necrologies

Roger Willis Daley Daley was author or coauthor on some 16 publications 1943-2001 in the refereed literature and was honored by receiv- ing the NCAR outstanding publication award. Nev- Roger Willis Daley, UCAR Distinguished Scien- ertheless, he did not neglect his interest in operational tific Visitor at the Naval Research Lab in Monterey, applications. He was involved in implementation of California, died at his home in Carmel Valley, Cali- nonlinear normal mode initialization for baroclinic fornia, on 29 August 2001. models at CMC in Canada and at Meteo-France in Daley was born in Purley, England, on 25 January Paris. He also implemented an innovative error cova- 1943. He moved with his parents at an early age to riance formulation at the European Centre for Medium West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He stud- Range Weather Forecasts. ied at the University of British Columbia, graduating In 1985, Daley returned to Canada to take up the with a B.S. in mathematics and physics in 1964. He position of chief scientist in the Canadian Climate completed an M.S. in at McGill Univer- Centre. He was an integral part of the development sity in 1966 with a thesis on the topic of large-scale of the research agenda for the Canadian Climate Pro- rainfall prediction. After two years as a professional gram that was ultimately a major initiative of Canada's weather forecaster in Goose Bay, Labrador, and Green Plan. This program supported the development Montreal, Quebec, he began Ph.D. studies at McGill, of a vigorous climate research capability in Canada graduating in 1971. His Ph.D. thesis was on the simu- that thrives to this day. His personal scientific work lation of convection using the spectral method. was consumed with the production of a book entitled Daley spent two years of postdoctoral studies at the Atmospheric Data Assimilation, which was published Institute for Theoretical Meteorology in Copenhagen in 1991. This book is now a classic. In writing the before returning to Canada to a research scientist po- book, Daley encountered many vexing difficulties and sition with the Meteorological Service of Canada inconsistencies with the approaches used in opera- (MSC) in Montreal. From 1973 to 1977, he carried tional data assimilation. He proceeded to tackle and out research and development on numerical weather resolve many of these questions. These investigations prediction (NWP) systems that were implemented at led to an explosion of publications by Daley in the the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC). He was refereed literature during the period 1985 to 1995. By the team leader for the world's first operational spec- the time he left the MSC he was firmly established as tral forecast model, which was implemented in 1976. a world leader in data assimilation through his com- The spectral approach is now used in most operational prehensive book, as well as in terms of creative new global NWP centers and forms the dynamical basis developments in the theory and practice of data as- for most climate models presently in use. He also was similation. Some scientists believe that Daley was a codeveloper of the variable resolution finite element largely responsible for elevating data assimilation to model that was used for regional forecasting applica- be a prestigious field of scientific enquiry. tions in Canada for many years. In 1995, Daley accepted a position as a UCAR In 1977, Daley accepted a position at the National Distinguished Scientific Visitor at the Marine Meteo- Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boul- rology Division, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), der, Colorado, where he carried out research on non- in Monterey and moved his family to the Carmel linear normal mode initialization and other Valley. Daley took on the job of the design and con- outstanding problems in the dynamics of large-scale struction of a new three-dimensional variational data atmospheric flow, particularly as they related to glo- assimilation system specifically meant to serve the bal NWP. He also became much more interested in needs of the U.S. Navy. This system is now known the science of data assimilation. During this period, as the NRL Atmospheric Variational Data Assimila-

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 07:51 AM UTC tion System (NAVDAS). It is poised to transition to in France. He also gave his time and energy operations at the Fleet Numerical Oceanography and unstintingly to professional activities serving on many Meteorology Center and navy regional centers. important international scientific committees, carry- NAVDAS is designed to meet data assimilation needs ing out scientific reviews, and serving as a member of both global models and regional nested models. of journal editorial boards of the AMS and the Swed- Daley continued to innovate as he continued to imple- ish Geophysical Society. He was chief editor for the ment. His colleagues at NRL Monterey greatly ad- Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society mired his ability to be equally productive in the (CMOS) journal Atmosphere-Ocean from 1989 to 1992. "nitty-gritty" computer programming of components Daley received many honors during his career. of NAVDAS as he was in the abstract matrix algebra From the CMOS he received the Prize in Applied Me- of data assimilation theory. Daley was full of ideas teorology in 1975 and the President's Prize in 1982. and recently very active in research on an accelerated He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of cycling representor method as a new approach to four- Canada in 1993 and a Fellow of the AMS in 1997. In dimensional data assimilation. January 2001, he was awarded the prestigious AMS Throughout his career, Daley was in demand as a Jules G. Charney Award for a lifetime of outstanding consultant, scientific visitor, and adjunct professor. He scientific achievement. held visiting appointments at ECMWF, Meteo- Daley was a person who felt that his education and France, The Florida State University, and The Meteo- his research efforts should result in practical applica- rological Institute of Stockholm University. He was tions and that motivated his continued efforts and an adjunct professor at McGill University, Colorado success in the implementation of his results in NWP State University, and the Naval Postgraduate School, operations. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, and a Scientist Emeritus with the Meteorological Ser- Lucia; a daughter, Kate Daley of Victoria, B.C.; a son, vice of Canada. He also lectured extensively through- Charlie Daley of Areata, California; a brother, Andrew out the world, including a series of lectures in Beijing, Daley of Kelowna, B.C.; two nephews and a niece.— China, as a principal lecturer at the 1990 Summer Philip Merilees Colloquium at NCAR, and at the University of Toulon

