Joel Thornton

Dean, College of the Environment &

Professor, Atmospheric and Climate Science

Photo of Joel Thornton

(206) 543-4010

ATG 608

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Visit Joel's website

Areas of Expertise
  • Boundary Layer Surface Interactions
  • Cloud Aerosols
  • Atmospheric Chemistry
  • In situ and laboratory studies of homogeneous and heterogeneous atmospheric chemical processes
Courses
  • ATMOS 211 Climate and Climate Change
  • ATMOS 358 Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry
  • ATMOS 458 Air Pollution Chemistry
  • ATMOS 564 Aerosols and Multiphase Chemistry
Awards
  • 2018    American Geophysical Union Ascent Award,  “For outstanding achievements in atmospheric sciences by a mid-career researcher.”
  • 2012    Henry G Houghton Award, American Meteorological Society, “For ground-breaking contributions to understanding chemical processes in the atmosphere, especially… [involving] atmospheric particles and the gas phase.”
  • 2010    Annual Teaching Award, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, U.W.
  • 2009    NSF CAREER Award
  • 2004    NASA New Investigator
Service

2017 – present     Graduate Program Coordinator, Atmospheric Sciences, UW

2019 – present     Associate Chair, Department of Atmospheric Sciences

2018 – 2019         UW Faculty Council on Academic Standards

2017 – 2019         UW Faculty Senator

2013 – 2018         UW Atmospheric Sciences Strategic Planning Committee

2011 – 2015.        UW Program on the Environment Advisory Board

2020 – present     Editorial Board, RSC Environmental Science: Atmospheres

2015 – 2020         Editor, Geophysical Research Letters 

2006 – present     Co-Editor of the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

2019 – 2021         Co-Chair Gordon Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry

2017 – 2019         Co-Vice-Chair Gordon Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry

2018 – 2021          NCAR ACOM Advisory Panel for Instrumentation

2018 – 2020         NSF Observational Facility Advisory Panel (OFAP)

2015 – 2017          Chair AMS Committee on Atmospheric Ozone Statement

2020  AGU  Revelle Medal Selection Committee

Selected publications

  • Wright, C. J., et al. (2025), Lightning declines over shipping lanes following regulation of fuel sulfur emissions, Atmospheric
    Chemistry and Physics, 25, 2937–2946, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2937-2025.

  • Bardakov, R., et al. (2024), High Concentrations of Nanoparticles From Isoprene Nitrates Predicted in Convective Outflow
    Over the Amazon, Geophysical Research Letters, 51, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109919.

  • Chan, J. K. et al. (2024), Olfaction in the Anthropocene: NO 3 negatively affects floral scent and nocturnal pollination,
    Science, 383, 607–611, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi0858.

  • Lee, B. H., et al. (2024), Sensitive Response of Atmospheric Oxidative Capacity to the Uncertainty in the Emissions of Nitric
    Oxide (NO) From Soils in Amazonia, Geophysical Research Letters, 51, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107214.

  • McNeill, V. F. and Thornton, J. A. (2023), How wildfires deplete ozone in the stratosphere, Nature, 615, 219–221,
    https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00598-w.

  • Fredrickson, C. D., Theys, N., and Thornton, J. A. (2023), Satellite Evidence of HONO/NO 2 Increase With Fire Radiative
    Power, Geophysical Research Letters, 50, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103836.

  • Palm, B. B., et al. (2020), Quantification of organic aerosol and brown carbon evolution in fresh wildfire plumes, PNAS,
    117(47), 29469–29477, doi:10.1073/pnas.2012218117.

  • Peng, Q., et al (2020), HONO Emissions from Western U.S. Wildfires Provide Dominant Radical Source in Fresh Wildfire
    Smoke. Environmental Science and Technology, 54(10), 5954–5963. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c00126

  • Pye, H. O. T et al. (2019), Anthropogenic enhancements to production of highly oxygenated molecules from autoxidation.
    PNAS, 116(14), 6641–6646. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1810774116

  • Ehn, M., et al. (2014), Nature, 506(7489), 476-479.

  • Gaston, C. J., et al. (2014), Reactive Uptake of an Isoprene-Derived Epoxydiol to Submicron Aerosol Particles,
    Environmental Science & Technology, 48(19), 11178-11186, doi: 10.1021/es5034266.

  • Lee, B. H., et al. (2014), An Iodide-Adduct High-Resolution Time-of-Flight Chemical-Ionization Mass Spectrometer:
    Application to Atmospheric Inorganic and Organic Compounds, Environmental Science & Technology, 48(11), 6309-
    6317.

  • Lopez-Hilfiker, F. D., et al. (2014), A novel method for online analysis of gas and particle composition: description and
    evaluation of a Filter Inlet for Gases and AEROsols (FIGAERO), Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7(4), 983-1001.