WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
PANEL OF EXPERTS ON POLAR OBSERVATIONS,
RESEARCH AND SERVICES
EC-PORS-3/INF.3
Submitted by: Secretarriat
Date: 04.01.2012
Third session
SODANKYLÄ, FINLAND, 6-8 FEBRUARY 2012
AGENDA ITEM: 1.3
Member Profiles
(12 February 2016)
Chairs
Greg Ayers
Dr. Greg Ayers commenced in May 2009 as the 9th Director of the Australian Bureau of
Meteorology in its 102 years. Prior to his appointment Greg was Chief of Marine and
Atmospheric Research at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation, where he started his career in 1975 at the Division of Cloud Physics as a research
scientist. Greg’s research interests have included marine (Southern Ocean) and Antarctic
atmospheric and cloud chemistry, related aerosol-cloud-climate feedbacks, polar atmospheric
chemistry (including aerosol and rainwater studies at Macquarie Island), aerosol studies at
Mawson and Davis bases in the Antarctic and the study of reactive atmospheric species in
Antarctic (Law Dome) ice cores.
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.
Members
Jim Abraham
Jim Abraham is Director General, Weather and Environmental Monitoring (WEM),
Meteorological Service of Canada. He started his career as an operational meteorologist and
since then has taken on various positions including many years studying the behaviour of
tropical cyclones in the middle latitudes. He has been Director General of WEM since 2008.
Roberto Bove
Roberto Bove works for the Italian Meteorological Service.
Eric Brun
Eric Brun is a scientist in the Climate Group at CNRM, Météo-France. His research interests are
snow physics and modeling and snow/atmosphere interactions and modeling. He has been
Director of the Snow Research Center, Grenoble, from 1990 to 1998. He has been the Head of
EC-PORS-3/INF. 3, p. 2
Research at Météo-France and Director of CNRM from 2003 to 2009. He is past-President of
the International Glaciological Society and President of the French Polar Institute, IPEV.
Jorge Carrasco
Jorge Carrasco is the Deputy Director for Climatology and Applied Meteorology of the Dirección
Meteorológica de Chile. His field of expertise is meteorology and climate in Antarctica. He was a
member of the WMO Working Group on Antarctic Meteorology.
Yvon Csonka
Yvon Csonka has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Laval University (Québec, 1991). He has
conducted extensive field research in Nunavut, Chukotka, and Greenland. He was professor of
anthropology at the University of Greenland for eight years, during which he also served as
president of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA). He is a member of the
Scientific Committee of the European Science Foundation EUROCORES programme BOREAS.
He is currently based at the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, where he carries out research on
family life conditions.
Juhani Damski
Juhani Damski is Director for Weather and Safety at Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). His
responsibilities cover FMI’s external and internal services, including public and private weather
and marine services, observational services, ICT services, and product development. He is
Finland’s delegate to the WMO’s Commission for Basic Systems (CBS). Other international
positions include the chairmanship of the Political Advisory Committee and membership of the
Technical Advisory Committee of the Europe’s Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting
(ECMWF). Damski is also co-chairing International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG).
Governmental positions of trust include e.g. membership in the national steering committee for
disaster reduction.
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).
EC-PORS-3/INF. 3, p. 3
Karl A. Erb
Karl Erb is Director, Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation, USA. He
joined the U.S. National Science Foundation in 1986, and has been Director of the United
States Office of Polar Programs since 1998. His fields of specialization are meteorology and
glaciology of the polar region. He is involved with the WMO and the International Arctic Science
Committee (IASC).
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 63rd
Session of the WMO EC.
Timothy Goos
Tim Goos is a former (retired) Regional Director, Prairie & Northern Region, Meteorological
Service of Canada. He was Chair of the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP) and was
engaged with the Data Management and Information Project (DMIP) of the Arctic Climate
System Study (ACSYS), WCRP Climate and Cryosphere Project (CliC), and the Mackenzie
GEWEX Study (MAGS).
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.
Juan Manuel Hörler
Juan Manuel Hörler graduated from the University of Buenos Aires as Licenced in Meteorology
Science in 1977. He is the Chief – Data Collection of the National Network Observations of the
National Meteorological Service. He is in charge of the Antarctica Department, and Chair of the
Argentine Meteorological Center (AMC). He is a Member of the Executive Council Working
Group on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS), Member of the Global
Cryosphere Watch (GCW) Implementation Strategy and the Focal Point for RA III.
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-PORS-3/INF. 3, p. 4
Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten
Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten is Head, Research Unit Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar
and Marine Research, Germany, and professor for isotope geology at the University of
Potsdam. His research interests are climate reconstruction; permafrost research; and isotope
geochemistry. He has participated in six expeditions with the German icebreaker Polarstern, to
both polar areas in 3 of them as chief scientist. He also participated in 11 land expeditions to
Siberia, Alaska, Spitzbergen and Canada. He is the President of the International Permafrost
Association (IPA), and is involved with WMO Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW).
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 resuspension.
Jeffrey R. Key
Jeffrey Key is Chief, Advanced Satellite Products Branch, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). He was Chair, IGOS Cryosphere Theme (IGOS-P) and is a member of
the WMO Polar Space Task Group, the WCRP Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) project, and the
WCRP Observations and Assimilation Panel. His expertise is in satellite remote sensing of the
polar regions. He is lead of the Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW) Task Team.
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.
Peter Lemke
Peter Lemke is professor of Physics of atmosphere and ocean at the University of Bremen and
Head of the Climate Sciences Research Division at the Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and
Marine Research. His interests are observation and modelling of high-latitude processes,
especially the interaction between atmosphere, sea ice and ocean. He has participated in seven
polar expeditions with the German research icebreaker Polarstern, five of which as chief
scientist. He was Coordinating Lead Author for Chapter 4 (Observations: Changes in Snow, Ice
and Frozen Ground) of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. From 2000 till 2006, he was the
Chair of the Joint Scientific committee (JSC) of WCRP. He is a member of the Climate Science
Advisory Body of ESA.
