Email: morss@ucar.edu
Phone: 303-497-8172
Postal Address: P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO, 80307-3000
Shipping Address: 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO, 80307-3000

Professional Interests

Rebecca E. Morss is a Scientist III in the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division and is affiliated with NCAR's Integrated Science Program. She received a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from the University of Chicago. Dr. Morss studies meteorological, socioeconomic, and public policy aspects of weather forecasts, floods, hurricanes, and related topics. Her recent research includes studies of meteorological and oceanographic observing network design; the use of weather and climate information in decision making; scale interactions in atmospheric predictability; and communication of uncertainty in weather forecasts. Through disciplinary and interdisciplinary work, she aims to integrate atmospheric science and socioeconomic/policy perspectives to provide information for the benefit of society. She is a founding member of NCAR’s Collaborative Program on the Societal Impacts and Economic Benefits of Weather Information (Societal Impacts Program, SIP) and the NCAR-based Weather and Society * Integrated Studies program. She recently served as a member of the National Research Council Committee on Estimating and Communicating Uncertainty in Weather and Climate Forecasts, and in 2008 she was elected to the Council of the American Meteorological Society.

Recent Publications

To search my complete list of publications, please see The ESSL Publications Search.

Morss, R. E., Snyder, C., Rotunno, R., 2009: Spectra, spatial scales and predictability in a quasigeostrophic model. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Morss, R. E., Demuth, J., Lazo, J. K., 2008: Communicating uncertainty in weather forecasts: A survey of the US Public. Weather and Forecasting. (In Press).

Morss, R. E., Lazo, J. K., Brown, B. G., Brooks, H. E., Ganderton, P. T., Mills, B. N., 2008: Societal and economic research and applications priorities for the North American THORPEX program. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 89 (3), doi: 10.1175/BAMS-89-3-335, 335-346.

Morss, R. E., Zhang, F., 2008: Linking meteorological education to reality: a prototype undergraduate research study of public response to Hurricane Rita forecasts. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 89, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-89-4-497, 497-504.

Zhang, F., Morss, R. E., Sippel, J. A., Beckman, T. K., Clements, N. C., Hampshire, N. L., Harvey, J. N., Hernandez, J. M., Morgan, Z. C., Mosier, R. M., Wang, S., Winkley, S. D., 2007: An in-person survey investigating public perceptions of and response to Hurricane Rita forecasts along the Texas coast. Weather and Forecasting, 22, 1177-1190.

Demuth, J. L., Gruntfest, E., Morss, R. E., Drobot, S., 2007: Weather and society * Integrated studies (WAS*IS): building a community for integrating meteorology and social science. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 88 (1), 1729-1737.

Morss, R. E., Wahl, E., 2007: An ethical analysis of hydrometeorological prediction and decision making: The case of the 1997 Red River flood. Environmental Hazards, 7, doi: 10.1016/j.envhaz.2007.09.004, 342-352.

Morss, R. E., Ralph, F. M., 2007: Use of information by National Weather Service forecasters and emergency managers during CALJET and PACJET-2001. Weather and Forecasting, 22, doi: 10.1175/WAF1001.1, 539-555.

Committee on Estimating and Communicating Uncertainty in Weather and Climate Forecasts, ., Ban, R. J., Andrew, J. T., Brown, B. G., Changnon, D., Georgakakos, K., Hansen, J., Keener, Jr., R. N., Lall, U., Mass, C. F., Morss, R. E., Ryan, R. T., Weber, E. U., 2006: Completing the forecast: Characterizing and communicating uncertainty for better decisions using weather and climate forecasts. Completing the Forecast: Characterizing and Communicating Uncertainty for Better Decisions Using Weather and Climate Forecasts, 124 pp.

Downton, M. W., Morss, R. E., Wilhelmi, W. V., Gruntfest, E. C., Higgins, M. L., 2006: Interactions between scientific uncertainty and flood management decisions: Two case studies in Colorado. Environmental Hazards, 6, 134-146.

Hacker, J., Hansen, J., Berner, J., Chen, Y., Eshel, G., Hakim, G., Lazarus, S., Majumdar, S., Morss, R., Poje, A., Sheremet, V., Tang, Y., Webb, C., 2005: Future Scientific Directions: Predictability. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-86-12-1733, 1733-1737.

Morss, R. E., Wilhelmi, O. V., Downton, M. W., Gruntfest, E., 2005: Flood risk, uncertainty, and scientific information for decision-making: Lessons from an interdisciplinary project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86, 1593-1601.

Morss, R. E., Hooke, W. H., 2005: The outlook for U.S. meteorological research in a commercializing world: Fair early, but clouds moving in?. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86, 921-936.

Morss, R. E., Miller, K. A., Vasil, M. S., 2005: A systematic economic approach to evaluating public investment in observations for weather forecasting. Monthly Weather Review, 133, 374-388.

Morss, R. E., 2005: Problem definition in atmospheric science public policy: The example of observing system design for weather prediction. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86, 181-191.

Morss, R. E., Battisti, D. S., 2004: Designing efficient observing networks for ENSO prediction. Journal of Climate, 17, 3074-3089.

Morss, R. E., Battisti, D. S., 2004: Evaluating observing requirements for ENSO prediction: experiments with an intermediate coupled model. Journal of Climate, 17, 3057-3073.

Kim, H. M., Morgan, M. C., Morss, R. E., 2004: Evolution of analysis error and adjoint-based sensitivities: Implications for adaptive observations. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 61, 795-812.

