Andrew C. Comrie

Associate Vice President for Research; Dean, Graduate College; Professor, Geography and Development

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Research Interests

Dr. Andrew C. Comrie is a climatologist specializing in the geographic aspects of atmospheric environmental issues, and he has published widely in specialized and interdisciplinary international journals. His expertise includes climate and health, synoptic climatology, urban and regional air pollution, and climate variability and change. Dr. Comrie is currently investigating links between climate and disease, summer and winter climate variability in the Southwest United States, impacts of climate change, climatological and human factors influencing air pollution at local and regional scales, and techniques for mapping climate and environmental information. His work has been funded by numerous federal, state and local agencies. He has served on numerous national-level professional committees and as editor or editorial board member for several scholarly journals. He is currently Editor for the Americas for the International Journal of Climatology.

Dr. Comrie also serves as Associate Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate College at the University of Arizona.

Many of my research projects have some broader crosscutting themes in common, reflecting my roots as a geographer interested in geographic and applied aspects of atmospheric environmental issues.

• Climate and Health/Air Quality
• I have broad applied climatology interests. A major current research interest is to better understand and predict relationships between climate and human health, especially certain environmentally-mediated infectious diseases. I have also been involved with air pollution research since my earliest days in graduate school, which similarly connects several aspects of our atmospheric environment with climate processes and human interactions.
• Regional and Local Climate Variability
• A number of projects examine the nature and causes of climatic variability in and around the Southwest USA and neighboring regions. Naturally, many aspects of my research touch upon our distinctive summer monsoon circulation, which has many complex controls, and on our winter climate variability which has strong links to ENSO & PDO.
• Methods and Techniques
• Much of my climatological research utilizes multivariate statistics and related numerical tools to better diagnose and predict climate and environmental links. I have extensive experience in the techniques of synoptic climatology, and I also use spatial modeling approaches, dynamic simulation, and other advanced methods.

Selected Publications

Morin C, Comrie AC. Sep 2010. Modeled response of the West Nile virus vector Culex quinquefasciatus to changing climate using the dynamic mosquito simulation model. International Journal of Biometeorology, 54:517-529