Mi-Lim Ou
Mi-Lim Ou is a team leader of Remote Sensing Research Team at National Institute of
Meteorological Research (NIMR), Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Her major
research area is satellite meteorology especially for monitoring of global environment change
using satellite data. She has recently been focusing on Arctic sea ice monitoring by retrieving
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small-scale roughness using MW sensor data. She also participates in Global Precipitation
Measurement program and performs a joint research work with NASA as PI.
Steve Pendlebury
Steve Pendlebury is the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Regional Director for the Bureau’s
Tasmania and Antarctica Region. He has extensive forecasting experience in the Antarctic and
he contributed to the establishment of the Antarctic Meteorological Centre at Casey Station,
Antarctica. He is the co-editor of 'The International Antarctic Weather Forecasting Handbook'.
James A. Renwick
James Renwick is a principal scientist in climate variability and change at NIWA, New Zealand.
He has nearly 30 years’ experience of research in meteorology and large-scale climate
variability. His key interest 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.
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.
Jonathan D. Shanklin
Jon Shanklin is Head of 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. Jon has made 17 visits to
the Antarctic. He was the co-author in 1985 of the paper titled “Large losses of total ozone in
Antarctica reveal seasonal ClOx/NOx interaction” published in Nature which announced the
discovery of what is now known as the Antarctic ozone hole. He was a member of the WMO
Working Group on Antarctic Meteorology. He is a member of JCOMM’s Expert Team on Sea Ice
and of the Ship Observations Team (SOT). He is also a member of SCAR’s Expert Group on
Operational Meteorology in the Antarctic, and is involved in GCOS.
Roar Skålin
Roar Skålin is Director of Information Technology at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute
(met.no). He is in charge of IT development and operations and has the strategic responsibility
for IT within the organization. A special area of focus within met.no is data management,
including the provision of data and products to governmental organizations, scientists and the
general public. Roar Skålin and his development staff have also taken part in international data
management initiatives, such as the WIS development and IPY data management. Dr Skålin is
Norwegian Delegate to the WMO’s Commission for Basic Systems and to ECMWF-TAC.
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,
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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 a Regional Manager with the South African Weather Service. He manages the
Northern Cape, Western Cape as well as SA Maritime Services which includes the Antarctica
and the southern Islands. He has a long standing experience in areas of polar observation,
forecasting, networks and systems. He is involved in JCOMM and IOC and was a member of
the WMO Working Group on Antarctic Meteorology. He is actively engaged in marine activities
through various groups of JCOMM and currently serves on the Executive Board of DBCP as
Vice Chair and Executive Committee member of the Joint Tariff Agreement (JTA).
Petteri Taalas
Prof. Petteri Taalas has been the Director-General of FMI since 2002. FMI is a government
weather service and atmospheric/marine research institute being among the strongest in the
field of R & D in Europe. FMI is one of the leading NMHSs in the field of consultancy and
development co-operation. He has worked as a research professor on remote sensing, head of
research and scientist. He has been the director of WMO Development and Regional Activities
department in Geneva. Besides management, he has experience in global change, remote
sensing (satellites), radiative transfer and atmospheric chemistry research. He has led several
international and national research projects funded by the European Commission, ESA,
EUMETSAT, Nordic Council for Ministers, Academy of Finland etc. He is the chairman of
EUMETSAT Council, chairman of the board of the University of Eastern Finland, member of
WMO Executive Council, member of Finnish Space Board and Arctic Board. Taalas has a PhD
in meteorology from University of Helsinki,and has published more than 50 peer-rewieved
papers.
Ajit Tyagi
Ajit Tyagi is the Director General of Meteorology of the India Meteorological Department. He is a
member of Executive Council of WMO and Chairman of Governing Board of SAARC
Meteorological Research Centre. He has over 35 years of scientific, research and management
experience. He has held a number of positions and assignments over the years ranging from
operations to science to policy. His area of expertise includes Monsoon, Numerical Weather
Prediction and Tele-connections between Antarctica and Tropical Weather.
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).
ALTERNATE ATTENDEES AT EC-PORS-3
Neil Adams (for Steve Pendlebury)
Neil Adams is the Regional Manager of the Antarctic Meteorological Section within the
Tasmania/Antarctica Regional Office of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. He manages
Antarctic weather services for the Bureau and works within the Centre for Australian Weather
and Climate Research (CAWCR) as a research scientist specialising in Antarctic numerical
weather prediction. He has extensive experience as an operational weather forecaster and seaice analyst in Antarctica and nearly 20 years of research and development experience in
Antarctic weather forecasting systems and numerical weather prediction. He is a committee
EC-PORS-3/INF. 3, p. 7
member on the SCAR working group on operational meteorology, a member of the International
Commission on Polar meteorology (ICPM), and on the committee of the Antarctic
Meteorological, Observations, Modeling and Forecasting Workshop (AMOMFW).
Diane Campbell (for Tim Goos)
Diane Campbell is the Director General of Weather, Environmental Prediction and Services
within the Meteorological Service of Canada. Her responsibilities include aviation, and military
weather service provision, the Canadian Ice Service, national service operations for the public
weather program and the development and operational delivery of numerical weather prediction
models. She co-chairs the International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG), oversees for
Canada the North American Ice Service Partnership and is working with US and Mexican
counterparts to establish a North American Climate service Partnership.
Steve Colwell (for Jon Shanklin)
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)