Dr. Andrew Schwartz

Dr. Andrew Schwartz

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Atmospheric Scientist Specializing in Snow Research

 
 

From

Aurora, Colorado

 

MSU Denver

BS Meteorology

 

the university of queensland

PhD Atmospheric Science

I am the Director of the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory. My research focuses on developing a better understanding of snowfall and snowpack physical processes, the impact of climate change on those processes, and the development of new measurement methods and instrumentation. Particular focuses of my research are the impacts of wildfire and rain-on-snow events on snowpack and water storage.

I have enjoyed teaching a wide range of courses on meteorology, climatology, hydrology, and broader global environmental change.

I am a proponent and active participant in science communication and I believe that sharing research and science with the broader community is beneficial to all those involved and results in better science-informed policy.

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Recent Publications

 
 

2024

Cowherd, M., Mital, U., Rahimi, S., Girotto, M., Schwartz, A., & Feldman, D. (2024). Climate change-resilient snowpack estimation in the Western United States. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), 337.

López-Moreno, J. I., Callow, N., McGowan, H., Webb, R., Schwartz, A., Bilish, S., ... & Alonso-González, E. (2024). Marginal snowpacks: The basis for a global definition and existing research needs. Earth-Science Reviews, 104751.

 

2022

Heggli, A., Hatchett, B., Schwartz, A.J., Bardsley, T., & Hand, E., 2022. Towards Snowpack Runoff Decision Support. iScience, 104240.

 

2021

McGowan, H., Borthwick, K., Schwartz, A.J., Callow, J.N., Bilish, S. and Browning, S., 2021. Atmospheric rivers: An overlooked threat to the marginal snowpack of the Australian alps. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 22(10), pp.2521-2532.

Schwartz, A.J., McGowan, H. and Callow, N., 2021. Snowpack thermal patterns in pre-and post-bushfire Snow Gum forests. Journal of Hydrology, 602, p.126789.

Schwartz, A.J., McGowan, H. and Callow, N., 2021. Influence of bushfire on accumulation and ablation of a marginal montane snowpack in Snow Gum forests. Journal of Hydrology, 603, p.126795.

 

2020

Landolt, S.D., Gaydos, A., Porter, D., DiVito, S., Jacobson, D., Schwartz, A.J., Thompson, G. and Lave, J., 2020. Inferring the Presence of Freezing Drizzle Using Archived Data from the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS). Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 37(12), pp.2239-2250.

Schwartz, A.J., McGowan, H. and Callow, N., 2020. Impact of fire on montane snowpack energy balance in Snow Gum forest stands. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 294: 108164.

Schwartz, A.J., McGowan, H.A., Theobald, A. and Callow, N., 2020. Quantifying the impact of synoptic weather types and patterns on energy fluxes of a marginal snowpack. The Cryosphere, 14(8): 2755-2774.

 

2018

Landolt S, Rasmussen R, Hills A, Underwood W, Knight C, Jachcik A, Schwartz A.J., 2018. The NCAR-FAA Snow Machine: An Artificial Snow-Generation System. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-18-0006.1.

 
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More about me

 
 

First job

Cashier at a garden center

 

Hobbies

Mountain biking, Hiking, Homebrewing

 

favorite food

Tacos

I grew up near Denver, Colorado fascinated by severe weather and the large snowstorms that came from upslope wind events. I became particularly interested in snow and winter weather while snowboarding in the Colorado Rockies and interested in the impacts of climate change on snow during my PhD research in Australia’s Snowy Mountains.

I love being out in the elements as it gives me a real connection with nature and the raw power of the the world. Snowshoeing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling are all big winter hobbies of mine that I love. I am also a huge fan of severe convective weather, am a regular storm chaser, and have captured some great tornado photos. I have chased storms in North America and Australia.