DURHAM, N.C. 鈥 The American Meteorological Society (AMS) will present its prestigious 2021 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biometeorology to Gabriel G. Katul, Theodore S. Coile Professor of Hydrology and Micrometeorology at 51爆料鈥檚 Nicholas School of the Environment.

In selecting Katul for the honor, the award committee cited his seminal contributions to 鈥渕ajor theoretical advances in formulating surface-atmosphere exchanges of mass, energy and momentum, and distilling theory into reduced numerical models to study these exchanges.鈥

A prolific researcher, Katul has authored or co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed papers and eight book chapters. 

He was awarded the European Geoscience Union鈥檚 Dalton Medal in Hydrological Science in 2018; the American Geophysical Union鈥檚 (AGU) Hydrological Sciences Award in 2012; and was named both an AGU Fellow and recipient of the AGU鈥檚 prestigious James B. Macelwane Medal in 2002. In 2010, he was named a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar.

Research in his lab focuses on micrometeorology and near-surface hydrology, with broad implications in a wide range of ecological, hydrological, atmospheric and climate processes. Just this past year, he has contributed to published papers on urban heat islands, drought and heat wave impacts on forest mortality, and the role reforestation can play in cooling local surface and air temperatures.

Katul received a PhD in hydrology in 1993 from the University of California at Davis, a Master of Science degree in water resources in 1990 from Oregon State University, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in civil engineering in 1988 from American University of Beirut.

The formal presentation of his new AMS award will take place in conjunction with the society鈥檚 101st Annual Meeting, scheduled to be held next January in New Orleans. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that at least portions of the meeting will be conducted virtually, the exact form of the award presentation has not yet been confirmed. 

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