It is a great honor to be nominated for AMS Councilor. The AMS is both strong, with a long tradition of scientific rigor and intellectual members of high personal integrity, and unique, bridging the three sectors of academia, government, and business. Nevertheless, serious challenges face the AMS that demand visionary leadership. First, there are fundamental research challenges, because the atmosphere cannot be studied in isolation from the rest of the Earth system and human society. There are gaps in our understanding of fundamental aspects of weather and climate, spanning an enormous range of spatial and temporal scales, from individual clouds to the response of the Earth system to unprecedented forcing by human activities. The research challenges extend beyond meteorology, not only to the physical and biological sciences, but also to studies of human behavior. The AMS is central to addressing these research problems, because it is the only society that is both academic and professional and covers the full range of these issues. Second, there are institutional challenges that represent a serious, if not existential, threat to our enterprise. For example, while there is keen interest in more effectively translating research results into operations and applying those results for societal benefit, our institutional alignments do not promote these types of transitions. More creative and nimble institutional arrangements are needed. Perhaps more serious, there is a long-term trend of marginalization of our science that has led to sharply diminished budgets just when critical research and societal issues require large infusions of resources. Again, the AMS can act to slow or reverse these trends through its influence on decision makers. Third, the rapid evolution of our science—through the deployment of advanced observing systems and the employment of enormous computing and data storage capabilities—presents a challenge to all three sectors, not only to stay technologically current and relevant but also to stay connected. It falls on the AMS to provide the necessary leadership to help academia, government, and the private sector take best advantage of the accelerating changes in our field.
Kinter, James L., Professor, Climate Dynamics, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences and Director, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. Born May 27, 1957, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A.B. Mathematics, Princeton University, 1979; M.S. Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Princeton University, 1981; Ph.D. Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Princeton University, 1984.
Professional Experience: National Research Council Associate, Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheric Sciences, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 1983-1984; Assistant Professor, Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland at College Park, 1984-1987; Assistant Research Scientist and Assistant Director - Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland at College Park, 1987-1993; Executive Director and Associate Research Scientist, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, Institute of Global Environment and Society, Calverton, Maryland, 1993-2005; Associate Professor of Climate Dynamics, George Mason University, 2005-2011; Director and Senior Research Scientist, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, Institute of Global Environment and Society, 2005-2015; Professor of Climate Dynamics and Director of Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, George Mason University, 2011-present.
Professional Activities: Chair, College of Computational, Mathematical and Physical Sciences Supercomputing Committee, 1988-1989; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Center for Computational Sciences Steering Committee, 1989; National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Panel on Model Assimilated Data Sets, 1989; Ad-Hoc Panel on Reanalysis for Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program, 1989; Co-chair, Workshop on 1988 U.S. Drought, University of Maryland, 1990; National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Computational and Information Sciences Laboratory High-Performance Computing Advisory Panel, 1990-2014; Climate Simulation Laboratory Advisory Panel, 1995-2014 (Chair 1999-2004); Co-chair, Workshop on Dynamics & Statistics of Secular Climate Variations, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, 1995; National Science Foundation (NSF) Committee of Visitors, 1998; Co-chair, 27th Climate Diagnostics and Prediction Workshop, Fairfax, Virginia, 2002; U.S. Global Change Research Program Study Group on the Water Cycle, 1999-2001; Co-chair, NSF Committee on Cyberinfrastructure for Research and Development in Atmospheric Sciences, 2002-2004; NSF Committee for Petascale Computational Facilities for Geosciences, 2004-2005; World Climate Research Committee Modeling Panel, 2005; Chair, NOAA Joint Institute for Study of Atmosphere and Ocean Cooperative Institute Review Committee, 2005; Chair, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Experimental Climate Prediction Center Review Committee, 2005; Catalan Center for Climate Sciences Scientific Advisory Committee, 2006-present; Co-chair, International CLIVAR Climate of the 20th Century Project, 1998-present; OPeNDAP Advisory Board, 2005-2009; Earth System Modeling Framework Scientific Advisory Board, 2007-2009; Co-chair, NSF Advisory Committee on Computing for the Atmospheric Sciences, 2007-2008; NOAA Applied Research Centers Directors Council, 2005-2010 (Chair, 2007-2008); Chair, Advisory Board, Journal of Advances in Modeling of Earth System (JAMES), 2008-2011; NOAA Climate Test Bed Scientific Advisory Board, 2005-present; NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure (ACCI), 2006-2010; Community Climate (Earth) System Model Advisory Board, 2007-present; NSF Working Group on Geosciences Strategic Planning, 2007-2009; NSF Advisory Committee for the Geosciences; 2005-2009; Co-chair, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction Review Panel, 2008-2010; TeraGrid Science Advisory Committee, 2008-2011 (Chair, 2008-2010); NSF ACCI Grand Challenges and Virtual Organizations Task Group, 2009-2010; NSF ACCI High-Performance Computing Task Group, 2009-2010; NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center Science Advisory Panel, 2009-2011, 2014; Chair, USGCRP Strategic Planning Workshop, 2010; Co-chair, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Community Advisory Committee for the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), 2011-present; NAS National Research Council (NRC) Study Committee on A National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling, 2010-2012; NAS/NRC Review Committee on NSF Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Draft Goals and Objectives, 2013-2014; Chair, NOAA Modeling, Analysis, Prediction and Projections Program (MAPP) Climate Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5 Task Force, 2012-2014; NOAA MAPP Climate Prediction Task Force, 2013-present; Reviewer, Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe, 2013-present; Co-chair, NOAA MAPP Model Development Task Force, 2014-present; NCAR Blue Ribbon Panel; 2014. Chair, Symposium on Predictability in the Midst of Chaos, Rockville, Maryland, 2015. Also, reviewer for Advances in Atmospheric Science, Agency for International Development, Atmospheric Research, Cambridge University Press, Climate Dynamics, Department of Energy, Geophysical Research Letters, IBM Journal of Research and Development, Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmosphere, Oceans), Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, MacArthur Foundation, Meteorological and Atmospheric Research, NASA, Natural Environment Research Council of the United Kingdom Natural Hazards, NOAA, NSF, Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe and Swedish Research Council.
