Andrew C. Comrie

Professor, Geography & Regional Development

Associate Vice President for Research, Dean of the Graduate College & Director of Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs

Joint Appointments: Atmospheric Sciences, Arid Lands Resource Sciences, Global Change, Remote Sensing & Spatial Analysis

Ph.D., 1992, Geography, The Pennsylvania State University.
M.Sc., 1988, Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town.
B.Sc.(Hons), 1985, Atmospheric Science, University of Cape Town.
B.Sc. 1984, Geography, University of Cape Town

Phone: (520) 621-3512
FAX: (520) 621-7507
E-mail: comrie@arizona.edu

414 Harvill Building, Box #2
Tucson, AZ 85721-0076
USA

Curriculum Vitae

Personal home page

Research

I am a climatologist, and my research focuses on climate science applications for the environment and society. I specialize in the geographic aspects of atmospheric environmental science issues with connections to the related natural and social sciences. The range of my work includes synoptic climatology, urban and regional air pollution, climate variability and change, climate and health, multivariate statistical climate analysis, and map-pattern recognition and classification techniques. I have ongoing research interests in summer and winter climate variability in the Southwest United States, climatological and human factors influencing air pollution at local and regional scales, links between climate and disease, climate and wildfire, and new techniques for mapping climate and air quality information. I pursue basic research in climate and its applications as well as decision-support and connections to policy.

The interdisciplinary nature of my research means that I work in collaboration with faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduates from the department and from a variety of programs across campus. I run the Applied Climate for Environment and Society (ACES) lab, which is housed in the department and serves as home for my lab group. We have close connections to other units on campus including the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth. Research in the ACES lab is supported by numerous federal, state and local agencies.

I also combine my research interests with service on numerous professional and science advisory boards and committees. I am currently Editor for the Americas for the International Journal of Climatology.

Project Involvement

• Climate Impact Assessment for the Southwest
• WestMap: A Fine-Scale Gridded Climate Database Tool
• Climate Controls on Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever)
• Ocean-Atmosphere Links to Climate Variability and Change
• Air Quality Trends in the Southwest