Michael Alexander is a research meteorologist at the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory in Boulder Colorado. Over the course of his career Mike’s research has focused on air-sea-ice interactions, processes that influence moisture transport and precipitation in the western United States, and physical processes in the ocean and their impact on marine ecosystems. His studies of air-sea interaction include the influence of El Niño on global climate, precursors to El Niño events, and the effects of sea surface temperatures and sea ice conditions on the atmospheric circulation. He has investigated how moisture moves through the gaps in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains resulting in heavy precipitation events in the intermountain west. Mike has also worked closely with marine biologists to study how ocean conditions influence a wide range of species including lobster, salmon and cod fish. Recently, Mike has investigated processes that affect the ocean along US coasts and he is helping to advance NOAA’s development of a coastal ocean prediction system.