Joshua K. Willis is an

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

. His area of expertise is

current sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

, as well as measuring ocean temperatures. When sea level fell from 2010 to 2011, Willis stated that this was due to an unusually large

La Niña La Niña (; ) is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern. The name ''La Niña'' originates from Spanish for "the girl", by an ...

transferring more rainfall over land rather than over the ocean as usually happens. In addition, Willis is the project scientist for

Jason-3 Jason-3 is a satellite altimeter created by a partnership of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), and is an international cooperative mis ...

Early life and education

Josh Willis realized he wanted to be a scientist from a young age. After graduating from high school, Willis studied physics and mathematics at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

earning his B.S. in 1996. While there, he also received a minor in theater. He then went to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

where he received his master's degree in physics in 1998. Willis planned to get his Ph.D. in physics, but realized that it wasn't for him. He failed and was kicked out of the University of California. Soon after, Willis discovered

Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for oceanography, ocean and Earth science research ...

and began studying the physics of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and the ocean's effect on global warming. And in 2004, Willis received his Ph.D. in oceanography.

Research

Oceans cooling

In 2006, Willis et al. published a time series measuring

ocean heat content In oceanography and climatology, ocean heat content (OHC) is a term for the energy absorbed by the ocean, where it is stored for indefinite time periods as internal energy or enthalpy. The rise in OHC accounts for over 90% of Earth’s excess the ...

, which concluded that the ocean had cooled from 2003 to 2005. A similar conclusion was reached by scientists at NASA's

Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, United States of America, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. It directly borders Langley Air Force Base and the Back River on the Chesapeake Bay. LaRC has fo ...

(LRC). While Willis cautioned against drawing conclusions based on such a short time period, the study was widely covered in the media, with

climate change skeptics Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or th ...

citing it as evidence that global warming was no longer occurring. Willis also noted that some model simulations show periods of four to five years during which the upper ocean does not warm. Willis suspected something was awry when the researchers at LRC concluded that Earth's energy imbalance had remained the same over that period of time, which led to a researcher at LRC named Takmeng Wong becoming "surprised, even a little alarmed" at Willis's results. The original 2006 paper has since been corrected, with Willis et al. stating, "Most of the rapid decrease in globally integrated upper (0–750 m) ocean heat content anomalies (OHCA) between 2003 and 2005 reported by Lyman et al. 006appears to be an artifact resulting from the combination of two different instrument biases recently discovered in the in situ profile data."

Challenger expedition

On May 21, 2013, Willis co-authored a paper regarding measurements of ocean temperatures taken during the

Challenger expedition The ''Challenger'' expedition of 1872–1876 was a scientific program that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the naval vessel that undertook the trip, . The expedition, initiated by Wil ...

in the 1870s, which were compared with measurements from

Argo In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sour ...

. This paper concluded that the global ocean had indeed warmed since the 1870s, and received wide media attention.

Deep ocean warming

On October 5, 2014, Willis was a co-author on a paper reporting that the warming of the deep ocean had not contributed to a detectable extent to either sea level rise or the

Earth's energy budget Earth's energy budget accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but m ...

. Willis said its findings did not challenge global warming because "the sea level is still rising". Willis is the

Principal Investigator In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...

of ''Oceans Melting Greenland'' (OMG).

Comedy

The Second City

Willis is a graduate of the Conservatory Program of

The Second City Training Center The Second City Training Center was founded in the mid-1980s to facilitate the growing demand for workshops and instruction from the world famous The Second City theatre. Training Centers are located in Chicago, Toronto and Los Angeles. Satelli ...

in Hollywood, CA. He graduated in 2014.

Climate Elvis

In order to bring comedy to the topics of climate and climate change, Willis created the character "Climate Elvis", and performed a song called
The Climate Rock
. The video was directed by Lizze Gordon.

Unnecessary Talk with Brian Sturges

Willis is a frequent guest on the comedy podcast Unnecessary Talk with Brian Sturges. www.poorlifechoices.tv

Wall of Flesh: A Vintage Comedy

Willis plays Jake Elwood in the award-winning comedy feature film available for purchase and rental on Amazon and YouTube.com

Personal life

Dr. Willis is married to

physiatrist Physical medicine and rehabilitation, also known as physiatry, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to people with physical impairments or disabilities. This can include conditions su ...

Dr. Dixie Aragaki.

References

External links

Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG)
-

Ocean cooling. Not.Where's the heat? In the oceans!Interview with Peter Sinclair
*https://twitter.com/josh_wills *http://www.gps.caltech.edu/content/josh-willis *http://www.uh.edu/honors/features/students-and-alumni/Joshua-Willis/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Josh Living people American oceanographers Jet Propulsion Laboratory faculty Scripps Institution of Oceanography alumni University of Houston alumni University of California, San Diego alumni Year of birth missing (living people)