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WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
PANEL OF EXPERTS ON POLAR AND HIGH MOUNTAIN
OBSERVATIONS, RESEARCH AND SERVICES
Sixth session
EC-PHORS-6/Doc.INF.3, REV.1
Reykjavik, Iceland, 8-11 September 2015
Submitted by: B. Angle
Date: 20.8.2015
AGENDA ITEM: 1.4
ACTIVE MEMBER’S PROFILES
(27 June 2017)
Chairs
David Grimes
David Grimes is the President of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and is the
Assistant Deputy Minister of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC). He has over 30
years of scientific, research and management experience in Environment Canada where he has
held a number of positions and assignments over the years ranging from operations to science
to policy. He was Director General in MSC for 15 years for a number of posts – Canadian
Climate Centre, Policy, Services, Predictions and Partnerships.
Rob Vertessy
Rob Vertessy is the Director and CEO of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. He is the
Permanent Representative of Australia with WMO and a member of WMO Executive Council.
Prior to becoming Director of the Bureau, he headed its Climate and Water Division (including
the national flood warning function) from 2007-2011. He has a PhD in fluvial geomorphology
from the Australian National University and spent the first 20 years of his career as a researcher
in CSIRO, Australia's national science agency. He specialised in forest hydrology and
catchment hydrology modelling and is widely published in those fields. He has served as Chief
Executive of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Catchment Hydrology and Chief of
CSIRO Land and Water. He has also been a Board member of eWater CRC Pty Ltd (2008–
2011), and was seconded to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to advise on the
establishment of a national water information strategy.
Members
Berit Arheimer
Dr. Arheimer is an Associate Professor and Head of Hydrological Research at SMHI. Her fields
of work include forecast improvement, climate change impact studies, water quality and largescale modeling. She is coordinating several R&D projects in this field. Her research interests
include predictions in ungauged basins (PUB) and integrated catchment modeling at various
scales. She is president-elect for International Commission of Water Quality in the International
Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), Swedish representative in the intergovernmental
council of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and Chair of the permanent
working group INPUT of OSPAR, Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of
the North-East Atlantic. Currently, her research group at SMHI is modeling hydrological
discharge from land to sea for the Arctic drainage basin.
EC-PHORS-6/INF.3, p. 2
K. Krogh Andersen
Katrine Krogh Andersen is director of Research and Development at the Danish Meteorological
Institute. She has a background as associate professor at the University of Copenhagen
working on climate modeling and Greenland ice core analysis, and as a senior advisor on
climate change in the Danish Ministry for Climate and Energy.
Geneviève Béchard
Geneviève Béchard was appointed Director General for Weather and Environmental Monitoring
at the Meteorological Service of Canada in June 2012. She is responsible for the national
atmospheric and hydrometric monitoring programs across Canada including the Arctic, and
provides oversight to the dissemination of weather, climate and water quantity data. She has a
PhD in biology from Carleton University. She started her career as a researcher in
environmental biotechnology and mining and has held executive positions in the Canada Centre
for Remote Sensing and the Geological Survey of Canada. She was a key contributor to the
start-up of the Group on Earth Observations’ User Interface, introducing Communities of
Practice in the governance model.
Kyung-On Boo
Kyung-On Boo is a senior scientist in the Climate Research Lab at National Institute of
Meteorological Research/Korea Meteorological Administration (NIMR/KMA). Her interest is in
understanding of climate change process in East Asia and climate model evaluation. Recently
she studies on aerosol influences on the North Pacific multi-decadal SST variability and
involved in the investigation of future changes in carbon cycle.
Scott Carpentier
Scott presently manages the Antarctic Section of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, with a
particular focus on operational polar meteorology, including the design of the observations and
modelling systems needed to support forecast and warning services. For nearly a decade, Scott
has provided forecasts in support of the Australian Antarctic program and has been responsible
for the formal training of Antarctic meteorologists.
Ladislaus Chang’a
Ladislaus Chang’a is a Principal Meteorologist and the Director of Research and Applied
Meteorology at Tanzania Meteorological Agency. He is also the IPCC Focal Point for Tanzania
and a member of Expert Team on National Climate Monitoring Products of the Commission for
Climatology, and part time Lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam (Climatology,
Meteorology and Climate Change). He is also involved in coordinating the activities of the
Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) in Tanzania. His research interest includes
Seasonal Climate Prediction, Climate Variability and Change, Biometeorology and Indigenous
Knowledge in Weather and Climate Prediction and in Climate Change Adaptation.
