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THREE NOAA RESEARCH SCIENTISTS HONORED BY
AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

January 16, 2002 — Three NOAA Research scientists received awards from the American Meteorological Society—one for his work with satellites to better understand climate, and the others for their service as reviewers for scientific journals.

Brian Soden, a physical scientist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., was honored with the 2002 Henry G. Houghton Award. Christopher Landsea, a research meteorologist at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, Fla., received a 2002 Editor's Award. Thomas M. Hamill, research scientist at NOAA's Climate Diagnostics Center in Boulder, Colo., also received the 2002 Editor's Award.

The presentations were made during the 82nd annual meeting of the American Meteorological Association in Orlando, Fla.

Soden earned his award for "creative and thoughtful use of observations from multiple satellite sensors to better characterize the climate system's radiative and hydrological balances." He is a leader in the field of using satellite observations to better understand the climate system, and was given the NOAA-David Johnson Award for his work in March 2001.

"Brian richly deserves the award. The insights from his work are leading to improved models for climate variability and change," said Ants Leetmaa, director of GFDL.

He joined GFDL in 1994 and was a visiting scientist at the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University and an honorary fellow at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin. Soden was born in East Moline, Ill. He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Miami and his master's degree and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

The Houghton Award is given to an individual in recognition of research achievement in the field of physical meteorology, including atmospheric chemistry. Henry G. Houghton
founded the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

Hamill's award was presented in recognition of his work as editor of the Monthly Weather Review, one of nine AMS scientific journals. The citation reads "for thorough, timely, and constructive reviews over a breadth of topics, and for valuable arbitration of conflicting reviews."

A graduate of Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D. in atmospheric science, Hamill's expertise is in ensemble forecasting, data assimilation and statistical meteorology. His work has already earned him numerous awards, the most recent, the Presidential Early Career Award, which was announced last week. He has been associate editor of the Monthly Weather Review since 1999. Hamill is also a research associate with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a joint institute between NOAA and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

When he is not aboard one of NOAA's P-3 planes flying into hurricanes, Landsea is either writing or reviewing scientific papers. He has published more than 30 book chapters and articles. It is his work as a reviewer for Weather and Forecasting that is being recognized. The citation reads "for outstanding service through original reviews and thoughtful opinions on controversial manuscripts."

This is not the first AMS award for Landsea. He received the Max A. Eaton Prize for the Best Student paper given at the 19th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology in 1991 and was a co-recipient of the Banner I. Miller Award given for the best contribution to the science of hurricane and tropical weather forecasting in 1993. Landsea was a co-recipient of a 2000 Dept. of Commerce Bronze Medal for "issuing the accurate and first official physically based Atlantic seasonal outlooks for the 1998-99 seasons based on new research."

"This is a high honor and one well-deserved," said Kristina Katsaros, director of AOML."I can always count on Chris to offer thoughtful opinions on any topic."

Landsea began his career with NOAA in 1982 as a high school student working at the Hurricane Research Division. He holds a bachelor's degree in atmospheric science from the University of California and a master's and Ph.D. in atmospheric science from Colorado State University.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Research

NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

NOAA's Climate Diagnostics Center

NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

Media Contact:
Jana Goldman, NOAA Research, (301) 713-2483 ext. 181

 

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