Dr. Andrew Dessler

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. Based on that experience, I wrote a book that uses examples from the climate change arena to explain how science is used and misused in the policy arena.  A second edition of the book should be out in early to mid 2010.

Atmospheric Chemistry

Long ago, I spent most of my time working on the chemistry of the atmosphere. I even wrote a book about stratospheric photochemistry.  I haven't worked on this subject for about 10 years, and I realized the other day that I've forgotten just about everything I ever knew about it.  That was a sad realization.

Selected Recent Publications

• Dessler, A.E., and S. Wong, Estimates of the water vapor feedback during the El Nino Southern Oscillation, J. Climate, in press, 2009.
• Dessler, A.E., and Sherwood, S.C.  A matter of humidity, Science, 323, 1020-1021, DOI: 10.1126/science.1171264, 2009.
• Fueglistaler, S., Dessler, A.E., Dunkerton, T.J., Folkins, I., Fu, Q. and Mote, P.W. The tropical tropopause layer, Rev. Geophys., 47, RG1004, DOI: 10.1029/2008RG000267, 2009.
• Dessler, A.E., Zhang, Z, and Yang, P. The water-vapor climate feedback inferred from climate fluctuations, 2003-2008, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L20704, DOI: 10.1029/2008GL035333, 2008.
• Dessler, A.E., Hanisco, T.F. and Fueglistaler, S. 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., Palm, S.P., Hart, W.D. and Spinhirne, J.D. Tropopause-level thin cirrus coverage revealed by ICESat/GLAS. J. Geophys. Res. 111, D08203, DOI: 10.1029/2005JD006586, 2006.
• Dessler, A.E. and Sherwood, S.C. The effect of convection on the summertime extratropical lower stratosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 109(D23), D23301, DOI: 10.1029/2004JD005209, 2004.
• Minschwaner, K., and Dessler, A.E. Water vapor feedback in the tropical upper troposphere: Model results and observations. J. Climate 17, 1272-1282, 2004.
• Complete list of publications and reprints