Dr. Amy Hawes Butler has received the 2023 AGU Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award for her “insightful studies elucidating how the stratosphere couples to the troposphere and to improve predictability.”

Dr. Butler studies the interaction between the stratosphere and troposphere with an eye toward using the state of the stratosphere to improve predictability of weather at the surface. She is a recognized leader in the interactions between the stratosphere and troposphere. She has led or contributed to numerous studies on the stratosphere’s influence on surface weather and tropospheric composition; she has excelled in these studies. In particular, she is singularly interested in elucidating the impact of the stratosphere on surface weather and subseasonal to seasonal forecasting, and she is a clear leader in research on those issues. She has recently started working on climate intervention research, using climate model simulations to assess the impacts of increasing stratospheric aerosol to cool the surface.

A key aspect of scientific leadership is writing reviews, perspectives, and broader audience pieces. These are time-consuming efforts but play a major role in future research directions. Dr. Butler has made outstanding contributions in this regard, including multiple reviews and one book chapter; she is currently working on a second book chapter. She also serves as a leader in scientific organizations; she recently completed a term as chair of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Committee on Middle Atmosphere, she cochairs the Stratospheric Network for the Assessment of Predictability (SNAP) project with SPARC (a World Climate Research Programme core project), and she has been a member of national and international steering committees as well as serving as a review editor for the World Meteorological Organization/United Nations Environment Programme’s (WMO/UNEP) Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2022.

In addition to her research accomplishments, Dr. Butler excels at communication. She is a go-to expert regularly contacted by the media to discuss the “polar vortex,” sudden stratospheric warmings, and associated weather/climate impacts. She has put together explanatory videos covering atmospheric dynamics topics that are clear and easily understood by a lay audience, regularly contributes to NOAA weather blogs, and has an active social media presence where she explains weather phenomena.

In summary, Dr. Amy Butler is the world’s expert on stratospheric sudden warmings and their impact on tropospheric seasonal weather variations. She has an incredible science research record for someone only 14 years after completing their doctorate, and she has demonstrated leadership and excels in outreach. She is clearly on the “Ascent.”

—Karen H. Rosenlof, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, Colo.

I am extremely honored to receive the AGU Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award. Understanding the dynamics of the atmosphere, and the stratosphere in particular, and its influence on weather and climate is a true passion of mine, and I feel profoundly grateful for the opportunities I have been given to explore and communicate this research. I especially want to thank the nominators and selection committee who made this award possible. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my collaborators who contributed to the work upon which the award is based; this is not my accomplishment alone, and I deeply value their contributions. Additionally, the guidance and advice I have received from many generous and thoughtful people have been invaluable. In particular, I want to thank David Thompson (my Ph.D. adviser), Arun Kumar, Craig Long, Dian Seidel, Lorenzo Polvani, Judith Perlwitz, Andrew Charlton-Perez, and Karen Rosenlof for their encouragement and mentorship. I also want to thank the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, and in particular the Chemistry and Climate Processes group, for making me excited to come to work every day. Finally, I would not be where I am today without my parents, Michael and Susie Hawes, for encouraging me to follow my dreams; my husband, Kevin, whose unwavering support and love have been instrumental in my career achievements; and my two children, Nora and Jack, who inspire me every day with their curiosity about the world. —Amy Butler, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, Colo.