Hacker, J., Hansen, J., Berner, J., Chen, Y., Eshel, G., Hakim, G., Lazarus, S., Majumdar, S., Morss, R. E., Poje, A., Sheremet, V., Tang, Y., Webb, C., 2004: Weather regimes and transitions in a general circulation model. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-86-12-1733, 1733-1737.

Corazza, M., Kalnay, E., Patil, D. J., Morss, R. E., Cai, M., Szunyogh, I., Hunt, D., Ott, E., Yorke, J. A., 2003: Use of the breeding technique to estimate the structure of the analysis "errors of the day.". Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 10, 233-243.

Pielke, Jr., R. A., Abraham, J., Abrams, E., Block, J., Carbone, R. E., Chang, D., Droegemeier, K., Emanuel, K., Friday, Jr., E. W., Gall, R., Gaynor, J., Getz, R. R., Glickman, T., Hoggatt, B., Hooke, W. H., Johnson, D. W., Kalnay, E., Kimpel, J., Kocin, P., Marler, B., Morss, R., Nathan, R., Nelson, S., Pielke, Sr., R., Pirone, M., Prater, E., Qualley, W., Simmons, K., Smith, M., Thomson, J., Wilson, G., 2003: The USWRP Workshop on the Weather Research Needs of the Private Sector. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 84, ES53-ES67.

Hamill, T. M., Snyder, C., Morss, R. E., 2002: Analysis-error statistics of a quasigeostrophic model using 3-dimensional variational assimilation. Monthly Weather Review, 130, 2777-2790.

Morss, R. E., Emanuel, K. A., 2002: Influence of added observations on analysis and forecast errors: Results from idealized systems. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 128, 285-321.

Morss, R. E., Emanuel, K. A., Snyder, C., 2001: Idealized adaptive observation strategies for improving numerical weather prediction. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 58, 210-234.

Hamill, T. M., Snyder, C., Morss, R. E., 2000: A comparison of probabilistic forecasts from Bred, singular vector, and perturbed observation ensembles. Monthly Weather Review, 128(6), 1835-1851.

Szunyogh, I., Toth, Z., Morss, R. E., Majumdar, S., Etherton, B., Bishop, C. H., 2000: The effect of targeted dropsonde observations during the 1999 Winter Storm Reconnaissance Program. Monthly Weather Review, 128, 3520-3537.

Szunyogh, I., Toth, Z., Emanuel, K. A., Bishop, C. H., Snyder, C., Morss, R. E., Woolen, J., Marchok, T., 1999: Ensemble-based targeting experiments during FASTEX: The effect of dropsonde data from the Lear jet. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 125, 3189-3217.

Langland, R. H., Toth, Z., Gelaro, R., Szunyogh, I., Shapiro, M. A., Majundar, S., Morss, R. E., Rohaly, G. D., Velden, C., Bond, N., Bishop, C., 1999: The North Pacific Experiment (NORPEX-98): Targeted observations for improved North American weather forecasts. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 80, 1363-1384.

Kash, P. W., Waschewsky, G. C. G., Morss, R. E., Butler, L. J., Francl, M. M., 1994: Competing C-Br and C-C bond fission following [n(O), pi*(C:O)] excitation in bromoacetone: Conformation dependence of nonadiabaticity at a conical intersection. Journal of Chemical Physics, 100, 3463-3475.

Rebecca Morss's Vitae

Shared Files

• Morss, Lazo, and Demuth, submitted: Examining the use of weather forecasts in decision scenarios: Results from a U.S. survey with implications for uncertainty communication
• Morss and Hayden, submitted: Storm surge and “certain death”: Interviews with Texas coastal residents following Hurricane Ike
• Morss, in press: Interactions among flood predictions, decisions, and outcomes: A synthesis of three cases
• Morss, Snyder, and Rotunno, 2009: Spectra, spatial scales, and predictability in a quasigeostrophic model
• Lazo, Morss, and Demuth, 2009: 300 Billion served: Sources, perceptions, uses, and values of weather forecasts
• Morss, Demuth, and Lazo, 2008: Communicating uncertainty in weather forecasts: A survey of the US Public
• Morss et al., 2008: Societal and economic research and applications priorities for the North American THORPEX program
• Morss and Zhang, 2008: Linking meteorological education to reality: A prototype undergraduate research study of public response to Hurricane Rita forecasts
• Morss and Wahl, 2007: An ethical analysis of hydrometeorological prediction and decision making: The case of the 1997 Red River flood
• Morss and Ralph, 2007: Use of information by National Weather Service forecasters and emergency managers during CALJET and PACJET-2001
• Downton, Morss, et al., 2005: Interactions between scientific uncertainty and flood management decisions: Two case studies in Colorado
• Morss et al., 2005: Flood risk, uncertainty, and scientific information for decision-making: Lessons from an interdisciplinary project
• Morss and Hooke, 2005: The outlook for U.S. meteorological research in a commercializing world: Fair early, but clouds moving in?
• Morss, Miller, and Vasil, 2005: A systematic economic approach to evaluating public investment in observations for weather forecasting
• Morss, 2005: Problem definition in atmospheric science public policy: The example of observing system design for weather prediction
• Morss and Battisti, 2004: Designing efficient observing networks for ENSO prediction
• Morss and Battisti, 2004: Evaluating observing requirements for ENSO prediction: experiments with an intermediate coupled model
• Morss and Emanuel, 2002: Influence of added observations on analysis and forecast errors: Results from idealized systems
• Morss, Emanuel, and Snyder, 2001: Idealized adaptive observation strategies for improving numerical weather prediction