William J. Gutowski Jr is a lead author for IPCC AR6

William J. Gutowski Jr, former Co-Chair of CORDEX Science Advisory Team (SAT), is a Professor of Meteorology working at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA. He is currently a Lead Author for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Chapter 10 (Linking global to regional climate change).

Professor Gutowski wearing a red jacket is standing on a field with water behind him.

He thinks that regional climate information is very important.
“The AR6 is the first IPCC assessment report in which Working Group 1 has a substantial portion of its report devoted to climate information for regions.  Primary chapters in this regard are 10, 11, 12 and the Atlas, all of which have a heavy emphasis on regional climate.  Other chapters, especially 6, 8 and 9 also give sizeable emphasis to regional climate.  Regional climate simulations, especially under CORDEX, are providing substantial climate information to the assessment. The common domains and common time periods for CORDEX simulations has meant that there are multi-model simulation archives available for many regions around the world.  The CORDEX framework has been the foundation for these multi-model efforts, creating the opportunity for their wide use in the AR6 WG1 report’”

Previously he was also a Contributing Author to the IPCC Third and Fourth Assessment Reports (chapters on regional climate) and he was a Lead Author for the AR5, Chapter 12 (Long-term Climate Change: Projections, Commitments and Irreversibility).

Professor Gutowski was involved with the founding of CORDEX, first as a member of the Task Force on Regional Climate Downscaling that operated under the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), starting in 2008.  He then became a member of the CORDEX Science Advisory Team (SAT) when the SAT replaced the Task Force at the end of its mandate.  He became a Co-Chair of the SAT in 2013 and served until his term ended at the end of 2019. He says: “CORDEX has played and continues to play an important role in guiding, organizing and promoting regional climate research around the world.  The organizational framework of CORDEX simulations has promoted international regional collaborations that have advanced regional climate modeling in many countries. The WCRP endorsement of CORDEX as one of its key programs has meant that those seeking support in their home countries have an authoritative backing to their efforts. The framework has also provided a common foundation for all of these efforts that has allowed many others to use CORDEX simulations in multi-model analyses. CORDEX continues to guide the development of regional modeling of climate by its efforts to coordinate further advances in regional modeling. This coordination is especially vital for the contributions of CORDEX to programs such as the IPCC.”’

William J. Gutowski Jr graduated from Yale University in 1976, Magna Cum Laude, with a B.S. in Astronomy and Physics and received his Ph.D. in Meteorology from MIT in 1984.  After working for a few years at a research firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, he joined the faculty of the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University, where he has been ever since, rising through the ranks to full Professor in 2000.  His research focuses on the dynamics of the hydrologic cycle, regional climate and weather and climate extremes. A highlight for him of this work is that it has fostered significant collaborations with fellow scientists around the world, especially in Africa, East Asia and the Arctic. In addition to his CORDEX and IPCC service, he has been an Editor of the Journal of Hydrometeorology, and also served on two review panels of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation, 2008; Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences, 2012).  In 2017, he became an Honorary Professor in the Dept. of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Cape Town, in recognition of his various contributions to the advancement of African climate science.  In 2017, he also became a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

This is the first of a series of presentations of IPCC AR6 authors from the CORDEX community that will be published at the CORDEX website. You can read more about them here

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