Bio 

Dr. Mock obtained his Ph.D. in geography at the University of Oregon in 1994.  He was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts in 1994-1995 and subsequently did a postdoc at the Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington.  He joined the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina in 1999.

 

Research 

Cary Mock is a climatologist with research interests in historical climatology and environments, synoptic climatology, and extreme weather events such as hurricanes, atmospheric rivers, and snowstorms.  He is also interested on how historical data supplement high resolution paleoclimatology records for the past several centuries. His historical weather and climatology research covers most of North America and is particularly strong for the Southeast USA, the West Coast, and Utah.  But his research has also expanded internationally and includes typhoons in East Asia, storms and sea ice in the Western Arctic, weather and climate of Belize and Bermuda, and Kona storms and hurricanes in Hawaii.  For more information on his historical climatology research, please refer to his Historical Climatology Research website.

 

Teaching 

GEOG 346:  Climate and Society
GEOG 365:  Hurricanes and Tropical Climatology
GEOG 545:  Synoptic Meteorology
GEOG 567:  Long Term Environmental Change

 

Representative Publications 

2023      Gavin, D.G., P. J. Bartlein, and C.J. Mock.  Historical archives reveal record rainfall and severe flooding in December 1867 resulting from an atmospheric river and snowmelt, Western Washington, USA.  Plos Climate. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000324

2023      Shinker, J.J. and C.J. Mock.  2023.  Modern synoptic and late Quaternary climate analog approaches in Paleoclimatology.  In:  Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (Third Edition).  Elsevier.

2021      Cerrito, E., C.J. Mock, and J.M. Collins.  The Great Havana Hurricane of 1846:  A Reconstruction of the Storm’s Track, Intensity, and Impacts.  Annals of the Association of American Geographers 111:6, 1585-1601, DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2020.1838257

2019      Slivinski, L.C. and 46 others (included in the list alphabetically).  Towards a more reliable historical reanalysis:  Improvements for version 3 of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis system.  Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 145 (724):  2876-2908.  DOI: 10.1002/qj.3598

2016      Mock, C.J., K. Carter, and K.W. Birkeland.  “Some perspectives on Avalanche Climatology.”  DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2016.1203285