Public Weather Services (PWS)

WMO International Symposium on Public Weather Services (PWS): a Key to Service Delivery, Geneva, Switzerland (3-5 December 2007)

Paper Title: Development of user-driven climate products and services for key
socio-economic sector application

Speaker: Pierre BESSEMOULIN

Institution: Météo-France

Title: President of WMO Commission for Climatology; Senior Climate Advisor

E-Mail Address: Pierre.Bessemoulin@meteo.fr

Dr. Pierre Bessemoulin obtained Ph D in 1969 at University Paris VI. After a 4-year period in a private company, P. Bessemoulin joined the National Center for Atmospheric Research (CNRM) of Météo-France in January 1976, as a research engineer in physical simulation of geophysical flows (rotating annulus, water tank). In 1980, he became deputy director of the Applied Meteorology section, with special responsibilities in environmental activities. Following the establishment of CNRM in Toulouse in 1982, he became in charge of the Scientific and Technical Studies section.

From 1986 to 1998, he headed the Group of Experimental and Instrumental Meteorology, covering: Airborne and Satellite Doppler Lidar, Airborne measurements, Microphysics of Clouds and Precipitations, Physical simulation of atmospheric flows, wind profilers, and mobile Meso-network. This Group was meant to develop new observing systems, and to deploy them during large field experiments, such as HAPEX-MOBILHY(1986), MFDP-FRONTS(1987), PYREX(1990), EFEDA(1991), HAPEX-SAHEL(1992), SEMAPHORE (1993), BOREAS(1994), FASTEX (1997).

P. Bessemoulin became Director of the operational Climate service in 1998, until 2006, when he was elected President of WMO Commission for Climatology. He is author or co-author of more than 180 publications, 55 of them in referred international journals, and co-recipient of the WMO Gerbier-Mumm 2000 award.