C h r i s  L a n d s e a

   What got me hooked into meteorology was that once in awhile, I would go windsurfing with Mr. Parrish across the street after finishing work. (The NOAA/AOML Hurricane Research Division is located on an island east of downtown Miami.) I thought, wow, work for a few hours and then go windsurfing, being a weatherman is for me! Eighteen years later, here I am working at the same place that I got my start at in high school. While it has turned out to be a bit more work than my experience back in 1982-83, it still is hard to believe that I actually get paid a good salary to do all of the fun hurricane flying and research.

   I became interested in and learned to respect hurricanes by growing up in South Florida. After college, I moved back to Miami in 1995 with my wife, Donna Bahr-Landsea, to try and understand more about these storms. During the off-season, I enjoy South Florida's outdoor lifestyle by playing water polo and beach volleyball.

• Board of Trustees, Biscayne Nature Center, 1998-Present.
• Member of the American Meteorological Society, 1985-Present.
• Member of the American Geophysical Union, 1992-Present.
• President UCLA Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon, 1986-1987.
• Played goalie on UCLA Varsity Water Polo team, 1983-1987.
• Chosen as alternate team member of US Olympic Festival, 1985, 1986, 1987.
• Eagle Scout Award earned in 1982 from the Boy Scouts of America.

• August 1994 Doctoral Degree in Atmospheric Science Colorado State University, Advisor, Prof. William M. Gray. Dissertation: "Climatic Variability of Intense Tropical Cyclones"
• December 1987 Bachelor's Degree in Atmospheric Sciences University of California, Los Angeles

• Conducting research into the seasonal and climatic relationships of Atlantic tropical cyclones, African Sahel rainfall and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. I am lead author on eight of the 21 refereed articles that my colleagues and I have published.
• Spending seven months as a Visiting Scientist at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre in Melbourne and Macquarie University in Sydney. I investigated the association of the Australian monsoon with the tropical cyclones of the region.
• Participating in the Tropical Cyclone Motion-1990 (TCM-90) experiment in the Northwest Pacific. Responsibilities included launching rawindsondes in Saipan and monitoring ship observations while in Guam.
• Issuing, with Profs. William M. Gray, Paul W. Mielke, Jr. and Kenneth J. Berry, seasonal hurricane and Sahel rainfall forecasts and their verifications.
• Have flown into over a dozen hurricanes including Hurricanes Gilbert (1988) and Opal (1995) aboard the NOAA P-3 aircraft and into Supertyphoon Flo (1990) aboard the NASA DC-8 jet.

• Co-recipient of the American Meteorological Society's Banner I. Miller Award along with William M. Gray, Paul W. Mielke, Jr., and Kenneth J. Berry for our paper "Predicting Atlantic Seasonal Hurricane Activity 6-11 Months in Advance" at the May 1993 meeting of the 20th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology. The award was given for the "best contribution to the science of hurricane and tropical weather forecasting published during the years 1990 - 1992."
• Recipient of NASA Graduate Student Fellowship in Global Change Research, 1991 to 1994 to support doctoral research while at Colorado State University.
• Recipient of the American Meteorological Society's Max A. Eaton Prize for the Best Student Paper given at the 19th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology in May 1991.