Ronald M. Errico, Senior Research Scientist

GEST Research Group:

Data Assimilation

GSFC Code:

610.1

Mailing Address:

Global Modeling and Assimilation Office A
Building 33, Room B220
NASA GSFC, Code 610.1
Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA

Phone:

(301) 614-6402

Fax:

(301) 614-6297

Email:

Ronald.Errico@nasa.gov

Research Interests:

Data assimilation. Development and application of adjoint models for sensitivity and generalized thermodynamic stability analysis. Characterization of the limits of atmospheric predictability defined by the chaotic nature of atmospheric dynamics. Generally improving the quality of atmospheric science by organizing workshops formatted for debate and publishing works meant to correct common misconceptions.

Biography:

Dr. Ronald Errico received a B.S. in physics from the University of Arizona in 1974, where he also took several graduate courses in meteorology. His Ph.D. in meteorology was received in 1979 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With E. N. Lorenz as his advisor, his thesis entitled "The partitioning of energy between geostrophic and ageostrophic modes" examined the fundamentals of why the atmosphere is quasi-geostrophic. It won the department's award for best thesis that year at the recommendation of Jules Charney. Applications of this thesis have continued throughout his career. After completing his degree, Ron joined the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) as a postdoc, followed by a staff appointment in 1981 within NCAR's Large Scale Dynamics Section of its Atmospheric Analysis and Prediction Division. In 1994 he was appointed Senior Scientist in the Climate and Global Dynamics Division there. During his tenure at NCAR, Ron had sabbaticals at the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey from March 1989 to April 1990 and at ECMWF for seven months in 1996. He left NCAR to join GEST and work at NASA's Data Assimilation Office in July 2002. Since 1992, he has been chief organizer of eight international workshops, including four of the five International Workshops on the Application of Adjoint Models in Dynamic Meteorology and four on various aspects of data assimilation. His past work has included examination of atmospheric balance, development and application of atmospheric adjoint models, atmospheric predictability, scale analysis, regional climate modeling, and data assimilation. He developed NCAR's Mesoscale Data Assimilation System, which is currently the only weather prediction model with a complete and useful adjoint of all its physics.