Lester Machta Field. He enlisted in the army in 1943 and, moving 1919-2001 to a newly established Army Air Corps meteorology school at Grand Rapids, Lester Machta, former director of the U.S. Weather taught meteorology to the Bureau Special Projects Section and NOAA's Air Re- cadets there. After a brief sources Laboratory, died in Washington, D.C., on 31 postwar stint teaching al- August 2001. He will be remembered as a visionary gebra at the University of scientist and manager who led scientific research ef- Illinois, he returned to the forts in some of the key environmental issues of the East Coast. In 1946 he twentieth century. obtained the master's de- Machta grew up in , where he spent long gree in meteorology from hours working in the family candy store. He went to NYU with a thesis on air City College at age 16, and then to Brooklyn College, trajectories and in 1948 where he obtained a B.A. in mathematics (cum laude) completed his Sc.D. in in 1939. Because mathematics did not appear a viable meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- career option at that time, he entered a master's de- nology with a thesis on ageostrophic winds. gree program in meteorology at New York Univer- In the same year, , head of Weather sity (NYU). He fondly remembered the reaction of his Bureau Research, who had met Machta at Grand Rap- relatives, who wondered why such a smart boy would ids, selected him to head a U.S. Weather Bureau Spe- want to pursue a career reading meters. His education cial Projects Section, whose main purpose was to was interrupted by World War II, and as a civilian he address meteorological and environmental aspects of taught meteorology to army personnel at Chanute postwar nuclear activities. He served as director of that

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 07:51 AM UTC group and its 1982 successor organization the NOAA eral agencies, including the Public Health Service (and Air Resources Laboratory until 1989 and continued later the Environmental Protection Agency), Atomic working at the laboratory until the time of his death. Energy Commission (later the Department of Energy, Following Wexler's death in 1962, Machta acted as and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission), and Depart- head of Weather Bureau Research for a short time. ment of Defense. Machta served as the U.S. cochair Machta led the efforts to understand the transport of the International Air Quality Advisory Board of the and dispersion of radioactivity in the atmosphere for International Joint Commission, addressing several decades. He and his group provided meteoro- transboundary issues affecting the United logical forecasts for U.S. atomic bomb tests, assessed States and Canada, and in the 1980s he was the NOAA the potential exposure of U.S. citizens to radioactive representative to the National Acid Precipitation As- fallout from both hypothetical foreign attacks and sessment Program. from testing, and detected secret Soviet bomb tests In addition to his work on the transport, dispersion, using back-trajectory methods. In the late 1940s, his and fallout of radioactive debris from atomic tests, team helped determine the location of the first tests Machta was keenly interested in the global carbon by the Soviet Union using this method. Machta at- cycle and the atmospheric ozone budget. His research tended the 1958 conference of American, British, and papers on these and other topics numbered more than Russian experts who were laying the scientific ground- 100. He worked in the British Meteorological Office work for an international nuclear test ban treaty and in Bracknell in 1965-66 and in London in 1976. Un- played a key role in mediating the divergent interests. der his aegis, the tracking of low-level pollution by In the late 1950s, Machta supported Charles means of constant volume balloons (tetroons) was Keeling's efforts to precisely monitor atmospheric carried out, as well as programs monitoring global concentrations of carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa. This ozone and temperature, and the small-scale variabil- eventually developed into the global Geophysical ity in intensity of sonic booms. In recent years, his Monitoring for Climatic Change (GMCC) network to attention had turned to the issue of global warming. monitor not only carbon dioxide but a range of other Machta was a Fellow of the American Association greenhouse gases and atmospheric constituents. The for the Advancement of Science, AMS (for which he GMCC program remained under Machta's supervi- also served as Councilor), American Geophysical sion until 1989, when it became the core of the newly Union, and Royal Meteorological Society, as well as established NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnos- a member of Sigma XI. He was the recipient of the tics Laboratory. Department of Commerce Exceptional Service award The Special Projects Section of the U.S. Weather in 1957 and 1985. In 1974 he received the AMS's Bureau became the Air Resources Laboratories of the Cleveland Abbe Award for Distinguished Service to Environmental Science Services Administration Atmospheric Sciences "for outstanding contributions (ESSA) in 1965 as the work of the group expanded on critical atmospheric problems pertaining to the pro- to address the general problems of air pollution trans- tection of the environment, especially for his studies port and diffusion. Research components in Cincin- of atmospheric constituents and pollutants including nati (later Research Triangle Park), Oak Ridge, Idaho oxygen, carbon dioxide, and radioactive material." His Falls, Brookhaven, and later Las Vegas, enhanced the remarkable scientific legacy is summarized in the ci- work of the headquarters program in Silver Spring, tation on the NOAA Administrator's Award he re- Maryland, and provided direct support to other fed- ceived in 1995 for "leadership in the studies of

