Gianpaolo Balsamo Email & Phone Number

Reading, Gb

Geneva, Switzerland

As Global Greenhouse Gas Watch - G3W Director, I support its developing phase after the endorsement by the 19th World Meteorological Congress in May 2023. In this first phase, our G3W team is looking after the implementation & sustainability strategy, linking with the various constituent bodies and reporting progress to the WMO Executive Council and to WMO Secretariat.The development of the G3W spans across all technical departments of WMO, leveraging on collaboration within the… Show more As Global Greenhouse Gas Watch - G3W Director, I support its developing phase after the endorsement by the 19th World Meteorological Congress in May 2023. In this first phase, our G3W team is looking after the implementation & sustainability strategy, linking with the various constituent bodies and reporting progress to the WMO Executive Council and to WMO Secretariat.The development of the G3W spans across all technical departments of WMO, leveraging on collaboration within the organisation, as well as with entities outside the core of WMO National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, including other Government Agencies, fellow UN agencies and representatives from Academia as well as the Private-sector, both for profit companies and philanthropies. G3W is placed within the Infrastructure Department, and with strong linkages with the Science and Innovation Department.Among my duties there is the formulation and management of the work programme in support G3W activities and connected relevant activities such as the Joint Study Group composed of worldwide leading scientists working on Greenhouse Gas GHGs Monitoring. Show less

Reading, United Kingdom

As Principal Scientist I have been contributing to the research output of ECMWF with focus on Earth's biosphere, cryosphere and hydrosphere. These elements of the Earth system are represented using a range of models to simulate the energy/water/carbon cycle continuous exchanges with atmosphere, that can support extended range prediction capabilities, via Coupled Processes (CP). Collaborations and Partnerships support the modelling research via numerous international actions involving the ECMWF… Show more As Principal Scientist I have been contributing to the research output of ECMWF with focus on Earth's biosphere, cryosphere and hydrosphere. These elements of the Earth system are represented using a range of models to simulate the energy/water/carbon cycle continuous exchanges with atmosphere, that can support extended range prediction capabilities, via Coupled Processes (CP). Collaborations and Partnerships support the modelling research via numerous international actions involving the ECMWF Member-States, the European Commission Copernicus & Research Programmes, European Satellite Agencies and active participation in World Meteorological Organisation's Committees.As Team-Leader I have been responsible for the Coupled Processes (CP) Group, part of the Earth System Modelling (ESM) Section of the Research Department (RD) at ECMWF. Our role as a Team consisted in adopting new advances in parameterizations for land/ocean thermodynamics, currents/waves/surface-atmosphere interaction and biogeochemistry processes, that are most relevant to produce accurate forecasts on a range of lead-time between a day and a year ahead. Natural/Anthropogenic surfaces and their distribution are described with the aid of satellite remote sensing information.Our Team research and development aimed at improved understanding of surface processes and a more seamless coupling of the different Earth system components to enhance the accuracy/usefulness of weather/environmental predictions and climate reanalysis.Among the significant publications during this period of work, the ERA5 C3S Climate reanalysis supporting the Copernicus State of Climate and the CAMS Greenhouse Gas reanalysis:Hersbach et al., 2020: The ERA5 global reanalysis, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/qj.3803Agusti-Panareda, A. et al., 2023: The CAMS greenhouse gas reanalysis from 2003 to 2020, EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3829-2023 Show less

Reading, England, United Kingdom

As Senior Scientist the portfolio of my research activities has sizeably & consistently grown, with a larger Team of experts I have coordinated in order to cover all aspect of Land-Atmosphere coupling, including the modelling and the interaction with data assimilation. The Global Hydrology applications have led to the first Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) and the extension of the surface processes into the Vegetation and Carbon cycle have been examined in Land-related predictability… Show more As Senior Scientist the portfolio of my research activities has sizeably & consistently grown, with a larger Team of experts I have coordinated in order to cover all aspect of Land-Atmosphere coupling, including the modelling and the interaction with data assimilation. The Global Hydrology applications have led to the first Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) and the extension of the surface processes into the Vegetation and Carbon cycle have been examined in Land-related predictability and monitoring applications in seminal projects feeding to Copernicus Services.Here only 3 key publications:Dee, D.P., and Coauthors, 2011, "The ERA-Interim Reanalysis: Configuration and Performance of the Data Assimilation System", Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., Vol. 137(656), 553–597. doi: 10.1002/qj.828.Koster, R. D., and Coauthors, 2011, "The Second Phase of the Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment: Soil Moisture Contributions to Subseasonal Forecast Skill. J. Hydrometeor, 12, 805–822.", doi: 10.1175/2011JHM1365.1.Orth, R., Dutra, E., Trigo, I. F., and Balsamo, G., 2017: Advancing land surface model development with satellite-based Earth observations, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2483–2495, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2483-2017 Show less

Reading, England, United Kingdom

As Scientist joining the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), I have covered responsibilities of model development for the operational global land surface scheme and its data assimilation adaptation. The first and most significant tasks have been the redesign and implementation of the new Hydrology - Tiled ECMWF Surface Scheme for Exchanges over Land (H-TESSEL) that included major additions and revisions in all the hydrologically active surface components. H-TESSEL became… Show more As Scientist joining the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), I have covered responsibilities of model development for the operational global land surface scheme and its data assimilation adaptation. The first and most significant tasks have been the redesign and implementation of the new Hydrology - Tiled ECMWF Surface Scheme for Exchanges over Land (H-TESSEL) that included major additions and revisions in all the hydrologically active surface components. H-TESSEL became operational in November 2007 and it has been continuously improved in each of the subsequent Integrated Forecasting System’s cycles, with a growing Team of developers, both at ECMWF and in collaboration with Partners Research Institutes. Here two key publications related to this work:Balsamo, G., Viterbo P., Beljaars, A., van den Hurk, B., Hirschi, M. Betts, A.K., and Scipal, K., 2009, "A Revised Hydrology for the ECMWF Model: Verification from Field Site to Terrestrial Water Storage and Impact in the Integrated Forecast System" J. Hydrometeor., 10, 623-643. https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JHM1068.1 Dutra, E., G. Balsamo, P. Viterbo, P. M. A. Miranda, A. Beljaars, C. Schär, and K. Elder, 2010: An Improved Snow Scheme for the ECMWF Land Surface Model: Description and Offline Validation. J. Hydrometeor., 11, 899–916, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JHM1249.1 Show less

