Christopher Hennon, Ph.D.

Professor of Atmospheric Sciences

Contact Information

    Office Hours

    • Monday 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
    • Tuesday 9:30 am - 10:30 am
    • Wednesday 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
    • Thursday 9:30 am - 10:30 am
    • Note:

    My research focus includes tropical cyclones (particularly genesis, remote sensing, and more recently crowd sourcing of science. My teaching interests center around those topics as well as scientific writing and climate change education.

    I came to UNC Asheville in 2005 after spending two years at the National Hurricane Center in Miami FL. There I worked as a post-doc and visiting scientist on a project to assess and improve the use of QuikSCAT ocean surface wind vectors in tropical cyclones. I left Miami just before Katrina and Wilma hit that fall.

    If you are considering attending UNC Asheville and majoring in Atmospheric Sciences, I encourage you to browse through our department pages. We are a truly unique department and university that focuses completely on undergraduate success. If you like virtually unlimited faculty access, small class sizes, a challenging yet rewarding curriculum, internship opportunities at the NWS or National Center for Environmental Information (right in downtown Asheville), and deep preparation for careers in meteorology or graduate school, then I think that you will find a home here.

    Education

    • Ph.D., Atmospheric Science, 2003, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
    • M.S., Atmospheric Science, 1996, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
    • B.S., Aeronautics/Mathematics, 1994, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

    Research Interests

    • Tropical Cyclogenesis
    • Remote Sensing
    • Physical Climatology

    Recent Publications

    • Phillips, C., D. Walshe, K.O. Regan, K. Strong, C.C. Hennon, K.R. Knapp, C. Murphy, and P.W. Thorne, 2017: Assessing Citizen Science Participation Skill for Altruism or University Course Credit. Submitted, Citizen Science: Theory and Practice.
    • Knapp, K.R., J. Matthews, J.P. Kossin, and C.C. Hennon, 2016: Identification of Tropical Cyclone Storm Types Using Crowd Sourcing. Monthly Weather Review, 144, 3783-3798. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0022.1
    • Hennon, C.C., K.R. Knapp, C.J. Schreck III, S.E. Stevens, J.P. Kossin, P.W. Thorne, P.A. Hennon, M.C. Kruk, J. Rennie, J-M Gadea, M. Striegl, and I. Carley, 2015: Cyclone Center: Can Citizen Scientists Improve Tropical Cyclone Intensity Records? Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 96, 591-607. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00152.1
    • Alsweiss, S., R. Hanna, P. Laupattarakasem, W.L. Jones, C.C. Hennon, and R. Chen, 2014: A Non-MLE Approach for Satellite Scatterometer Wind Vector Retrievals in Tropical Cyclones. Remote Sensing, 6, 4133-4148, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs6054133
    • Hennon, C.C., P.P. Papin, C.M. Zarzar, J.R. Michael, J.A. Caudill, C.R. Douglas, W.C. Groetsema, J.H. Lacy, Z.D. Maye, J.L. Reid, M.A. Scales, M.D. Talley, and C.N. Helms, 2013: Tropical Cloud Cluster Climatology, Variability, and Genesis Productivity. Journal of Climate, 26, 3046-3066. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00387.1

    View Dr. Hennon's CV