Steve Colwell
Steve Colwell works in the Meteorology and Ozone Monitoring Unit at the British Antarctic
Survey in Cambridge, England. The unit is responsible for all the long term climatic
measurements at the British stations in Antarctica and South Georgia. Steve spent 1 year at
Halley research station in Antarctica in 1991 as a meteorological observer and has since made
8 more visits during the Antarctic summers. He is the chair of the Royal Meteorological Society’s
special interest group on meteorological observing systems and is also the chair of SCAR’s
Expert Group on Operational Meteorology in the Antarctic. He also sits on the committee for the
annual Antarctic Meteorological Observation, Modeling, & Forecasting Workshop (AMOMFW)
EC-PHORS-6/INF.3, p. 3
Aimee Devaris
Aimee Devaris is Deputy Director, National Weather Service (NWS) Alaska Region, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Department of Commerce. She
began her career as an operational meteorologist in Alaska and served in a number of
leadership positions at NWS headquarters near Washington, DC, in areas from forecast
verification and service evaluation to strategic budget planning and investment assessment.
She returned to Alaska in 2008 as the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Director, overseeing
all weather, water, and climate observing and predictive services within NS for Alaska.
Mark R. Drinkwater
Mark Drinkwater is Head, Mission Science Division, Earth Observation Programmes
Directorate, with the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2007. He is responsible for scientific
support to the development of ESA’s Earth Observation missions. Mark has a Ph.D. in
Geophysics from the University of Cambridge, England. He started his career at the NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory where he pursued his interests in cryospheric sciences. In 2000 he joined
the European Space Agency (ESA) as Head, Oceans/Ice unit of the Earth Observation
Programmes Directorate. For the last two years he has chaired the IPY Space Task Group
under the mandate of WMO/ICSU. He is also involved in the Committee of Earth Observation
Satellites (CEOS), Integrated Global Observing Strategy – Partnership (IGOS-P) Cryosphere
Theme, the WCRP Climate and Cryosphere Project (CliC) and the Global Climate Observing
System (GCOS).
Dr. Marie Dumont
Dr. Dumont is a researcher and deputy scientific director of the Snow Study Centre (MeteoFrance, CNRS) in Grenoble, France. Her research is primarily focused on the radiative
properties of snow and on optical remote sensing. She has been studying the snow cover
properties in Greenland, Antarctica and in the French Alps. The goal of her research is to better
understand the climatic feedbacks linked to the optical properties of snow and to assimilate
snow observations into snow simulations in order to better analyze and forecast the physical
properties of the snow cover especially in high mountains areas.
Dr. María Paula Etala
Dr. Etala is a meteorologist professional coordinator with the Naval Hydrographic Service,
Argentina. She leads a joint initiative for the enhancement of the operational marine modeling,
analysis and prediction at the National Weather Service (SMN). She is a member of the
JCOMM Expert Team on Waves and Coastal Hazards Forecasting Systems (ETWCH), and of
the Project Steering Group (PSG) of the WMO Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration
Project (CIFDP). She is a member of the SMN Antarctic Committee and of the Working Group
on Risk Management, Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Argentina.
Her research interests now include ensemble prediction, advanced methods for assimilation of
satellite altimetry and scatterometry products for storm surge prediction, as well as the new
development for advanced assimilation in operational ocean wave models. The latter, to be
extended to the Austral-WWIII multiscale model, the operational implementation focused on the
SH extratropical and Southern Oceans.
EC-PHORS-6/INF.3, p. 4
Kelly Falkner
Dr. Kelly K. Falkner is the Director of the Office of Polar Programs of the U. S. National Science
Foundation (NSF). She is responsible for overseeing an annual budget of approximately $450
million and 60 personnel that fund U.S. investigators at a wide variety of institutions to conduct
Arctic and Antarctic research as well manage the infrastructure and logistics to support that
research. Dr. Falkner is the Director of the U.S. Antarctic Program, which by Presidential
mandate NSF manages on behalf of all of U.S. government. Dr. Falkner is a chemist by training
and was a recipient of an NSF Graduate Fellowship by which she earned her PhD in Chemical
Oceanography from The M.I.T.-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program. She
received a Woman’s Early Career Award and a NATO Fellowship that supported postdoctoral
pursuits at MIT and at the Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales in Toulouse France. She got her
start in Polar Research under an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award to study
Arctic river water trajectories within the Arctic Ocean. She served for 20 years as a at Oregon
State University where she was made a Full Professor and both taught and pursued research in
a range of subjects including Arctic Oceanography and ice core chemical records. During this
time, she conducted numerous field expeditions including 10 years of participation in the North
Pole Environmental Observatory as well as serving as Chief scientist for multiple Arctic icebreaking expeditions. Dr. Falkner held a temporary Intergovernmental Personnel Act position
as the founding director of the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program at NSF during the
International Polar Year timeframe. She returned to NSF as the Deputy Director of the Office of
Polar Programs in 2011 and transitioned to the Director in summer 2012.
