Dr. John J. Bates is the Chief of the Remote Sensing Applications Division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center. Dr. Bates received a Ph. D. in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1986 under Professor William L. Smith on the topic of satellite remote sensing of air-sea heat fluxes. Dr. Bates then received a post-doctoral fellowship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1986-1988) to work jointly with the California Space Institute and the Climate Research Division. He joined the NOAA Environmental Research Laboratories in Boulder, CO in 1988 and there continued his work in applying remotely sensed data to climate applications. In 2002, Dr. Bates moved to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC.

Dr. Bates research interests are in the areas of using operational and research satellite data and weather radar data to study the global water cycle and studying interactions of the ocean and atmosphere. He has authored over 25 peer reviewed journal articles on these subjects. He served on the AMS Committee on Interaction of the Sea and Atmosphere (1987-1990) and the AMS Committee on Applied Radiation (1991-1994).

As a member of the U.S. National Research Council Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Panel (1993-1997), Dr. Bates reviewed U.S. agency participation and plans for observing the global water cycle. He was awarded a 1998 Editors’ Citation for excellence in refereeing Geophysical Research Letters for, ‘thorough and efficient reviews of manuscripts on topics related to the measurement and climate implications of atmospheric water vapor’. He has also been a contributing author and U.S. government reviewer of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports. He currently serves on the International GEXEX Radiation Panel whose goal is to bring together theoretical and experimental insights into the radiative interactions and climate feedbacks associated with cloud processes, including the effects of water vapor within the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface.