John W. Nielsen-Gammon
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Dr. Nielsen-Gammon is a professor of meteorology and Texas State Climatologist in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University. The Office of the State Climatologist for Texas is a component of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and the Texas Center for Climate Studies (TCCS).
Dr. Nielsen-Gammon's research group uses a combination of observational and numerical techniques to study the characteristics, dynamics, and forecastability of particular weather phenomena. For large-scale phenomena, Nielsen-Gammon has pioneered the application of various techniques involving potential vorticity and nonlinear balance. Much of Dr. Nielsen-Gammon's recent work has involved air pollution meteorology. He has employed sophisticated techniques such as satellite data assimilation to produce a high-resolution simulation of the Houston/Galveston area for the purposes of photochemical modeling and policy development. He has developed conceptual models of ozone formation in the Houston area and is working on the integration of a variety of observational information to determine the spatial extent and magnitude of the Houston urban heat island. Current research includes "Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) Implementation and Testing In Support of Air Quality Modeling," (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality); "Boundary Layer Parameterization Improvement," (Environmental Protection Agency through the University of Houston); and, with the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy, "Climate Change, Drought and Policymaking in the U.S. Southern Region," sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Recent publications by Dr. Nielsen-Gammon include "Multi-sensor Estimation of Mixing Heights over a Coastal City," Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (2008); "Potential Vorticity Diagnosis in the Quasigeostrophic and Nonlinear Balance Systems," Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences (2008); "An Inconvenient Truth: The Scientific Argument," GeoJournal (2007); "Unresolved Issues with the Assessment of Multidecadal Global Land Surface Temperature Trends," Journal of Geophysical Research (2007); and "Documentation of Uncertainties and Bias Associated with Surface Temperature Measurement Sites for Climate Change Assessment," Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (2007). Nielsen-Gammon received his doctorate in meteorology (1990), master of science in meteorology (1987), and bachelor of science in earth and planetary sciences (1984), all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.