Biography

Antonio Busalacchi is the Director of ESSIC, a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Science, and the Chair of the University of Maryland  Council on the Environment.  Tony came to ESSIC in 2000, after serving as Chief of the NASA/Goddard Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes. Tony received his Ph.D. degree in oceanography from Florida State University in 1982. He has studied tropical ocean circulation and its role in the coupled climate system. His interests include the study of climate variability and prediction, tropical ocean modeling, ocean remote sensing, and data assimilation. His research in these areas has supported a range of international and national research programs dealing with global change and climate, particularly as affected by the oceans. From 1989-1996 he served on the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAS/NRC) TOGA Advisory Panel and for 1991-1993 he was a member of the NAS/NRC Panel on Ocean Atmosphere Observations Supporting Short-Term Climate Predictions. From 1999-2006 he served as Co-Chairman of the Scientific Steering Group for the World Climate Research Programme on Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR). From 2003-2008, he served as Chairman of the NAS/NRC Climate Research Committee and for 2007-2008 as Chair of the NAS/NRC Committee on Earth Science and Application: Ensuring the Climate Measurements from NPOES and GOES-R. Presently, he serves as Chairman of the Joint Scientific Committee for the World Climate Research Programme and Chairman of the NAS/NRC Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), American Geophysical Union, and in 2006 was selected by the AMS to be the Walter Orr Roberts Interdisciplinary Science Lecturer.

Teaching

AOSC 680: Introduction to Earth System Science

Research Interests

Tropical ocean circulation and its role in the coupled climate system.

The development and application of numerical models combined with in situ and space-based ocean observations to study the tropical ocean response to surface fluxes of momentum and heat.

Education

Florida State University, B.S., Physics (Magna Cum Laude), 1977; M.S., Oceanography, 1980; Ph.D., Oceanography, 1982

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