Prof. J. Ray Bates

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Meteorology and Climate Centre,
School of Mathematical Sciences, 
University College Dublin, Ireland.



Email: Ray . Bates @ ucd . ie
Telephone: (+353 1) 716 2421
Fax: (+353 1) 716 1172
Room: SERC - North 104a

Academic Qualifications

  • B.Sc. (Physics, 1st class honours), University College Dublin, 1962.
  • PhD (Meteorology), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1969 [Thesis superviser: Jule G. Charney].

Employment History

  • Adjunct Professor of Meteorology, University College Dublin, 2004-
  • Prof. of Meteorology, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 1995-2004.
  • Senior Scientist and Branch Head, Lab. For Atmospheres, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 1987-1995.
  • Irish Meteorological Service (now Met Éireann), 1963-1987. Positions held: Forecaster, Head of Research Division, Assistant Director.

Professional Associations

  • Member of Irish Meteorological Society (President 2004-2008)
  • Member of European Geosciences Union (President of the Atmospheric Sciences Division 2002-2003)
  • Fellow of the American Meteorological Society 
  • Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society
  • Member of the American Geophysical Union

Committees and Editorial Boards

  • Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the RIA/EPA Tyndall Conference on the Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming, Dublin Castle, Sept. 28-30, 2011.
  • Chairman of the Climate Change Sciences Committee of the Royal Irish Academy, 2009-
  • Member of Panel of Experts, Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, 2009-2012.
  • Member of Committee of Science & Technology, Royal Dublin Society
  • Member of Advisory Board, Tellus, 1997-2004
  • Associate Editor, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1997-2000
  • Chairman of WMO/CAS Working Group on Short and Medium Range Weather Prediction Research, 1982-90
  • Member of Committee on Meteorological Analysis, Prediction and Research, National Research Council, Washington, DC, 1988-90
  • Member of International Commission on Meteorology of the Upper Atmosphere, IAMAP, 1979-87
  • Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee, European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, 1978-81.

Research Profile

Prof. Bates' current research interests are in the theory and numerical modeling of the global climate. He is particularly interested in climate feedbacks - the mechanisms that keep the global climate stable at its current equilibrium and that determine its sensitivity to external forcing such as that due to CO2 increase. He is also involved in studying the mechanisms that determine the polar amplification of the surface warming in an enhanced greenhouse world. He and his collaborators have been studying these questions using general circulation models and simple conceptual models of the climate system.