Mark D. Schwartz is a synoptic climatologist and phenoclimatologist who received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and is a distinguished professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His main research interests include plant phenology-lower atmosphere interactions during the onsets of spring and autumn in mid latitudes, detecting climatic change, and assessing vegetation condition with remote sensing imagery. Prof. Schwartz has received eight USA National Science Foundation grants, authored over one hundred peer-reviewed publications, mostly in journals such as Nature, Global Change Biology, Journal of Climate, International Journal of Climatology, Remote Sensing of Environment, and International Journal of Biometeorology, as well as edited the first and second editions of this book. Prof. Schwartz is also the co-founder of the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN).