Atmospheric Scientist Honored by Meteorological Society

Professor Chris Thorncroft was named a 2017 Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. (Photo by Mark Schmidt)

ALBANY, N.Y. (October 6, 2016) -- Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (DAES)chairperson and Professor Christopher D. Thorncroft has been named a 2017 Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS).

AMS states: "Those eligible for election to Fellow shall have made outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years." New Fellows elected each year by the AMS Council at its fall meeting come from names submitted by the Fellows Committee of not more than two-tenths of 1 percent of all AMS members.

Thorncroft has been on the faculty of the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences since 2001, and previously served as university Fellow and lecturer at the University of Reading (UK), where he received his doctorate in meteorology in 1988. Thorncroft has chaired DAES since 2008, and is the active co-director of the NY State Mesonet, a $30 million project that will deploy 126 automatic weather stations throughout the state, constituting the nation’s most advanced early warning weather detection system.

His major research focus is on improving understanding of the processes that determine the nature and variability of the West African monsoon, including how this impacts Atlantic tropical cyclone activity. He has also had leadership roles in several field campaigns in the West African and Tropical Atlantic regions.

In recent years, Thorncroft has lectured statewide on climate change and its impact and, with the Rockefeller Institute of Government, hosted forums to educate New York State emergency managers and the public about climate change and extreme weather.

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