotton
birth_date =
birth_place = flagicon|USA United States
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residence = flagicon|USA United States
citizenship = flagicon|USA American
nationality = flagicon|USA American
field = Meteorology, Climatology
work_institution = Colorado State University
alma_mater = University at Albany, The State University of New York (B.A., 1964; M.S., 1966), Pennsylvania State University (Ph.D., 1970)
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known_for = Cloud physics, Storm and cloud dynamics, Regional Atmospheric Modeling Systems (RAMS), Human impact on weather and climate
prizes = Engineering Dean's Council Award for Excellent in Atmospheric Research (1986), College of Engineering Abell Faculty Research and Graduate Program Award (1991), Pennsylvania State University College of Mineral Sciences Charles L. Hosler Alumni Scholar Medal (1999), [http://www.ametsoc.org/memdir/fellowslist/get_listoffellows.cfm Fellow, American Meteorological Society]
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William R. Cotton is a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at the Colorado State University. His interests include cloud physics and mesoscale meteorology. Along with Roger A. Pielke et al., Cotton developed the [http://rams.atmos.colostate.edu/ Regional Atmospheric Modeling System] (RAMS), which has been used as a basis for many other climate models [ [http://www.springerlink.com/content/h0mk3154hp513482/ Original RAMS paper] ] [ [http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&cites=13921324745783044190 Google Scholar] Over 650 papers have referenced the original RAMS paper] . He has indicated skepticism of anthropogenic global warming, stating that "it is an open question if human produced changes in climate are large enough to be detected from the noise of the natural variability of the climate system." [ [http://climatesci.colorado.edu/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/cotton-climate.pdf Presentation on climate change] ]

Background

Cotton earned a B.A. in mathematics at University at Albany, The State University of New York (SUNY) in 1964, a M.S. in meteorology at Suny in 1966, and a Ph.D. in meteorology at Pennsylvania State University in 1970. He was appointed to the academic faculty at Colorado State University, Department of Atmospheric Science in 1974. He assumed the position of an Assistant Professor in the Department where he is now a tenured full Professor. He has been actively involved in observation and computer simulation of cumulus clouds and thunderstorms as well as other intermediate-scale cloud systems. His current interests are largely in the area of observation and modeling of larger clusters of thunderstorms that occur preferentially at night over the central United States, the simulation of severe thunderstorms including tornadoes and the application of the RAMS cloud model to forecasting agriculture and aviation impact variables. He has held positions at the Experimental Meteorological Laboratory, ERL, NOAA, and the United States Department of Commerce, and served as the head of the Numerical Simulation Group from 1970 to 1974.

Publications

Professor Cotton is a [http://portal.isiknowledge.com/portal.cgi?DestApp=HCR&Func=Frame highly cited author] . He has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals, seven chapters in books, co-authored three books, and authored one book. Well known are:

* Cotton, W.R. and R.A. Anthes, 1992: Storm and Cloud Dynamics (International Geophysics Series), Academic Press, San Diego, New York
* Cotton, W.R. and R.A. Pielke, 1995: Human impacts on weather and climate, Cambridge University Press, New York (2nd Edition, 2007)

References