AMS Activities: Member, AMS 1984-present; Reviewer for Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal of Climate, Monthly Weather Review, and Journal of Climatology and Applied Meteorology.
Honors and Awards: National Merit Scholarship (1975); Princeton University Scholarship (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978); National Research Council Associateship (1983); Fellow AMS (2010).
Publications: Kinter has authored or co-authored over 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals in the atmospheric sciences, cited over 2500 times (h-index 25), including AMS journals: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal of Atmospheric Science, Journal of Climate, Monthly Weather Review; and other journals: Advances in Atmospheric Science, Climate Dynamics, Climatic Change, Eos Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters, International Journal of Climatology, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of Hydrometeorology, Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Nature Geoscience, Oceanography, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society and Tellus. Selected publications include: Kinter et al., 1988: A simulation of the winter and summer circulations with the NMC global spectral model, J. Atmos. Sci., 45, 2486-2522; Sato et al., 1989: Effects of implementing the Simple Biosphere model (SiB) in a general circulation model, J. Atmos. Sci., 46, 2757-2782; Kinter and Shukla, 1990: The global hydrologic and energy cycles: suggestions for studies in the Pre-GEWEX period, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 71, 181-189; Schneider and Kinter, 1994: An examination of internally generated variability in long climate simulations, Climate Dyn., 10, 181-204; Doty and Kinter, 1995: Geophysical data analysis and visualization using GrADS. Visualization Techniques in Space and Atmospheric Sciences, eds. E. P. Szusczewicz and J. H. Bredekamp (NASA, Washington, DC), 209-219; Schneider et al., 1999: Ocean data assimilation, initialization, and predictions of ENSO with a coupled GCM, Mon. Wea. Rev., 127, 1187-1207; Kinter et al., 2002: Recent changes in the connection from the Asian monsoon to ENSO, J. Climate, 15, 1203-1215; Huang and Kinter, 2002: Interannual variability in the tropical Indian Ocean, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 3199-3225; Miyakoda et al., 2003: The role of ENSO in the south Asian monsoon and pre-monsoon signals over the Tibetan Plateau, J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 81, 1015-1039; Kinter et al., 2004: An evaluation of the apparent interdecadal shift in the tropical divergent circulation in the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, J. Climate, 17, 349-361; Shukla et al., 2006: Climate model fidelity and projections of climate change, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, doi:10.1029/2005GL025579; Jin et al., 2008: Current status of ENSO prediction skill in coupled ocean-atmosphere models, Climate Dyn., 31, 647-664; Zhou et al., 2009:The CLIVAR C20C Project: Which components of the Asian-Australian Monsoon variability are forced and reproducible?Climate Dyn., 33, 1051-1068 ; Shukla et al., 2009: Revolution in Climate Prediction is Both Necessary and Possible: A Declaration at the World Modeling Summit for Climate Prediction, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 90, 175–178; Cash et al., 2009: Links between tropical Pacific SST and cholera incidence in Bangladesh: Role of the eastern and central tropical Pacific, J. Climate, 21, 4647–4663; Wang et al., 2009: Advance and Prospectus of Seasonal Prediction: Assessment of the APCC/CLIPAS 14-Model Ensemble Retrospective Seasonal Prediction (1980-2004), Climate Dyn., 33, 93-117 ; North American Climate in CMIP5 Experiments, J. Climate Special Collection, including Maloney et al., J. Climate, 27, 2230–2270, Sheffield et al., J. Climate, 26, 9209-9245 and Sheffield et al., J. Climate, 26, 9247-9290; Navarra et al., 2010: Crucial Experiments in Climate Science, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 91, 343-352; Kirtman et al., 2012: Impact of Ocean Model Resolution on CCSM Climate Simulations, J. Climate, 39, 303-328; Dirmeyer et al., 2012: Evidence for Enhanced Land-Atmosphere Feedback in a Warming Climate, J. Hydrometeor. 13, 981-995; Krishnamurthy et al., 2013: Simulation of the South Asian monsoon in a coupled model with an embedded cloud-resolving model, J. Climate, 27, 1121–1142; Kinter et al., 2013: Revolutionizing Climate Modeling - Project Athena: A Multi-Institutional, International Collaboration, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 94, 231-245.