Frank Beyrich

Frank Beyrich (photo private)Frank Beyrich was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution Award 2021 for his relentless activity as the Programme Stream Moderator for Understanding Weather and Climate Processes. Throughout, Frank has been – and is – committed to developing and enhancing the session programme in a way that takes account of new directions and upcoming trends and challenges in research and applications. He has provided a broad view of the portfolio of sessions and has worked in consultation with all convenors of the Programme Stream – always with an open ear for all requirements and suggestions – for a clear allocation of topics and articulation of sessions. He has been fully devoted to a process of involvement based on an open and clear communication of the goals, the process and his views.

Frank is the Head of the Boundary-Layer Processes Section at Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg – Richard-Aßmann-Observatorium (MOL-RAO) of Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD). He graduated in Meteorology at the Humboldt-University in Berlin in 1985. He then spent three years as an aviation forecaster before carrying out research at various institutions in Germany and abroad (France, Denmark) for a decade, including completion of a PhD at the FU Berlin in 1994. Since 1997 he is employed at MOL-RAO of DWD.

Frank was first involved with the EMS Annual Meetings in 2008 when he started to organise the session on Instrumentation and New Challenges in Observation Strategies with colleagues. The session developed into one of the largest single sessions at the Annual Meetings within a few of years by creating an attractive programme, in consultation with colleagues, that addressed emerging issues and topics.

Frank was invited to become the chair of the Observations Programme Group for the conference in 2015, and in 2017 he became the chair of one of the reorganised Programme Streams: Understanding Weather & Climate Processes. He actively supported the move to a more integrative approach of the conference programme and worked on the acceptance within the community through an open and encompassing discussion process. Despite his responsibilities at DWD, he took on the challenging tasks with dedication and commitment. He involved all session organisers in the process so that the development and broadening of the meeting programme was supported by everyone involved.