Downloaded 10/01/21 07:51 AM UTC Tion System (NAVDAS)

Downloaded 10/01/21 07:51 AM UTC Tion System (NAVDAS)

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 meteorology 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- 2828 Vol. 82,, No. 12,, December 2001 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 Brooklyn, 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, Harry Wexler, 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 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 2749 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 air pollution 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.

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