Two Dutch scientists win 19th Vaisala Award of WMO

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Thursday that two Dutch scientists won the 19th Professor Vilho Vaisala Award for their innovative work on the Doppler weather radar that may have a positive impact on severe weather forecasting and early warning.

The award winners are Iwan Holleman and Hans Beekhuis of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the WMO said in a press release.

Doppler weather radars are capable of providing wind data at high spatial and temporal resolutions. The winning paper by the two scientists presents a new technique to significantly improve the quality of wind data.

The method presented in the paper "could have a positive impact on several applications, such as aviation meteorology and severe weather forecasting and warning," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said at the award-giving ceremony held at KNMI headquarters in De Bilt, The Netherlands.

The Vaisala Award, constituted in 1985, was created for authors of an outstanding scientific research paper in the field of instruments and methods of observation. To date, 45 scientists from nine countries have received this award.

Source: Xinhua