Summary
Dr. Baker Perry is a Professor of Climatology and the Nevada State Climatologist in the Department of Geography at the University of Nevada, Reno. He works at the highest elevations of the planet to understand climate change impacts on the critical water towers that sustain hundreds of millions of people downstream. In collaboration with The National Geographic Society, the Government of Nepal, Tribhuvan University, and Appalachian State University, Dr. Perry co-led the expeditions that installed the highest altitude weather station network in the world on the south side of Mount Everest in Nepal. The 2019 expedition was reported in a feature-length documentary; articles in the National Geographic magazine (including online here and here) have added to the coverage, with hundreds of millions of views worldwide. He and his colleagues have published many scientific papers on the network, including being featured on the front cover of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in 2019 and 2022 (the latter broke the news of the summit station). Dr. Perry also has worked extensively at the highest reaches of the Andes Mountains in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, where he and his teams have investigated climate and glacier changes and associated impacts on water resources.
Research interests
- High-mountain precipitation
- Snow and ice
- Precipitation-cryosphere-climate interactions
- High-elevation weather stations
Education
- Ph.D., Geography (Climatology), University of North Carolina, 2006
- M.A., Geography, Appalachian State University, 1998
- B.A., Comparative Area Studies, Duke University, 1996
Selected publications
- Gribbin, T., J.D. Mackay, A. MacDonald, D.M. Hannah, W. Buytaert, J.R. Baiker, N. Montoya, L.B. Perry, A. Seimon, M. Rado, S. Arias, M. Vargas. 2024. Bofedal wetland and glacial melt contributions to dry season streamflow in a high-Andean headwater watershed. Hydrological Processes.
- Sherpa, T.C., T. Matthews, L.B. Perry, A. Thapa, P.K. Singh, A. Khadka, I. Koch, M. Pelto, P. Panday, D. Aryal, D. Shrestha, S. Kang, P.A. Mayewski. 2023. Insights from the first observations of winter weather near Mount Everest’s summit. Weather.
- Dragone, N.B., L.B. Perry, A. Solon, A. Seimon, T.A. Seimon, S.K. Schmidt. 2023. Genetic analysis of the frozen microbiome at 7,900 m a.s.l., on the South Col of Sagarmatha (Mount Everest). Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research.
- Matthews, T., L.B. Perry, A. Khadka, T.G. Sherpa, D. Shrestha, D. Aryal, S. Tuladhar, N. Thapa, N. Pradhananga, P. Athans, D.Y. Sherpa, H. Guy, A. Seimon, A. Elmore, K. Li, N. Alexiev. 2022. Weather observations reach the summit of Mount Everest. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103: E2827-E2835.
- Clifford, H.M., M. Potocki, C. Rodda, D. Dixon, S. Birkel, M. Handley, E. Korothikh, F. Schwanck, F.A. Tavares, R.T. Bernardo, F.G.L. Lindau, O.V. Gomez, H. Jara-Infantes, V. B. Urviola, L.B. Perry, J. Maurer, A. Seimon, M. Schwikowski, G. Casassa, S. Hou, A.V. Kurbatov, K.R. Miner, J.C. Simões, P.A. Mayewski. 2022. Comparison of shallow ice core records from Quelccaya Ice Cap (Peru) and Nevado Illimani (Bolivia) and potential for future ultra-high-resolution investigation. Journal of Glaciology, 1-15.
- Pelto, M.S., M. Dryak, J. Pelto, T. Matthews, L.B. Perry. 2022. Contribution of glacier runoff during heat waves in the Nooksack River. Water.
- Bessin, Z., J-P. Dedieu, Y. Arnaud, P. Wagnon, F. Brun, M. Esteves, L.B. Perry, T. Matthews. 2022. Processing of VENµS images in high mountain: A case study from cryospheric and hydro-climatic applications in the Everest region (Nepal). Remote Sensing, 14, 1098.
- Birkel, S., P.A. Mayewski, L.B. Perry, A. Seimon, M. Andrade-Flores. 2022. Reanalysis inter-model comparison of temperature and precipitation for the Andean Altiplano and adjacent Cordilleras. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
- Grey, L., A. Johnson, T. Matthews, L.B. Perry, A. Elmore, A. Khadka, D. Shrestha, S. Tuludhar, S. Baidya, D. Aryal, A. Gajurel. 2022. Mount Everest’s photogenic weather during the post-monsoon. Weather.
- Moreno, C., M. Sugg, J. Sugg, L.B. Perry. 2022. Examining spatiotemporal trends of drought in the conterminous United States using self-organizing maps. Physical Geography.
- Potocki, M., P.A. Mayewki, T. Matthews, L.B. Perry, M. Schwikowski, A. Tait, E. Korotkikh, H. Clifford, S. Kang, T. Sherpa, P. Singh, I. Koch, S. Birkel. 2022. Mt. Everest’s highest glacier is a sentinel for accelerating ice loss. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science 5, 7.
- Matthews, T., L.B. Perry, D. Aryal, A.C. Elmore, A. Khadka, M. Pelto, D. Shrestha, R. Wilby. 2022. Weather on K2 during historic first winter ascent. Weather 77: 49-52.
- Fyffe, C.L., E. Potter, S. Fugger, A. Orr, S. Fatichi, K. Medina, R.Å Hellström, M. Bernat, C. Aubry-Wake, W. Gurgiser, L.B. Perry, W. Suarez, D.J. Quincey, E. Loarte, F. Pellicciotti. 2021. The energy and mass balance of Peruvian glaciers. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126, e2021JD034911.
