Awards and prizes

International Meteorological Organization (IMO) Prize / WMO Research Award for Young Scientists / Professor Dr Vilho Väisälä Awards

International Meteorological Organization (IMO) Prize

The 53rd IMO Prize was awarded by the 60th session of the Executive Council (June 2008) to Qin Dahe for his achievements in cryosphere and climate research, his involvement in the preparation of IPCC Scientific Assessments Reports and his contribution to meteorological services at the national and international levels. Qin Dahe is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and of the Third World Academy of Sciences. He was Administrator of the China Meteorological Administration and former Permanent Representative of China with the WMO from 2003 to 2007. As a member of the 1989 International Trans-Antarctic Pole Expedition, he was the first Chinese ever to cross the South Pole.

Qin Dahe received the Prize at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, on 28 October 2008. The award ceremony was attended by Chinese Vice Premier, Hui Liangyu; WMO President, Alexander Bedritskiy; and WMO Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud.

Award of 53rd IMO Prize: Chinese Vice Premier, Hui Liangyu (centre) with, to his right, WMO President, Alexander Bedritskiy; to his left, WMO Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud and Zheng Guoguang, Permanent Representative of China with WMO; far right, Qin Dahe; and, far left, Elena Manaenkova, Director, WMO Department of Cabinet and External Relations

WMO Research Award for Young Scientists

The 60th session of the Executive Council (June 2008) conferred the 2008 WMO Research Award for Young Scientists on Mary-Jane Kgatuke (South Africa) for her co-authored paper entitled “The internal variability of the RegCM3 over South Africa” published in the International Journal of Climatology (regional climate downscaling experiments were performed to study the variability of model rainfall over South Africa) and Ying Sun (China) for her co-authored paper entitled “How often does it rain?” published in the Journal of Climate (evaluates the precipitation intensity, frequency and amount simulated by seventeen global climate models by comparing the model results with worldwide observations).

Ying Sun received her award at the China Meteorological Administration in Beijing, China, on 28 October 2008.

Ying Sun with, from left to right on either side: WMO President, Alexander Bedritskiy and WMO Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud; far right, Zheng Guoguang, Permanent Representative of China with WMO; far left, Elena Manaenkova, Director, WMO Department of Cabinet and External Relations

Professor Dr Vilho Vaisala Awards

In conjunction with TECO-2008 and METEOREX-2008, a ceremony took place on 27 November 2008 in St Petersburg, Russian Federation, to present the two Professor Dr Vilho Väisälä Awards.

The winners of the 21st Professor Dr Vilho Väisälä Award for an Outstanding Research Paper on Instruments and Methods of Observation were Olivier Bousquet, Pierre Tabary and Jacques Parent du Châtelet, all from France.

The winners of the second Professor Dr Vilho Väisälä Award for the Development and Implementation of the Instruments and Methods of Observation were Luca G. Lanza (Italy), Michel Leroy (France), Christophe Alexandropoulos (France), Luigi Stagi (Italy) and Willem M.F. Wauben (The Netherlands).

		Olivier Bousquet (second from right) received the 21st Professor Dr Vilho Väisälä Award for an Outstanding Research Paper on Instruments and Methods of Observation on behalf of the other winners, Pierry Tabary and Jacques Parent du Châtelet. Pictured here with him are, from left to right: Martti Husu, Executive Vice-President, Meteorology, Väisälä Oyj; Wenjian Zhang, Director, WMO Observing and Information Systems Department (holding the certificate); and John Nash, president of the WMO Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation.
		The winners of the second Professor Dr Vilho Väisälä Award for the Development and Implementation of the Instruments and Methods of Observation (holding their awards), from left to right: Michel Leroy, Luca G. Lanza, Christophe Alexandropoulos, Willem Wauben and Luigi Stagi. With them, from left to right are: Wenjian Zhang, Director, WMO Observing and Information Systems Department; Martti Husu, Executive Vice-President, Meteorology, Väisälä Oyj; and John Nash, president of the WMO Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation.

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