ABOUT THE SPEAKERS - DAY 3: FRIDAY JUNE 10
**In alphabetical order
Dr. Angela BENEDETTI - ECMWF
Friday 10 – Session 6
Title: The benefits of spaceborne lida data for numerical weather and atmospheric composition prediction
Dr. Angela Benedetti is a Senior Scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom. She received her master degree in Physics at the University of Rome, “La Sapienza” and earned a PhD in Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (CSU) in Colorado. She was part of the CloudSat team at CSU and joined ECMWF over 13 years ago as a research consultant to work on assimilation of cloud and precipitation information from active sensors. After 2 years she started working on GEMS, MACC and MACCII, the precursor programs of the EU Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service whose mission is to provide services related to prediction and monitoring of atmospheric composition.
Her role in these projects has been that of developing and maintaining the aerosol assimilation system. She has been since at the forefront of aerosol prediction, and has contributed to the enhancement of the field by cofounding the International Cooperative for Aerosol Prediction, by serving in several international committees (WMOS-SDS, GAW SAG, Aeolus Mission Advisory Group), and by publishing several contributions in international scientific journals. She also contributes yearly to the Bulletin of the American Society State of Climate with her articles on aerosol anomalies. She has taught the atmospheric composition module in the ESA-sponsored MOOC on Climate Change and she is a regular lecturer at the yearly ECMWF’s training course on Data Assimilation.
Her recent focus has shifted to aerosol impacts on the Numerical Weather Prediction at long ranges (monthly to seasonal) as contribution to the DACCIWA project. She is also a PI of an ESA activity on assimilation of Aeolus/EarthCARE aerosol data, and work package leader for the modelling activity in ACTRIS-2.
Prof. Jean-Pierre BLANCHET - UQAM
Friday 10 – Session 7
Title: Polar clouds and aerosol: Key results from CloudSat-CALIPSO
Prof. Blanchet is director of the ESCER Center (Centre pour la Simumaltion du Climat à l'Échelle Régionale) at the University of Quebec at Montreal.
He has been responsible for developing cloud and radiation schemes of the Canadian GCM/RCM/MAM, was leading the Northern Aerosols Regional Climate Model Network and currently Co-I of the Canadian Network on Climate and Aerosols (NETCARE) and of AVATARS - Arctic Validation And Training for Atmospheric Research in Space.
His research focuses on the feedback processes involving aerosols, clouds, radiation and precipitation in the Arctic. He is lead investigator of the Thin Ice Clouds in Far IR Experiment mission for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Dr. Richard FORBES - ECMWF
Friday 10 – Session 6
Title: An unprecedented confrontation: GCM vs CALIPSO-CloudSat
Dr. Richard Forbes is a Senior Scientist at the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) working on the development of global operational Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) since 2007.
His focus is particularly on parametrizations relating to cloud and precipitation, confronting the model with observations, improving the representation of physical processes and evaluating impacts, to improve the accuracy of forecasts from the medium-range to seasonal timescales. Previously he was at the UK Met Office where he worked on a wide range of topics including ocean modelling, data assimilation, mesoscale modelling of extra-tropical cyclones, cloud microphysics and the development of convective-scale NWP.
Dr. Stef LHERMITTE - KULeuven/TUDelft
Friday 10 – Session 7
Title: Clouds enhance Greenland ice sheet meltwater runoff
Dr. Stef Lhermitte is a remote sensing scientist with specific interest in spatio-temporal analysis of satellite time series data and the integration of multi-source remote sensing data with atmospheric and land surface model data.
In 2008 he received his PhD in Bioscience Engineering with a specialisation in remote sensing of vegetation at the KU Leuven, Belgium. After a period (2008-2010) at CEAZA, Chile, where he worked on the use of multi-source satellite imagery to study hydrological, snow/ice and ecological processes in Southern America, he focused at KNMI, the Netherlands, (2011-2013) on the use of optical remote sensing to evaluate and improve the representation of land surface processes in climate models over the Greenland Ice Sheet. Since 2013 he is a FWO post-doctoral fellow at KULeuven where he combines multi-source remote sensing and land surface modelling to assess cryosphere, atmosphere and ecosystem dynamics.
Stef Lhermitte is active collaborator on the recent study that quantifies the effect of clouds on the Greenland ice sheet meltwater runoff using a unique combination of Calipso-Cloudsat satellite observations, climate model data and snow model simulations. With this study, the importance of Calipso-Cloudsat observations was highlighted, both for understanding cloud effects in polar environments and for improving cloud representations in climate models.
Dr. Jean-François MAHFOUF - Météo-France
Friday 10 – Session 6
Title: Data assimilation for NWP at Météo-France: current status and plans towards an increase usage of active instruments
Jean-François Mahfouf received his Ph. D. degree in meteorology from University Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France in 1986. From 1988 to 1994, he has worked at Météo-France, Toulouse, France on mesoscale and climate modelling activities with a special emphasis on land surface processes.
From 1995 to 2006, he carried out research studies on global data assimilation of clouds and precipitation from various present and future satellite missions (TRMM, EarthCare, GPM), at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts and at Environment Canada.
Back at Météo-France in 2006, he has developed a land data assimilation system suitable for satellite derived soil moisture. Since 2011, he is head of the observation team in the Numerical Weather Prediction division of the Météo-France national research centre (CNRM) with special emphasis on the preparation of future satellite missions. He obtained a PhD advisor degree (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches) from the University of Toulouse, France in 1994 and he is author and co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Dr. Michael PITTS - NASA Langley Research Center
Friday 10 – Session 7
Title: A decade of polar stratospheric cloud observations from CALIPSO
Dr. Pitts has been a research scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center for over 30 years. His research has focused on analysis and interpretation of aerosol and cloud remote sensing data sets that are critical for assessing key climate change issues. Over the past two decades, he has made significant contributions to polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) research, including studies of their formation, distribution, and evolution. His early research collaboration with Dr. Lamont Poole led to the publication of the first comprehensive PSC climatology.
As a member of the CALIPSO/CloudSat Science Team since its formation, his current research is focused on interpretation and analyses of CALIPSO PSC data. He is leading the SPARC (Stratosphere-troposphere Processes and their Role in Climate, a core project of the World Climate Research Program) PSC initiative which is aimed at synthesizing contemporary PSC measurements into a state-of-the-art reference data record for testing/validating current and future global models and producing a comprehensive review paper on state of PSC science.
Dr. Jeffrey REID - Naval Research Laboratory
Friday 10 – Session 6
Title: The longest kilometer: Monitoring the PBL aerosol environment from space
Dr. Jeffrey Reid is a senior scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory Marine Meteorology Division specializing in aerosol observability, with an emphasis on applications to regional aerosol environments, satellite data verification, aerosol data assimilation and environmental forensics. Dr. Reid is a senior veteran of numerous airborne, ship, and ground based field campaigns throughout the world, and is primarily an experimentalist. He concentrates on applying intensive and network data to environmental data systems.
A particular focus of his is on the development of realistic error characteristics of in situ and remote sensing data and the subsequent propagation of error into both numerical and conceptual models. This work led to a number of developments in the field, including the world’s first global operational smoke forecasting system, the first operational aerosol data assimilation system, and the first aerosol multi-model ensemble. Dr. Reid applies his work from basic climate research through operational system development and monitoring.
Operational applications span the broad field of applied meteorology including air quality, climate, electro-optical systems, directed energy, and safety of navigation. CALIPSO has factored prominently in his research as a verification tool and now as a data assimilation data source.
