Dr. Andrew M. Carleton is Professor Emeritus of Physical Geography, with research and teaching activities in Synoptic Climatology, Satellite Climatology, Polar Climates, Climate Variations, Environmental Climatology, and Paleoclimatology. He is a graduate of the University of Adelaide (Australia), where he obtained both his Bachelor’s and Masters Degrees in Geography, and also the University of Colorado (Ph.D.).
Dr. Carleton was awarded the E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography honor for 2021-22, in advance of his retirement. In addition to his appointment in Geography, he had affiliations with the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI) and The Polar Center. He is the author of a monograph on satellite remote sensing in climatology, and co-author (with Roger Barry) of Synoptic and Dynamic Climatology (2001). In addition to chapters in edited books on climatology, geography, and environmental science, Dr. Carleton is an author on more than 85 peer-reviewed journal articles, including Nature, Journal of Climate, and Journal of Geophysical Research.
Themes connecting the above-noted areas of Dr. Carleton’s research in “climate dynamics” include:
- Satellite data applications to studying climate variations;
- Climatic perspectives acquired through statistical analysis of synoptic (e.g., pressure systems, fronts) and dynamic (atmospheric general circulation) phenomena;
- Past climate-environmental changes on centennial to millennial time scales (evidence and causes); and
- Physical (e.g., meteorological, glaciological) processes to explain climate variations and changes.
Dr. Carleton’s teaching activities included undergraduate courses in physical geography and climatology, from the core course “Geographic Perspectives on Earth System Science,” to the intermediate-level course in climate dynamics, through upper-level courses on climate change and variability and on satellite climatology. In addition, Dr. Carleton regularly taught the graduate-level seminar “Human Impacts on Climate.”