Dr. Steven Koch is the Director of the ESRL Global Systems Division, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado. After serving as Acting Director since February 12, 2006 he was named Director on March 4, 2007. 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.

ADDRESS

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

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 55 scientific articles in professional journals and nearly 115 conference papers, primarily on the subjects of numerical weather prediction and data assimilation, radar and wind profiler applications, gravity wave dynamics, the diagnosis and prediction of turbulence, scientific data visualization, operational forecasting techniques, and other topics in the fields of satellite and mesoscale meteorology.

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (1996 – 2006)

2006 - 2008 Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere

2003 - 2007 Associate faculty member, Iowa State University

2005 - Science Steering Committee, Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation

2004 - Deputy Director, WRF Model Developmental Testbed Center

2004 - 2005 Co-Chair, 12th AMS Conference on Mesoscale Processes

2003 - 2006 Lead of FAA AWRP Model Development & Enhancement PDT

2003 - 2006 AMS Committee on Mesoscale Processes

2002 - 2006 Co-lead of FAA AWRP Turbulence Product Development Team (PDT)

1998 - 2000 Editor, Weather and Forecasting

1997 - 1999 AMS Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting

1996 - 1999 Member, Unidata Users Committee

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 (2001 – 2006)

Grams, J. S., W. A. Gallus, Jr., S. E. Koch, L. S. Wharton, A. Loughe, and E. E. Ebert, 2006: The use of a modified Ebert-McBride technique to evaluate mesoscale model QPF as a function of convective system morphology during IHOP 2002. Wea. Forecasting, 21, 288–306, doi:10.1175/WAF918.1.

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, 2005b: Stokes parameter analysis of a packet of turbulence-generating gravity waves. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D20105, doi:10.1029/2004JD005736.

Lu, C., S. E. Koch, and N. Wang, 2005a: 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.

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: Multifunctional mesoscale observing networks. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 86, 961–982.

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 H2O Project (IHOP_2002) and some preliminary highlights. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 85, 253-277.

Zhang, F., S. E. Koch, and M. L. Kaplan, 2003: Numerical simulations of a large-amplitude mesoscale gravity wave event. Meteor. Atmosph. Phys, 84, 199-216.

Brennan, M. J., G. M. Lackmann, and S. E. Koch, 2003: An analysis of the impact of split-front rainbands on Appalachian cold air damming. Wea. and Forecasting, 18, 712-731.

Businger, S., M. E. Adams, S. E. Koch, and M. L. Kaplan, 2003: Reply to Comments on: Extraction of geopotential height and temperature structure from observed profiler and rawinsonde winds. Mon. Wea. Rev., 131, 1504-1506.

Koch, S. E., and J. D. Mitchem, 2003: A structured process for prediction of convection associated with split cold fronts. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 84, 174-179.

Koch, S. E., and S. Saleeby, 2001: An automated system for the analysis of gravity waves and other mesoscale phenomena. Wea. and Forecasting, 16, 661-679.

Zhang, F., S. E. Koch, C. A. Davis, and M. L. Kaplan, 2001: Wavelet analysis and the governing dynamics of a large-amplitude mesoscale gravity wave event along the East Coast of the United States. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 127, 2209-2245.

Businger, S., M. E. Adams, S. E. Koch, and M. L. Kaplan, 2001: Extraction of geopotential height and temperature structure from observed profiler and rawinsonde winds. Mon. Wea. Rev., 129, 1729-1739.

Koch, S. E., F. Zhang, M. L. Kaplan, Y.-L. Lin, R. Weglarz, and C. M. Trexler, 2001: Numerical simulations of a gravity wave event over CCOPE. Part III: The role of a mountain-plains solenoid in the generation of the second wave episode. Mon. Wea. Rev., 129, 909-933.

Koch, S. E., 2001: Real-time detection of cold fronts aloft and split fronts using mesoscale models and WSR-88D radar products. Wea. and Forecasting, 16, 35-55.