Martin Hoerling

Position
Meteorologist
Division
Atmosphere-Ocean Process and Predictability
Affiliation
NOAA
About
Dr. Martin Hoerling is a research meteorologist in the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory specializing in weather and climate extremes, their causes, predictability, and the attribution of human-influence. He is currently Editor of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society's Special Issue on Explaining Extreme Events. He has served as Convening Lead Author for the US Climate Change Science Plan Synthesis and Assessment Report on "Attribution of the Causes of Climate Variations and Trends over North America," Chairman of the US CLIVAR (Climate Variability) research program, Lead of the NOAA Drought Task Force, and Editor for the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. Dr. Hoerling has published over 100 scientific papers dealing with climate variability, extremes, droughts, and predictability.
Dr. Hoerling's research interests include climate variability on seasonal to centennial time scales, focusing on air-sea interactions such as related to El Niño, and the role of oceans in decadal climate variation and climate change, and climate attribution He received his Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating in 1987. He is principal investigator on several research projects to understand the causes and origins for Earth's global climate variations during the last century, and advancing capabilities to explain and predict such variations.
Dr. Hoerling's research interests include climate variability on seasonal to centennial time scales, focusing on air-sea interactions such as related to El Niño, and the role of oceans in decadal climate variation and climate change, and climate attribution He received his Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating in 1987. He is principal investigator on several research projects to understand the causes and origins for Earth's global climate variations during the last century, and advancing capabilities to explain and predict such variations.
Education
- Ph.D., Meteorology, University of Wisconsin, May 1987
- M.S., Meteorology, University of Wisconsin, Jan 1982
- B.S., Meteorology, University of Wisconsin, Jan 1980
Selected Publications
- Hoerling, M. and Coauthors (2019): Causes for the century-long decline in Colorado River flow. J. Climate, https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-19-0207.1.
- Hoerling, M., J. Eischeid, J. Perlwitz, X.-W. Quan, K. Wolter, and L. Cheng (2016): Characterizing recent trends in U.S. heavy precipitation. J. Climate, 29, 2313– 2332, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0441.1.
- Hoerling, M. and Coauthors (2013): Anatomy of an Extreme Event. J. Climate, 26, 2811–2832, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00270.1.
- Hoerling, M. and A. Kumar (2003): The perfect ocean for drought. Science, 299, 691–694, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1079053.
- Hoerling, M. P., J. W. Hurrell, and T. Xu (2001): Tropical origins for recent North Atlantic climate change. Science, 292, 90–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1058582.
Professional Memberships
- American Meteorological Society, Fellow
- American Geophyslical Union
Honors and Awards
- 2016 Albritton Outstanding Science Communicator Award
- 2014 Department of Commerce Silver Medal "for outstanding scientific assessment of the origins of the 2012 central Great Plains drought."
- Fellow, American Meteorological Society, 2014
- 2011 NOAA Administrator's Award "for his work on the advancement of understanding our seasonal climate predictability, the advancement progress on NOAA's seasonal-to-internannual climate prediction effort, and the advancement of understanding on the dynamics of climate change"
- 2009 World Meteorological Organization - Norbert Gerbier–Mumm International Award: Best paper for the study "Unraveling the Mystery of Indian Monsoon Failure during El Niño."
- 2008 NOAA Administrator's Award "for outstanding dedication to developing U.S. Climate Change Science Program synthesis and assessment products integrating climate research for decision support."
- 2007 Department of Commerce Group Bronze Medal Award "for superior federal service for designing and implementing the consolidation of six research organizations in Boulder, Colorado into the new NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories."
- 2002 NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research - Outstanding Scientific Paper Award for "The Perfect Ocean for Drought"