Jeff Whitaker Awarded Department of Commerce Gold Medal

Jeff Whitaker

June 27, 2016

Physical Sciences Laboratory researcher meteorologist Jeff Whitaker was named to receive a U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) Gold Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement "for creating the 20th Century Reanalysis (20CR), the pioneering reconstruction of global weather and extremes using only surface pressure observations." The award will be presented at a ceremony in Washington, DC on September 27th.

Jeff has worked at NOAA for the last 24 years, and his research focuses on the use of ensemble modeling in weather forecasting and data assimilation. The 20CR, is a global atmospheric dataset spanning 1851 to 2012 that places current atmospheric patterns into a historical perspective. Jeff developed the algorithms that allowed the 20CR team (including his CIRES colleagues at PSL: Gil Compo, Prashant Sardeshmukh and Chesley McColl) to reconstruct the full three-dimensional state of the atmosphere every 6 hours using only historical barometric readings of surface pressure.

The Department's Gold Medal recognizes distinguished performance characterized by extraordinary, notable or prestigious contributions that impact the mission of the Department of Commerce and/or one operating unit.

For more information about Jeff, please visit his PSL Staff Profile page.

Congratulations!