The Lester A. Machta Memorial A memorial has been established in memory of the late Lester A. Machta. Contributions received will be designated to the AMS K-13 Education Program as part of the AMS 21st Century Campaign. Contributions may be sent to AMS, Attn: Lester A. Machta Memorial, 45 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108-3693.

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 07:51 AM UTC radioactive fallout, trace gas measurements, acid rain, Lester was a loving family man. He had met his and atmospheric transport and dispersion, that have wife Phyllis in Illinois and courted her there while pur- fostered pioneering advances in our understanding of suing his Sc.D. at MIT. They were married in Janu- the global atmosphere." ary of 1947 and Machta would often mention how While Machta's passion was meteorology, and he lucky and blessed he was to have married Phyllis. The most enjoyed talking in that context, he was truly a children appreciated his coming home from the office man for all seasons, and could talk intelligently about at a reasonable hour in the late afternoon and being any issue that arose. He was an excellent boss, one available for family fun in the evening. Machta was with whom conversation flowed easily without fear most animated around his, and other, children, enter- of ridicule or being put down because of lack of taining them with jokes, stories, and magic tricks. knowledge. His gracious and gentle old-school man- Machta was completely self-effacing. He was un- ner made him very popular in the meteorological com- easy being the center of attention or receiving praise. munity and he was elected Councilor of AMS with Despite his shy and laid-back nature, however, he an unusually high percentage of the vote. could be stubborn and tough if the occasion de- Besides his work, Machta's pleasures included manded. His emphasis was always on doing good playing tennis and listening to classical music. He was science—in particular, science for the public. He was an intensely competitive and sneaky tennis player who a public servant in the best sense of the word and his often won against opponents who looked like better passing represents the end of an era for many of us. players. He loved to listen to classical music while His like will not be seen again. driving the carpool, conducting the orchestra with one He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Phyllis, of hand while driving aggressively with the other (with Bethesda, Maryland; son Jonathan of Amherst, Mas- never an accident). This carpool must hold the record sachusetts; daughter Deborah of Berkeley, California; for longevity, having started in the 1960s. Besides a brother, a sister, and four grandchildren.—Jim Machta, the long-term members included Heffter, Angell and Dian Seidel Klein, Hass, Herbert, and Angell.

Richard Howard Thuillier 1936-2001 authored or coauthored over 35 technical reports. In addition to the many landmark research and de- Richard (Dick) Thuillier died at his home in Oak- velopment projects Thuillier managed or assisted with, land, California, on 18 August 2001 at the age of 65. he was project manager of a research and development Born in , he received his B.S. de- project that became one of the most ambitious and gree in physics from Fordham University and his M.S. successful air quality measurement and model devel- degree in meteorology as well as fulfilling all require- opment projects (AUSPEX) ever conducted. Its pur- ments, except dissertation, for a Ph.D. at New York pose was to develop a database and modeling system University. He served three years in the U.S. Air Force to research the nature of air quality problems on a and was employed for one year in the Republic of comprehensive basis with an objective to model ozone Panama. He moved to California in 1968 and had an and aerosol, visibility, and acid deposition over a re- exemplary career in meteorology and air quality, hold- gion covering over one half of the state of California. ing positions at the San Francisco Air Quality Man- Prior to his illness, Dick was a passionate hiker with agement District, Stanford Research Institute, and ventures to several western national parks and near- Pacific Gas & Electric Company. He also had lecturer weekly local treks in mountainous terrain at Mount positions at U.C. Berkeley, San Jose State University, Tamalpais State Park. Beloved husband of Joan Tropp and Hunter College in New York City. and the late Barbara Thuillier, he is also survived by In 1967, at the age of 31, Thuillier became one of his mother, Louise Thuillier, of Oakland, California; the youngest members to receive the Certified Con- four sons, Stephen of Seattle, Washington; David of sulting Meteorologist certificate. In 1993, he was the San Francisco, California; Lawrence of San Jose, recipient of the AMS's award for Outstanding Con- California; and Daniel of Oakland, California; and five tribution for the Advance of Applied Meteorology. He grandchildren.—Robert N. Swanson •

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