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Michael Tjernström Ph. D and Professor in Meteorology
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My first experience in meteorology was as a forecaster with the Swedish Air force more than thirty years ago. That was also where I first became interested in small-scale weather such as fog, low clouds and local wind systems. Such weather phenomena have a large impact on aircraft operations. After only a few years, I got the opportunity to start as a graduate student in Uppsala, funded by the Swedish Natural Research Council (now the Swedish Research Council) and that's how I ended up being a scientist. I wrote my thesis about the numerical modeling of fog and low clouds, and it was presented in April 1988. After that I changed topic and became an experimentalist; for a number of years I worked on developing a system for atmospheric measurements using an aircraft. Since then I have tried to stay involved with both experimental meteorology and numerical modeling, always on small scales (boundary-layer turbulence and mesoscale dynamics). Much of the work has evolved around coastal mesoscale circulation systems and marine stratocumulus clouds, and for the last ten years in Arctic meteorology and climate processes. I stayed at Uppsala University 1983 -1998, working both with science and teaching, with brief intermissions for stays in USA (at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, Desert Research Institute in Reno, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena) and at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute ( SMHI) in Norrköping, Sweden. In 1998 I was offered a position as " Senior Scientist" (again funded by NFR) and I now work at MISU, at Stockholm University since December 1998. In 2000 and 2003 I spent some time at the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey. During the 2005/2006 academic year I spent a sabbatical as a Visiting Fellow and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado and NOAA/ESRL in Boulder, Colorado. In the mean time I was also managing the model development sub-program in SWECLIM the Swedish Regional Climate Modeling Program, funded by MISTRA and SMHI until mid-2003. On a more personal level, I have now passed 50 (who would have guessed?) and am blessed with three kids - two that really aren't kids anymore and a daughter that was borne in 2000. I live together with my wife and family in a very nice house in Uppsala, which makes me one of the thousands of commuters to Stockholm every day. I positively hate sports, but I love music, photography and to hike in the mountains. You can visit me at MISU (Arrheniuslaboratory, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden) , where I sit in room C620, or call at +46 (0)8 163110 (work) or +46 (0)70 205 66 31 (mobile phone). My email address is michaelt@misu.su.se. (last update 30 August 2006) |