Richard C. J. Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA. He is a theoretical meteorologist and an expert on computer simulations of the atmosphere.
He received his Ph. D. in meteorology from New York University in 1966 and has been a professor at Scripps since 1979. His research is on the role of clouds, cloud-radiation interactions and cloud feedbacks in climate. His interests include all aspects of climate, including climate science outreach and the interface between science and public policy. He also comments frequently on climate and environmental issues for the media.
Somerville has received awards from the American Meteorological Society for both his research and his popular book, The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change, a new edition of which will be published in late 2007. Among many other honours, he is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society.
He is a Coordinating Lead Author for the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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