Joshua Wadler

Title
Assistant Professor
Email
Department
Applied Aviation Sciences Department
College
College of Aviation

Areas of Expertise

hurricane intensity change, emerging technologies.
Joshua Wadler

Dr. Josh Wadler is an assistant professor of meteorology in the Department of Applied Aviation Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from the University of Miami. Before arriving at Embry-Riddle, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Hurricane Research Division at NOAA.

His research interests broadly cover tropical cyclone (TC or hurricane) structure and intensity change. This includes studying boundary layer thermodynamics, air-sea interactions, precipitation and kinematic structures, and TC-environmental interactions. He approaches these problems from both observational and numerical modeling perspectives.

Dr. Wadler also experiments with using new sampling techniques and platforms, such as small uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), to sample TCs. This helps measure and understand regions crewed aircraft cannot reach (e.g., the boundary layer or a few 100 feet above the ocean surface). Besides research, he is passionate about mentoring and teaching students.


  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, University of Miami
  • B.S. - Bachelor of Science in Meteorology, University of Oklahoma Norman Campus

  • WX 462: Numerical Weather Prediction
  • WX 368: Physical Meteorology
  • WX 201: Survey of Meteorology

WX482 - Research Methods in Meteorology

WX299 - Independent Study


*=Student’s mentored

12.       Wadler, J.B., J.J. Cione, S. Michlowitz*, B. Jaimes de la Cruz, and L.K. Shay, 2024: Improving the Statistical Representation of Tropical Cyclone In-Storm Sea Surface Temperature Cooling, Weather and Forecasting, 39, 847–866, https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-23-0115.1.

11.       Wadler, J. B., J. J. Cione, R. F. Rogers, and M. S. Fischer, 2023: On the Distribution of Convective and Stratiform Precipitation in Tropical Cyclones from Airborne Doppler Radar and Its Relationship to Intensity Change and Environmental Wind Shear Direction. Mon. Wea. Rev., 151, 3209–3233, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-23-0048.1.

10.       Wadler, J.B., J.E. Rudzin, B.J. de la Cruz, J. Chen, M. Fischer, G. Chen, N. Qin, B. Tang, and Q. Li, 2023: A review of Recent Research Progress on the Effect of External Influences on Tropical Cyclone Intensity Change, Tropical Cyclone Research and Review, 12, 200-215, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcrr.2023.09.001

9.         Wadler. J.B., D.S. Nolan, J.A. Zhang, L. K. Shay, J. Olson, J.J Cione, 2023: The Effect of Advection on the Distribution of Turbulent Kinetic Energy and its Generation in Idealized Tropical Cyclone Simulations, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. 15, e2022MS003230. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022MS003230

8.         Wadler, J.B., J.J. Cione, J.A. Zhang, E.A. Kalina, and J. Kaplan, 2022: The Effects of Environmental Wind Shear Direction on Tropical Cyclone Boundary Layer Thermodynamics and Intensity Change from Multiple Observational Datasets. Mon. Wea. Rev., 150, 115-134,  https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-21-0022.1

7.         Wadler, J.B., D.S. Nolan, J.A. Zhang, and L.K. Shay, 2021: The Thermodynamic Characteristics of Downdrafts in Tropical Cyclones Using Idealized Simulations of Different Intensities. J. Atmos. Sci., 78, 3503-3524,  https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-21-0006.1

6.        Jaimes B., L. K. Shay, J. B. Wadler, and J. E. Rudzin, 2021: On the hyperbolicity of the bulk air-sea heat flux formulae: A new perspective on the role of moisture disequilibrium in tropical cyclone intensification. Mon. Wea. Rev., 149, 1517-1534, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-20-0324.1

5.         Wadler, J.B., J.A. Zhang, R.F. Rogers, B. Jaimes, and L.K. Shay, 2021: The Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Michael (2018): Storm Structure and the Relationship to Environmental and Air-Sea Interactions; Mon. Wea. Rev., 149, 245-267,  https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-20-0145.1

4.         Yifang, R., J.A. Zhang, J. L. Vigh, P. Zhu, H. Liu, and X. Wang, and J. B. Wadler, 2020: An Observational Study of the Symmetric Boundary Layer Structure and Tropical Cyclone Intensity; Atmosphere 11, no. 2: 158. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11020158

3.         Cione J.J., G.H. Bryan, R. Dobosy, J.A. Zhang, G. de Boer, A. Aksoy, J.B. Wadler, E.A. Kalina, B.A. Dahl, K. Ryan, J. Neuhaus, E. Dumas, F.D. Marks, A.M. Farber, T. Hock, and X. Chen, 2020: Eye of the Storm: Observing Hurricanes with a small Unmanned Aircraft System. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 101, E186–E205, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0169.1

2.         Wadler, J.B., J.A. Zhang, B. Jaimes, and L.K. Shay, 2018: Downdrafts and the Evolution of Boundary Layer Thermodynamics in Hurricane Earl (2010) before and during Rapid Intensification. Mon. Wea. Rev., 146, 3545–3565, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-18-0090.1

1.         Wadler, J. B., R.F. Rogers, and P.D. Reasor, 2018: The Relationship between Spatial Variations in the Structure of Convective Bursts and Tropical Cyclone Intensification as Determined by Airborne Doppler Radar. Mon. Wea. Rev., 146, 761–780, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-17-0213.1