John Alexander Church (born 1951) is an expert on sea level and its changes. He was co-convening lead author (with Jonathan M. Gregory) for the chapter on Sea Level in the IPCC Third Assessment Report. He was also a co-convening lead author for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. He is a member of the Joint Scientific Committee of the WCRP. He was a project leader at CSIRO, until 2016. He is currently a professor with the University of New South Wales' Climate Change Research Centre.

Biography

Church graduated from the University of Queensland with a BSc in Physics in 1972. He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in 1979. Church has led a number of programs, including: CSIRO Division of Oceanography; Program Leader of the Oceanography Program of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions; Project Leader, Southern Ocean Processes Project; CSIRO Division of Marine and atmospheric Research, Polar Waters Program, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre. On an international level, Church has been the Principal Investigator for the NASA/CNES TOPEX/Poseidon Extended Satellite Mission. Currently, Church is chair of the scientific committee of the World Climate Research Programme studying sea-level rise, and is leader of the Sea level Rise Project at the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre. (2007)

Awards

Church is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the American Meteorological Society, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Physics. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to climate science through oceanographic and sea-level research and publications".

Publications