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

As Postdoctoral Scientist I have been integrated in the Meteorological Research Branch of the Meteorological Service of Canada thanks to a Post-doctoral fellowship programme co-sponsored by Environment Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Space Agency. I have designed and delivered the first prototype of the Canadian Land-surface data assimilation (CaLDAS) and the associated radiative transfer modelling components to assimilate L-band and C-band satellites radiances as well as… Show more As Postdoctoral Scientist I have been integrated in the Meteorological Research Branch of the Meteorological Service of Canada thanks to a Post-doctoral fellowship programme co-sponsored by Environment Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Space Agency. I have designed and delivered the first prototype of the Canadian Land-surface data assimilation (CaLDAS) and the associated radiative transfer modelling components to assimilate L-band and C-band satellites radiances as well as surface-based conventional observations, such as insitu SYNOPs Screen-level measurements, in the Canadian operational general circulation model GEM and its stand-alone surface-version MEC. A Observing System Similated Experiment designed in collaboration with NASA has permitted to analyse the information content of each observations in characterising the state of the land surface for use in operation forecasting and high resolution monitoring applications.Here a key publication related to this work: Balsamo G, Mahfouf, J-F, Bélair, S, Deblonde, G, 2007, "A Land Data Assimilation System for soil moisture and temperature: An information content study". J. Hydromet., 8, 1225-1242. doi: 10.1175/2007JHM819.1. Show less

Toulouse, Occitanie, France

Researcher on Land surface data assimilation with the ARPEGE global model of Météo-France. I was employed by the French National Research Center for Meteorology CNRM for the participation to the European project ELDAS which contributed to build a European Land Data Assimilation System to be used across regional and global models. After the development of a novel simplified bidimensional variational technique during my PhD, I have applied this method to both the regional & global numerical… Show more Researcher on Land surface data assimilation with the ARPEGE global model of Météo-France. I was employed by the French National Research Center for Meteorology CNRM for the participation to the European project ELDAS which contributed to build a European Land Data Assimilation System to be used across regional and global models. After the development of a novel simplified bidimensional variational technique during my PhD, I have applied this method to both the regional & global numerical weather prediction models used operationally at Météo-France. The method was targeted for the soil moisture analysis but had elements of generality and at the end of my postdoctoral studies I was invited to implement and expand this methodology within the Canadian model at Environment and Climate Change Canada from January 2004.key publication:Balsamo, G., Bouyssel, F. and Noilhan, J., 2004, "A simplified bi-dimensional variational analysis of soil moisture from screen-level observations in a mesoscale numerical weather prediction model", Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 130, 895-915. doi: 10.1256/qj.02.215. Show less

Turin, Piedmont, Italy

Weather forecaster and weather analyst for the Piedmont Region Civil protection activities. Employed under the Interreg France-Italy programme I was integrated in the Hydrometeorological Service unit of the Piedmont Region.Among the significant operational contributions I had monitored progress in the construction of a meteorological C-band radar at Mt Settepani and the initial setup of the Sestriere Weather-room in preparation of the Winter Olympic Games forecasting services. As… Show more Weather forecaster and weather analyst for the Piedmont Region Civil protection activities. Employed under the Interreg France-Italy programme I was integrated in the Hydrometeorological Service unit of the Piedmont Region.Among the significant operational contributions I had monitored progress in the construction of a meteorological C-band radar at Mt Settepani and the initial setup of the Sestriere Weather-room in preparation of the Winter Olympic Games forecasting services. As weather forecaster I was responsible for issuing daily bulletins with detailed forecasts for the next 3-days and provide daily briefings. I have supported several flooding alerts during Summer/Autumns 1999/2000/2001 in coordination with the national and regional civil protection, and the Italian Member-state Aeronatica-Militare.My support to the research community started with the participation to the international Mesoscale Alpine Programme MAP in 1999, where I had joined the Intense Observation Periods guiding the operational planning of instrumented flights from the Milan Linate airport. I was also involved in land surface modelling applied research for agrometeorological applications which later became my PhD topic at Météo-France to develop a novel methodology to analyse the soil moisture in regional and global models used for operational weather forecasting. Show less

Certificate, Mit Digital Plus Programs, Leadership & Innovation

Leadership & Innovation MIT Professional Education This program fusion the development of leadership skills with vision necessary.

Habilitation, Meteorology

Habilitation to Direct Research in Meteorology, obtained on the 30th of November 2012, with public defence in the "Joël Noilhan".

Phd, Meteorology

Obtained on the 4th of April 2003, with public defence in Genoa University with a thesis on the "Analysis of Soil Moisture in a Mesoscale.

Undergraduate, Physics

General Physics (4-year Laurea) degree, with speciality in Atmospheric Physics, obtained on the 29th of January 1999, with final mark.

Undergraduate/Msc, Meteorology

Visiting student (ERASMUS program) in the Meteorology department of the University of Reading, UK. Succesfully completed BSc/MSc courses.