Anton Eliassen selected to receive EMS Silver Medal 2015

Prestigious award for outstanding service to the European and international meteorological community and pioneering efforts to make meteorological data freely available.

Berlin/Oslo, 13 May 2015 – The European Meteorological Society (EMS) has chosen Anton Eliassen as Laureate of the EMS Silver Medal 2015. He is honoured for his scientific contribution to environmental meteorology, his outstanding service to the European and international meteorological community that was e.g. central for the success of the Convention on Long-Range Trans-boundary Air Pollution, and his major role in increasing and enhancing the public under-standing of meteorological information through his effort to make meteorological data freely available.

The Silver Medal ceremony, which includes a Silver Medal Lecture by the Laureate, was held on Tuesday, 08 September 2015, during the EMS Annual Meeting and European Conference on Applications of Meteorology (ECAM) in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Title of Silver Medal Lecture: “Meteorology and Society: Air pollution, weather forecasting and free data”

Anton Eliassen said “I feel most honoured and happy to receive the EMS Silver Medal. It has never occurred to me that I might be awarded such a fine prize.”

Anton Eliassen undoubtedly had and has a great influence on shaping the meteorological landscape in Europe over the past decades. He has had a leading role in the governance of most European meteorological organisations and in the international meteorological community. His outstanding leadership and capabilities to integrate has contributed to the development of the European Meteorological Infrastructure within ECMWF, ECOMET and EUMETSAT and WMO.

Anton Eliassen is an outstanding researcher, he has made significant scientific contributions to environmental meteorology through his pioneering work on the modelling of the long range transport of air pollutants since the early the 1970s, resulting in a range of very important findings and providing the technical underpinning of the Convention of Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution and its ensuing Protocols for the reduction of air pollution emissions in Europe.

Being a strong advocate of free data policy, his pioneering efforts to make meteorological data freely available has greatly helped to enhance the public understanding of meteorological information. His view to make data freely available was visionary and ground breaking.
Note to editors:

Anton Eliassen’s career. In 1970 Anton Eliassen graduated in meteorology from the University of Oslo. From 1972 he worked as a scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), and from 1978 at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (DNMI); in 1983 he became Chief Scientist at MET Norway.
From 1984 to 2000 he was Adjunct professor in meteorology at the University of Oslo (UiO).
After having served as Director of Operations at DNMI from 1989 to 1997, he became the Deputy Director General, and in 1998 Director General.

Leadership positions in international organisations include:
1976-1987 Member of WMO CAS Working Group on Air Pollution and Tropospheric Chemistry
1998-2004 President of WMO Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS)
1997-2000 Member of the EUREKA project EUROTRAC’s Environmental Assessment Group
2004 Chair EMEP Assessment Group
2003-2007: President ECMWF Council
2003-2004: Chair HIRLAM Council
2003-2008: Chair ECOMET General Assembly
2013-2014: Chair Intergovernmental Board on Climate Services
2014: Chair EUMETSAT Council

EMS Silver Medal. The EMS Silver Medal was established in 2008 to honour important contributions to the development of meteorology in Europe. The Award is presented annually. Candidates for the EMS Silver Medal are nominated by Member Societies and Associate Members of the EMS. The EMS Awards Committee, consisting of senior members of meteorological institutions in Europe, makes recommendations to the EMS Council for a final decision. Previous recipients were Karin Labitzke (Germany), René Morin (France), Lennart Bengtsson (Sweden/Germany), David Burridge (United Kingdom), the late Jean-François Geleyn (France/Czech Republic), Tim Palmer (United Kingdom), Hartmut Graßl (Germany) and Peter Lynch (Ireland).

EMS Awards Programme. More information on the EMS Awards Programme is available at www.emetsoc.org/awards

EMS Annual Meeting and ECAM. The theme of the conference is High impact weather and hydrological hazards: from observation to impact mitigation.
More information on the EMS Annual Meeting and European Conference on Applications of Meteorology (ECAM), 07-11 September 2015, in Sofia, Bulgaria, is available at http://www.ems2015.eu.

Norwegian Meteorological Institute. http://met.no/

Note to editors:

Anton Eliassen’s career. In 1970 Anton Eliassen graduated in meteorology from the University of Oslo. From 1972 he worked as a scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), and from 1978 at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (DNMI); in 1983 he became Chief Scientist at MET Norway.
From 1984 to 2000 he was Adjunct professor in meteorology at the University of Oslo (UiO).
After having served as Director of Operations at DNMI from 1989 to 1997, he became the Deputy Director General, and in 1998 Director General.

Leadership positions in international organisations include:

• 1976-1987 Member of WMO CAS Working Group on Air Pollution and Tropospheric Chemistry
  1998-2004 President of WMO Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS)
  1997-2000 Member of the EUREKA project EUROTRAC’s Environmental Assessment Group
  2004 Chair EMEP Assessment Group
  2003-2007: President ECMWF Council
  2003-2004: Chair HIRLAM Council
  2003-2008: Chair ECOMET General Assembly
  2013-2014: Chair Intergovernmental Board on Climate Services
  2014: Chair EUMETSAT Council