Mark A. Cane
Columbia University
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Primary Section: 16, Geophysics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2013)
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Biosketch
Like so many other oceanographers, Dr. Cane was born in Brooklyn, New York, in the days before the Dodgers left and precipitated the decline of American civilization. With Lamont colleague Dr. Stephen Zebiak, he devised the first numerical model able to simulate El Niño. In 1985 this model was used to make the first physically based forecasts of El Niño. Dr. Cane continues to work on El Niño prediction, and has also worked extensively on the impact of El Niño and climate generally on human activity, especially agriculture, health, and, most recently, conflict. His efforts over many years were instrumental in the creation of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society. In recent years Dr. Cane’s research interests have often focused on paleoclimate problems, from the Pliocene to the last millennium, and the light they shed on future climate change. Dr. Cane has written one book and more than 250 papers on a broad range of topics and has served on numerous international and national committees. Dr. Cane has been honored with many awards and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the National Academy of Sciences.
Research Interests
Cane built the first dynamical prediction models of El Niño (with S.E. Zebiak). His research interests include building of numerical models, equatorial dynamics, El Niño, prediction of climate variations, climate impacts, paleoclimate and global climate issues, especially climate change. His current research is centered on the intersection of natural climate variation and anthropogenic climate change, and on the impact of climate variability on agriculture, health and conflict.
