NOAA’S MICHAEL MCPHADEN WINS PRESIDENTIAL RANK AWARD

Michael McPhaden, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior scientist at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, has received the Presidential Rank Award for establishing the foundation of a climate observing system in the tropical Pacific.

McPhaden was cited for his work establishing the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array and for advancing our ability to detect, understand, and forecast variations associated with El Niño and La Niña. The Presidential Rank Award is given to a select group of senior federal executives who have provided exceptional service to the American people.

“NOAA is proud that McPhaden research has been recognized at the highest levels. McPhaden’s work which demonstrated that building and sustaining long-term ocean observing systems are possible having played a key role in forecasting El Niño and La Niña events,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

McPhaden has been at PMEL since 1986. He is listed as one of the highly cited researchers in the geosciences for 2004 by Thomson ISI, a scientific paper tracking service. McPhaden and the TAO project received a Grace Hopper Technology Award (‘Gracie”) in 2003.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through research to better understand atmospheric and climate variability and to manage wisely our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

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