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WHO IS NASA'S 'CLIMATE ELVIS'?

Not many people can say they have a dual career in climate change science and comedy, but NASA's Josh Willis has given it a shot. 

In his day job, Dr Willis is a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he studies sea level rise driven by human-induced climate change. 

He is the principal investigator for a mission called Oceans Melting Greenand (OMG), a name he and his wife came up with.

This five-year effort aims to assess the extent to which warmer oceans are melting Greenland's glaciers and how this information can be used to better estimate global sea level rise.

Dr Willis is also a graduate of the Second City improv comedy school and has created a sketch comedy for kids about climate change, as well as his 'Climate Elvis' persona.

He also created the persona of 'Dick Dangerfield,' a square-jawed puppet and climate change sceptic who accompanies Dr Willis in his scientific pursuits. 

Dr Willis has built a social media presence for the OMG mission on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, with items posted to official NASA sites when appropriate.

Finding a way to integrate his unique style into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's official outreach has proven to be a challenge, Dr Willis said. 

'I think my personal style versus a more serious institutional style might make some people nervous,' he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

'But on the other hand, I think it's an important time for me to keep doing what I'm doing.'

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