Dr. Michael Dettinger is a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Western Regional Research, and a research associate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

Dr. Dettinger has researched the hydrology, climate, and water resources of the West for over 30 years, focusing on regional surface water and groundwater resources and modeling, hydroclimatic variability, and climate-change impacts.

He was physical sciences team leader for DOI-DOD ecosystem planning in the Mojave Desert, founding member of the CIRMONT Western Mountain Climate Sciences Consortium, climate advisor to the CALFED Bay-Delta Restoration Program, research advisor for USGS Surface-Water Discipline, member of the USGS Global Change Science Strategic Planning Team, and lead author of the Water Resources chapter of the 2013 National Climate Assessment. Dettinger has degrees from the University of California, San Diego (Physics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Civil Engineering/Water Resources), and a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (Atmospheric Sciences). Dr. Dettinger has authored and co-authored 90+ scientific articles and chapters in scholarly journals and books, 20+ government reports, and 70+ other articles in less formal outlets. In 2014, he was elected an American Geophysical Union Fellow.