Alexander Frolov
Alexander Frolov is the Head of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental
Monitoring (Roshydromet), Russian Federation, since 2010. He has Ph.D. in Physics and
Mathematics. The other international positions include - during 2002 – 2009 he was VicePresident of the WMO Commission of Atmospheric Science (CAS); in 2003 – 2007 he was
elected and then re-elected as Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
of UNESCO; during the period of 2009 – May 2011 he served as JCOMM Co-President for
Oceanography. In 2011 he was appointed as the Permanent Representative of the Russian
Federation with WMO and thereafter he was appointed as EC Executive Member at the 63th
Session of the WMO EC.
Ruediger Hartig
Ruediger Hartig has worked for Deutscher Wetterdienst, the German Meteorological Service,
since 1988. He began his career with the Polar Research Group at the University of Hannover,
Germany. During his career he has participated in both Arctic and Antarctic expeditions,
including several times as Chief Meteorologist aboard the RV Polarstern and RV Meteor. He is
currently operational and scientific advisor at the Regional and Marine Forecast Centre
Hamburg.
Øystein Hov
Øystein Hov is Director of Research, Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Adjunct Professor
in meteorology at the University of Oslo. His research interests are model and observationbased investigation of the chemical composition of the atmosphere, including emissions,
transformation through atmospheric chemistry and physics, transportation processes and
atmospheric removal mechanisms. He is Chair of the WMO Commission on Atmospheric
Sciences’ Open Area Group on Environmental Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry (OPAG
EPAC) and co-Chair of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) Expert
Group on Climate, UV and Ozone.
EC-PHORS-6/INF.3, p. 5
Johanna Ikävalko
Docent of hydrobiology, Head of the Marine Research unit, at the Finnish Meteorological
Institute Johanna dissertated in 1997 at the Univ. of Helsinki, Finland, on sea ice biology (Arctic,
Antarctic, and Baltic Sea). She has worked since in e.g. university education (Finland, Germany,
and USA), research policy, and promoting public-private partnership in e.g. Baltic Sea
protection. Johanna has had vacancies as e.g. lecturer in phycology and acting professor of
hydrobiology (Univ. of Helsinki, Finland), Head of Biosciences and Environment Unit (Academy
of Finland), and a Director of Environmental Affairs at the Finnish Farmers’ and Forest Owners
Union (MTK). As of 2011 she has had a position as the Head of the Marine Research Unit at the
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). Her expertise is in particular in promoting and managing
dialogue between marine and cold climate research and services within FMI and its multiple
stakeholders.
Anette Jönsson
Anette Jönsson is a Product Manager for Oceanographic Core Services at the Swedish
Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). At the same institute, she was previously
Head of the Oceanographic Warning and Forecasting Service where the Swedish Ice Service is
situated. Anette is formal assignee of the International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) and
currently is Chair of the European Ice Services (EIS). She participates in different projects
related to high latitude questions (Polar View, ICEMAR, MyOcean). Her background is on ocean
modelling and she has a PhD in Water and Environmental Studies with a thesis on ocean
surface wave effects on bottom sediment re-suspension.
Thomas Jung
Thomas Jung is professor for Physics of Climate at the University of Bremen and head of the
Climate Dynamics section at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and
Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. His research interests include numerical weather
and climate prediction, climate dynamics, and climate modelling. He obtained his doctorate in
atmospheric physics at the Institute for Marine Research in Kiel, Germany. From 2001 to 2010
he held posts as scientist and senior scientist in the research department of the European
Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), in Reading, United Kingdom. He is the
chair of the WWRP Polar Prediction Project and co-chair of the Arctic programme of the
European Climate Research Alliance (ECRA). He is also the spokesperson of the research
programme of the Alfred Wegener Institute.
Jeffrey R. Key
Jeff Key is Chief, Advanced Satellite Products Branch, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). His expertise is in satellite remote sensing of the polar regions, with a
focus on clouds, winds, snow, and ice. He is the lead of the EC-PORS Global Cryosphere
Watch (GCW) Task Team and is a member of the WMO Polar Space Task Group.
