U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) meteorologist, Dr. Craig Bishop, Marine Meteorology Division, has been elected a Fellow by the American Meteorological Society for outstanding contributions to data assimilation, numerical weather prediction, and mesoscale dynamics over a substantial period of years.
Highlights of his research contributions include the development of the Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (ETKF). The associated paper is the most cited of all the papers that describe ensemble Kalman filters that do not use perturbed observations. The new adaptive sampling approach is used operationally in the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction's ongoing Winter Storms Reconnaissance Program, which has been running since 2001. The UK Met Office also implemented this adaptive sampling scheme for use in research field programs. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the Korean Meteorological Agency, the UK Met Office, and the Brazilian Met Service have all implemented ensemble generation schemes based on Dr. Bishop's work.
ETKF's derivative, the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) data assimilation scheme, is also widely used in the research community. Ensemble generation schemes based on Dr Bishop's Ensemble Transform technique are now used for operational probabilistic forecasting by the U.S. National Weather Service and the U.S. Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Command.
Dr. Bishop has contributed greatly to the National Weather Prediction community through his leadership as chair of the Science Steering Committee of the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation, member of the International Commission on Dynamical Meteorology, leader of key THORPEX working groups, and lead convener for national and international meetings and conferences. He has been honored with NRL Alan Berman Outstanding Research Publication Awards, 2009 and 2012; an NRL Invention Award, 2011; NRL Special Act Award, 2008; L.F. Richardson Prize, 1994; and the Universities Space Research Association, 1994 Excellence in Scientific Research Award. He has published 70 publications in scientific journals, has given 60 invited presentations, and holds one U.S. patent for Coupled Metoc/Intel Risk Assessment with two additional patents-pending. Dr. Bishop earned his bachelor's and doctorate in applied mathematics from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia in 1984 and 1989 respectively.
The American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, AMS has a membership of more than 14,000 professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts. AMS publishes eleven atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic journals—in print and online—sponsors more than 12 conferences annually and offers numerous programs and services.
Those eligible for election to Fellow shall have made outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years. The Council elects new Fellows each year from a slate submitted by the Fellows Committee of not more than two-tenths of one percent of all AMS Members.