[Proflist] Announcement of the JCSDA Acting Director

[Wayman Baker]

All:

I am sending the announcement below on behalf of Dr. Uccellini.

Thanks,

Wayman Baker


Dear Colleague:

I am pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Lars Peter Riishojgaard as 
the Acting Director of the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation 
(JCSDA).  Lars Peter currently leads the Satellite Data Group in the 
Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at the NASA Goddard Space 
Flight Center, with his primary interests being data assimilation 
methodology, societal impact of weather and weather prediction, and the 
role of observational data and satellite systems in remote sensing.

Lars Peter received an M.Sc. in geophysics from the University of 
Copenhagen in 1989 and a Ph.D. in geophysics in 1992.  His permanent 
affiliation from 1989 through 1995 was with the research department of 
the Danish Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen. Part of his thesis 
work in general circulation modeling, with special emphasis on processes 
relevant for stratospheric ozone, was carried out at the Centre National 
de Recherches Meteorologiques in Toulouse.  Lars Peter served as a 
visiting scientist there from 1993-1994, a period during which he 
pioneered the application of variational assimilation methods to the 
problem of driving dynamical flow fields from tracer observations. Late 
in 1995, he came to the Data Assimilation Office (DAO) at NASA Goddard 
as a Universities Space Research Association visiting fellow.  Lars 
Peter designed and led the development of a three-dimensional ozone 
assimilation system, in parallel with carrying out research in the area 
of state-dependent covariance modeling.  In June 1999, he accepted a 
staff position at EUMETSAT in Darmstadt with user requirements for 
future space-based observing systems as his main responsibility.  In 
August 2000, Lars Peter returned to the DAO to lead the development of 
its analysis system, and has been a scientist in its successor 
organization, the GMAO, since 2003.  He has also served as the NASA 
Deputy Director of the JCSDA since 2002.  In addition, in 2004, Lars 
Peter launched an initiative for a new space mission, the Molniya Orbit 
Imager, whose purpose is to demonstrate the high temporal resolution 
imaging capabilities of this orbit for the high-latitude regions.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Riishojgaard to his new position.

Sincerely,

Louis W. Uccellini
Director, National Centers for Environmental Prediction