Alexander Klepikov
Alexander Klepikov is Head of Department for the Antarctic Oceanographic and Climatic
Studies, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg. His research interests include
physical oceanography of the Southern Ocean, polar oceans modelling and polar climate
dynamics. He has field experience as an oceanographer on seven ocean cruises. He is involved
in numerous international programmes including Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program
(AMAP), the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), WCRP/CliC and IPY.
EC-PHORS-6/INF.3, p. 6
Prof. Dr. Hugues Lantuit
Prof. Lantuit is professor for Geomorphology of Polar Coasts at the University of Potsdam
and leads a Young Investigator Research Group on the erosion of permafrost coasts. His
research interests are in the evolution of the permafrost landscapes in the Arctic, in particular of
permafrost coasts, their reaction to climate change and implications for the Earth Climate
System. His research is located both in Siberia and in the western Canadian Arctic, with a
greater focus on the latter.
Prof. Lantuit is the co-founder of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and
is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Permafrost Association (IPA). He is
also a member of the Cryosphere Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee
(IASC) and of the advisory board of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P).
Sang-Jong Park
Sang-Jong Park is a scientist in the Division of Polar Climate Institute. His research interests are
polar climate change and house-gases at polar region. He is involved in research programs at
Svalbard islands, Alaska tundra, Antarctic Peninsula, and Arctic seas. He has participated in
several Arctic and Antarctic summer expeditions and an Arctic obtained his doctorate in 2009 in
atmospheric science at the Seoul National University, Republic of Korea.
Giancarlo Pedrini
After graduating with a PhD degree in Telecommunications Electronics from the University of
Bologna, as Senior scientist in the Marconi Research Centre he has been in charge of the
development of measuring systems in high capacity data transmission networks. In the hydrometeorological field, Dr. Pedrini has been actively involved in the design of high-reliability
heavy-duty real-time meteorological data acquisition stations, also used for the development of
automatic measurement systems of the snow cover in mountain areas. The over 250 station
network includes the global station Monte Cimone in the Apennines and the Capanna
Margherita automatic station located at 4550 metres in the Alps, the highest automatic real-time
monitoring station in Europe. The acquired experience was also used to develop an Automatic
Monitoring Station that operated in Antarctica since 1990.
Volker Rachold
Volker Rachold is the Executive Secretary of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC),
from 2006 to 2008 based in Stockholm, Sweden, and, since 2009, in Potsdam, Germany. In this
function, he is a member of various high-level international committees and coordinates
multidisciplinary research activities and international conferences. Volker graduated as a
geochemist from Göttingen University, where he also obtained his Ph.D. in 1994. During the
following 12 years, he worked for the Alfred Wegener Institute or Polar and Marine Research in
Potsdam and Bremerhaven. In 2002, he received his "Habilitation" postdoctoral lecturing
qualification from the University of Potsdam. His research focused on land-ocean interactions in
the Siberian Arctic and he led several land- and ship-based Russian-German expeditions.
Lars-Otto Reiersen
Lars-Otto Reiersen, educated as a marine biologist in 1978 from the University of Oslo, Norway.
He has worked as a scientist at the University of Oslo (1979-1984), and conducted research on
basic processes in marine life and effects of petroleum hydrocarbons and other contaminants.
From 1985 to1992 he worked at the Norwegian State Pollution Control Authority handling the
environmental regulation of shipping and oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the seas
around Norway and at Svalbard. He was national delegate to Oslo and Paris Commission and
the London Dumping Commission. In 1998 – 1993, he was the Chair of the Scientific
Assessment group that made the assessment of the Pollution of the North Sea under the North
Sea Task Force. Since 1989 he has been involved in the establishment and implementation of
the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy and the Arctic Council. Since 1992 he has served
EC-PHORS-6/INF.3, p. 7
as the Executive Secretary for Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). A
position he still has. AMAP has an integrated monitoring programme in operation and has
produced several comprehensive scientific assessments on the State of the Arctic Environment
regarding pollution and climate change on Arctic ecosystems and humans. For more information
see www.amap.no
James A. Renwick
James Renwick is an associate professor of physical geography at Victoria University of
Wellington, New Zealand. He has around 30 years’ experience of research in meteorology and
climate variability. His key interests include coupling between the atmosphere and Antarctic sea
ice, the Southern Annular Mode and its effects on high latitude climate, and ENSO
teleconnection in the Southern Hemisphere. He is Chair of the Royal Society of N.Z. Climate
Expert Panel and has served as a Lead Author for the IPCC 4th and 5th Assessment Reports.