- Pelto, M., P. Panday, T. Matthews, J. Maurer, L.B. Perry. 2021. Observations of winter ablation on glaciers in the Mount Everest Region in 2020-2021. Remote Sensing 2021: 13(14) 2692.
- Clifford, H. M., M. Potocki, I. Koch, T. Sherpa, M. Handley, E. Korotkikh, D. Introne, S. Kaspari, K. Miner, T. Matthews, L.B. Perry, H. Guy, P. Wagnon, A. Gajurel, P.K. Singh, S.E. Elvin, A.C. Elmore, A. Tait, P.A. Mayewski. 2020. Natural and human contributions to pre-monsoon snow and stream chemistry, Khumbu Nepal. Science of the Total Environment.
- Jonaitis, J., L.B. Perry, A. Seimon, P. Soulé, C. Thaxton, M. Andrade-Flores, T. Ita-Vargas. 2021. Spatiotemporal patterns of ENSO-precipitation relationships in the tropical Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia. International Journal of Climatology, 41: 4061-4076.
- Khadka, A., T. Matthews, L.B. Perry, I. Koch, P. Wagnon, D. Shrestha, D. Aryal, A. Tait, T.G. Sherpa, S. Tuladhar, S.K. Baidya, S.E. Elvin, A.C. Elmore, A. Gajurel, P.A. Mayewski. 2021. Weather on Mount Everest during the 2019 summer monsoon. Weather.
- Perry, L.B., S.E. Yuter, T. Matthews, P. Wagnon, A. Khadka, D. Aryal, D. Shrestha, A. Tait, M.A. Miller, A. O’Neill, S.R. Rhodes, I. Koch, T.G. Sherpa, S. Tuladhar, S.K. Baidya, S. Elvin, A.C. Elmore, A. Gajurel, P.A. Mayewski. 2021. Direct observations of a Mount Everest Snowstorm from the World’s Highest Surface-Based Radar Observations. Weather 76: 57-59.
- Matthews, T., L.B. Perry, T.P. Lane, A.C. Elmore, A. Khadka, D. Aryal, D. Shrestha, S. Tuladhar, S.K. Baidya, A. Gajurel, M. Potocki, P.A. Mayewski. 2020. Into Thicker Air? Oxygen availability at humans’ physiological frontier on Mount Everest. iScience 23(12).
- Mayewski, P.A. L.B. Perry, T. Matthews, S. Birkel. 2020. Climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayas: Basis and Gaps. One Earth 3(5): 551-55.
- Mayewski, P.A., A. Gajurel, S.E. Elvin, P. Athans, T. Dinley, P. Sherpa, A.C. Elmore, J. Ghimire, L.B. Perry, T. Matthews, S. Birkel, S. Guilford, M. Hubbard, A. Putnam, T. Seimon, A. Seimon, S. Ghimere, A. Tait. 2020. Pushing Climate Change Science to the Roof of the World. One Earth 3(5): 556-560.
- Miner, K.R., P.A. Mayewski, S.K. Baidya, K. Broad, H. Clifford, A. Elmore, A.P. Gajurel, B. Giri, S. Guilford, M. Hubbard, C. Jaskolski, H. Koldewey, W. Li, T. Matthews, I. Napper, L.B. Perry, M. Potocki, J.C. Priscu, A. Tait, R. Thompson, S. Tuladhar. 2020. An overview of physical risks in the Mt. Everest region. One Earth 3(5): 547-550.
- Perry, L.B., T. Matthews, H. Guy, I. Koch, A. Khadka, A.C. Elmore, D. Shrestha, S. Tuladhar, S.K. Baidya, S. Maharjan, P. Wagnon, D. Aryal, A. Seimon, A. Gajurel, P.A. Mayewski. 2020. Precipitation characteristics and moisture source regions on Mt. Everest in the Khumbu, Nepal. One Earth 3(5): 594-607.
- Matthews, T., L. B. Perry, I. Koch, I, D. Aryal, A Khadka, D. Shrestha, K Abernathy, A.C. Elmore, A. Seimon, A. Tait, S. Elvin, T. Subash, S.K. Baidya, M. Potocki, S.D. Birkel, S. Kang, P.A. Mayewski, and National Geographic and Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Extreme Expedition to Mt. Everest Team. 2020. Going to extremes: installing the world’s highest weather stations on Mount Everest. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101: E1870-E1890.
- Kunkel, K.E., D.R. Easterling, A. Ballinger, S. Bililign, S.M. Champion, D.R. Corbett, K.D. Dello, J. Dissen, G.M. Lackmann, R.A. Luettich, Jr., L.B. Perry, W.A. Robinson, L.E. Stevens, B.C. Stewart, and A.J. Terando. 2020. North Carolina Climate Science Report. North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, 233 pp.
- Montpellier, E., P.T. Soulé, P.A. Knapp, L.B. Perry. 2020. Reconstructing summer upper-level flow in the northern Rocky Mountains using an Alpine Larch (Larix lyallii Parl.) tree-ring chronology. Climate Research 79: 207-218.
- Kinlaw, T., J.W. Sugg, L.B. Perry. 2019. Warm season hydroclimatic variability and change in the Appalachian region of the southeastern U.S. from 1950 to 2018. Atmosphere 10: 289.
- Guy, H., A. Seimon, L.B. Perry, B.L. Konecky, M. Rado, M. Andrade, M. Potocki, P.A. Mayewski. 2019. Subseasonal variations of stable isotopes in tropical Andean precipitation. Journal of Hydrometeorology 20:915-933.