Brief
Biography: July 2025
Professor Dennis L. Hartmann
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington USA
Dennis L. Hartmann received his Ph.D. in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
from Princeton University. After post-doctoral appointments at McGill
University and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, he joined the
faculty of the University of Washington, where he is currently Emeritus Professor
in the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science. He served as Chair
of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences from 2002-2007. He served as
Interim Dean during the first two years of the College of the Environment from
2008-2010, and again in 2021.
Hartmann's research interests include dynamics of the atmosphere,
atmosphere-ocean interaction, and climate change. His primary areas of
expertise are atmospheric dynamics, radiation and remote sensing, and
mathematical and statistical techniques for data analysis. Current
research includes the study of climate feedback processes involving clouds and
water vapor, which is approached using remote sensing data, in situ data and models, and attempts to
take into account radiative, dynamical and cloud-physical processes. Another
focus of his research is observational and modeling studies of the
intraseasonal and interannual variability of the coupled ocean-atmosphere
system, especially the role of eddy-zonal flow feedbacks and annular modes of
variability. Other current interests are the stratosphere and its role in
climate, and the response of El Niño to global warming.
Hartmann has published nearly 200 articles in refereed scientific
journals and published a textbook on Global
Physical Climatology in 1994, with a second edition in 2016 and a third
edition in 2025. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in
2005. He was the 2011 Haurwitz Memorial Lecturer for the American
Meteorological Society. In 2013 he was
awarded the Carl Gustav Rossby Research Medal of the American Meteorological
Society, its highest award for research excellence. In 2016 he was elected a member of the US
National Academy of Sciences. In 2022 he
received the Roger Revelle Medal of the American Geophysical Union. He has served on numerous advisory, editorial
and review boards for the NAS, NSF, NASA and NOAA, and was the Chair of the
Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research from
2011-2013. He served as a Coordinating Lead Author for the Fifth
Assessment of The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change for the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2010-2014. He currently serves as an Associate Editor
for the Journal of Climate of the American Meteorological Society, Editor for
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and associate editor of
PNAS-Nexus.