Ms Paola Uribe Raibaudin
Paola Uribe is a meteorologist from the National Weather Center of Chile. She works at the
National Center of Prediction where she is the Chief and Coordinator of Hazards Forecasting.
She has been a member of the International Hydrology Programme from the UNESCO
conducting research on implementing climate modelling for climate variability in the Andes. Her
research is primarily focus on the climate variability and climate change in the Antarctic. Her
research interest now includes weather prediction modelling at the sub-Antarctic scale, climate
modelling and change and the teleconnection between the Antarctic climate and the impact in
mid-latitudes.
K. Satheesan
K. Satheesan is Head of the Atmospheric Science Group at the National Centre for Antarctic
and Ocean Research, Goa, India. His interests are observation and modelling of the physical
processes in the polar atmosphere especially interactions between atmosphere, sea ice and
ocean and the variability of the polar climate and its teleconnections to the rest of the globe. He
has participated in three polar expeditions.
Årni Snorrason
Arni Snorrason is the Director General of the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO). In January
2009, the Hydrology Unit of the National Energy Authority became part of IMO. Since 1987 and
until the merger, Dr. Snorrason was the head of the Hydrology Unit. He has a Ph.D. in
hydrological engineering from the University of Illinois. His areas of specialization include
hydrology, hydrological networks, and climate impact assessments. He is involved in WMO,
UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP), IPY Arctic-HYDRA, the Nordic Council
of Ministers programs, and the Nordic Energy Research.
Johan Stander
Johan Stander is currently the Co-President of JCOMM and still remains active in various
panels and task teams of JCOMM. He joined the South African Weather Service in 1982 and at
present is head of the Marine unit which includes Antarctica and Islands in SAWS and further
manages as Regional Head of the Northern and Western Cape where his staff also focuses on
aviation, observations, research, technical services and forecasting.
Helge Tangen
Helge Tangen is Regional Director at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (met.no) with
responsibility for land, maritime and aviation weather forecasting in the northern part of Norway
and the European Arctic. Manned meteorological observation sites on arctic islands are also
under his responsibility, as well as the national ice service. His background is meteorology, with
15 years forecasting experience. Helge is assignee of the International Ice Charting Working
Group (IICWG) and board member of the European Ice Services (EIS). He is involved in Polar
EC-PHORS-6/INF.3, p. 8
View and ICEMAR projects. He is also chairing the advisory scientific board of the Center for Ice
Climate and Ecology (ICE) at the Norwegian Polar Institute. He is also a board member for
Tromso Geophysical Observatory; which has its main activity in Northern Lights observations
and research. Helge is the coordinator for METAREA XIX; met.no is responsible for preparing
and issuing forecasts for this METAREA.
Dr. Vito Vitale
Dr. Vito Vitale is a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (CNR-ISAC)
at the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy. His expertise is on radiative transfer processes
into the atmosphere focussing on radiation budget and role that atmospheric composition and
surface characteristics play in modulating Shortwave (SW) and Longwave (LW) radiation
components, determining their seasonal and inter-annual variability. He has been engaged in
polar research in Antarctica since 1986 and more recently (since 2006) in the Arctic. Dr. Vitale is
the CNR representative at NySMAC (The Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee), and
IASC (International Arctic Science Committee) Atmospheric Working Group. He coordinates
CNR participation to SIOS (Svalbard Integrated Earth Environment Observational System)
ESFRI project, and is a member of the SAON (Sustaining Arctic Observing System) Steering
Board
Cunde Xiao
Cunde Xiao works at the Laboratory of Cryosphere and Environment, Chinese Academy of
Meteorological Science. He is a member of the Scientific Steering Group for WCRP Climate and
Cryosphere project (CliC).
Takashi Yamanouchi
Takashi Yamanouchi is a Project Professor at the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan
(NIPR), as a Project Manager of GRENE Arctic Climate Research Project and Editor-in Chief of
“Polar Science”. His research interests are in atmospheric science and polar climatology,
especially in radiation budget, atmospheric circulation and material cycle. After finishing
graduate school at Tohoku University in 1978 and two years’ work, he worked for 35 years at
NIPR, and joined Japanese Antarctic Expedition for four times including two times as an
Expedition Leader. He also conducted Arctic airborne observations with a cooperation of AlfredWegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). He served as a Member of IPY 20072008 WMO/ICSU Joint Committee during 2007 – 2010 and as a Chief Officer of SCAR Physical
Sciences SSG for 2010 – 2011.