James Carton is a Professor at the Atmospheric and Oceanic Science department at the University of Maryland and is a physical oceanographer interested in the ocean’s role in climate. He received an M.S. degree in oceanography from the University of Washington and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in atmospheric and ocean dynamics from Princeton University. He has taught at the University of Maryland for 25 years. He works with computer models and observations to elucidate the ocean's role in climate variability and change. Specific research areas include tropical climate, ENSO, North Pacific and polar climate variability, and anthropogenic climate change. As part of the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites at the University of Maryland (CICS-MD), he has led projects on Warm Anomalies in the Nordic Seas and the Role of Oceanic and Atmospheric Circulation and Mapping Altimeter Sea Level at High Latitude.