Michael Alexander's Science

I have conducted research on weather, climate, oceanography, and marine biology. I worked at the NOAA/Physical Sciences Laboratory in Boulder Colorado for about 25 years before retiring in April of 2025. I still participate in research projects via my affiliation with the Atmospheric and Oceanic Department (ATOC) at the University of Colorado.

In collaboration with a wide array of scientists, I have explored air-sea-ice interactions, moisture transport and precipitation in the western United States, and climate variability/change including its impact on marine ecosystems. 

My studies of air-sea interaction include the influence of El Niño (periodic warming of the tropical Pacific) on global atmosphere and ocean, precursors to El Niño events, and the effects of extratropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea ice on the atmosphere. I investigated how moisture moves through the gaps in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains resulting in heavy precipitation events in the western US. I have also worked closely with marine biologists to study how climate change may impact lobster and fish, such as cod and salmon. Recently, we have used high-resolution regional ocean models to predict conditions along both the east and west coasts of North America and how they may be influenced by climate change.