NOAA / ESRL / Global Systems Division

About the Director

[Photo of Steve Koch]

Steven E. Koch

Global Systems Division
NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory
Boulder, CO 80305-3328
Phone: 303-497-5487
Email: Steven.Koch@noaa.gov

Dr. Steven Koch is the Director of the ESRL Global Systems Division, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado. He became Director on March 4, 2007 after serving as Acting Director since February 12, 2006. Previously, Dr. Koch was the Chief of the Forecast Research Division of the former Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL), a position that he had held since August 2000.

Prior to his position at FSL, Dr. Koch was a tenured Associate Professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, where he taught classes in mesometeorology, atmospheric convection, and radar meteorology.  He began his professional career as a Research Meteorologist at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, where he served from 1980 – 1993.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. – 1979 – Meteorology – University of Oklahoma
M.S.   – 1974 – Meteorology – University of Wisconsin
B.S.   – 1972 – Meteorology – University of Wisconsin

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Steven Koch is the author or co-author of 64 scientific articles in professional journals and more than 140 conference papers and reports covering such subjects as: numerical weather prediction and data assimilation; radar and wind profiler applications; gravity wave, soliton, and frontal dynamics; the diagnosis and prediction of turbulence; scientific data visualization; and operational forecasting techniques.

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (2004 – 2009)

  • Adjunct Associate Professor, North Carolina State University, 2009 –
  • External faculty examiner, North Carolina A&T University, 2009 –
  • Fellow, American Meteorological Society, 2008 –
  • Technical Monitor, NOAA Interdisciplinary Scientific and Engineering Technology (ISET) Cooperative Science Center for Minority Serving Institutions, 2006 –
  • Co-convener of AMS short course “A Primer on Radar Analysis Techniques used in Mesoscale Meteorology”
  • LEAD External Advisory Panel, 2006 – 2007
  • Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, 2006 –
  • Science Steering Committee, Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation, 2005 – 2007
  • Co-Chair, 12th AMS Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 2004–2005
  • Deputy Director, Developmental Testbed Center, 2004 –
  • WRF Executive Oversight Board, 2005 – 2007
  • National Research Council Advisor, 2004 –
  • Associate Faculty Member, Iowa State University, 2003 – 2007
  • Lead of FAA Model Development & Enhancement Product Development Team, 2003–2006
  • Co-lead of FAA Turbulence Product Development Team, 2002–2006
  • AMS Committee on Mesoscale Processes, 2003–2006

HONORS AND AWARDS

1998 National Weather Association Research Achievement Award
1998 National Weather Service Award for Applied Research
1992 NASA Goddard Certificate of Outstanding Performance
1991 NASA Goddard Exceptional Achievement Award

MEMBERSHIPS

American Meteorological Society
National Weather Association
American Geophysical Union

RECENT JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS (2004 – 2009)

Lu, C., and S. E. Koch, 2008: Interaction of upper-tropospheric turbulence and gravity waves as obtained from spectral and structure function analysis.  J. Atmos. Sci., 65, 2676–2690.

Tollerud, E., I., F. Caracena, S. E. Koch, B. D. Jamison, R. M. Hardesty, B. J. McCarty, C. Kiemle, R. S. Collander, D. L. Bartels, S. Albers, B. Shaw, D. L. Birkenheuer, and W. A. Brewer, 2008: Mesoscale moisture transport by the low-level jet during the IHOP field experiment.  Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 3781–3795.

Bernardet, L., L. Nance, M. Demirtas, S. Koch, T. Fowler, A. Loughe, J. L. Mahoney, J.-Y. Chuang, M. Pyle, and R. Gall, 2008: The Developmental Testbed Center and its Winter Forecasting Experiment. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 89, 611–627.

Koch, S. E., W. Feltz, F. Fabry, M. Pagowski, B. Geerts, K. M. Bedka, D. O. Miller, and J. W. Wilson, 2008: Turbulent mixing processes in atmospheric bores and solitary waves deduced from profiling systems and numerical simulation.  Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 1373–1400.

Koch, S. E., C. Flamant, J. W. Wilson, B. M. Gentry, and B. D. Jamison, 2008: An atmospheric soliton observed with Doppler radar, differential absorption lidar, and molecular Doppler lidar.  Journ. Atmos. Oceanic Tech., 25, 1267–1287.

Jankov, I., P. J. Schultz, C. J. Anderson, and S. E. Koch, 2007:  The impact of different physical parameterizations and their interactions on cold season QPF in the American River basin. J. Hydrometeorology, 8, 1141–1151.

Jankov, I., W. A. Gallus, Jr., M. Segal, and S. E. Koch, 2007:  Influence of initial conditions on the WRF-ARW model QPF response to physical parameterization changes.  Wea. Forecasting, 22, 501–519.

Geerts, B., S. E. Koch, P. Krehbiel, and D. Jorgensen, 2006: Are AMS conference practices changing for better or worse?  Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 87, 1105–1110.

Grams, J. S., W. A. Gallus, Jr., L. S. Wharton, S. E. Koch, A. Loughe, and E. E. Ebert, 2006: The use of a modified Ebert-McBride technique to evaluate Eta QPF as a function of convective system morphology during IHOP.  Wea. Forecasting, 21, 288–306.

Jankov, I., W. A. Gallus, Jr., M. Segal, B. Shaw, and S. E. Koch, 2005:  The impact of different WRF model physical parameterizations and their interactions on warm season MCS rainfall.  Wea. Forecasting, 20, 1048–1060.

Koch, S. E., B. D. Jamison, C. Lu, T. L. Smith, E. I. Tollerud, C. Girz, N. Wang, T. P. Lane, M. A. Shapiro, D. D. Parrish, and O. R. Cooper, 2005: Turbulence and gravity waves within an upper-level front. J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 3885–3908.

Lu, C., S. E. Koch, and N. Wang, 2005: Stokes parameter analysis of turbulence-generating gravity waves combining cross-spectral analysis and wavelet transformation. J. Geophys. Res., 110, doi:10.1029/2004JD005736.

Dabberdt, W. F., T. W. Schlatter, F. H. Carr, E. W. Joe Friday, D. Jorgensen, S. Koch, M. Pirone, F. M. Ralph, J. Sun, P. Welsh, J. W. Wilson, and X. Zou, 2005: Design and development of multi-functional mesoscale observing networks in support of integrated forecasting systems.  Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 86, 961–982.

Lu, C., S. E. Koch, and N. Wang, 2005: Determination of temporal and spatial characteristics of atmospheric gravity waves combining cross-spectral analysis and wavelet transformation.  J. Geophys. Res. 110, D01109,  doi:10.1029/2004JD004906.

Brennan, M. J., G. M. Lackmann, and S. E. Koch, 2004: The impact of a split front rainband on Appalachian cold-air damming erosion. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 85, 935–939.

Benjamin, S. G., B. E. Schwartz, E. J. Szoke, and S. E. Koch, 2004: The value of wind profiler data in U.S. weather forecasting. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 85, 1871-1886.

Weckwerth, T. M., D. B. Parsons, S. E. Koch, J. A. Moore, M. A. LeMone, B. B. Demoz, C. Flamant, B. Geerts, J. Wang, and W. F. Feltz, 2004: An overview of the International H20 Project (IHOP_2002) and some preliminary highlights.  Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 85, 253-277.