NOAA NAMES DIRECTOR OF CLIMATE OFFICE, PROGRAM

Dr. Chet Koblinsky, has been named as the director of the NOAA Climate Office and NOAA Climate Program. Koblinsky, who has spent his career working in global ocean and climate issues, started his new position Nov. 3. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Chet comes to NOAA with formidable credentials, “ said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Not the least of these is his work with global ocean and climate science programs, two major areas of NOAA’s work.”

He conducted ocean research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., authoring more than 60 research papers on oceanographic and remote sensing studies.

Koblinsky was the project scientist for NASA's Earth Observing System Altimeter mission, which led to the development of NASA's successful ICESAT and Jason-1 missions. Over the past decade, he has been head of the Oceans and Ice Branch at Goddard, receiving Goddard's Outstanding Management Award and the Outstanding Supervisor Award from the Federal Executive Board, and NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award for his research on ocean circulation with satellite altimeter observations.

He is co-editor of Observing the Ocean in the 21st Century, A Strategy for Global Ocean Observations, published by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in 2001.

For the past year, Koblinsky has worked with Dr. James Mahoney, assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, on the strategic plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.

Koblinsky was educated in the Pacific Northwest at Reed College and received a doctorate degree in oceanography from the Oregon State University.

The NOAA Climate Office serves as the focal point for climate programs within NOAA, supporting one of NOAA's primary mission goals: to understand climate variability and change to enhance society's ability to plan and respond.

The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through research to better understand weather and climate-related events and to manage wisely our nation's coastal and marine resources.

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