Tuesday, December 28, 2010

12/27-Mark Jackson

Mark Jackson-Meteorologist-in-Charge, National Weather Service's LA Forecast Office

“A meteorologist-in-charge is the front line officer carrying out the National Weather Service’s mission of serving the American public by helping protect lives and property,” said retired Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), director of NOAA’s National Weather Service.

Jackson’s meteorology career began in 1987 at the NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., where he was involved in multiple operational forecast research projects. He started his National Weather Service career in June 1995 as a science and operations officer at the Brownsville, Texas, Weather Forecast Office and moved to Honolulu in October 1998, where he served as regional scientist for the NWS Pacific Region Headquarters. There he managed the region’s Warning Coordination Meteorologist program, served as the regional aviation meteorologist, directed the regional marine program, and led regional training and technology transfer efforts. Since September 2001, Jackson had been the science and operations officer for the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Salt Lake City.

Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from the University of
Nebraska in 1984 and a master’s degree in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma in 1987.

NOAA’s National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States and its territories. NOAA’s National Weather Service operates the most advanced weather and flood warning and forecast systems in the world, helping to protect lives and property and enhance the national economy.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with federal partners and nearly 60 countries to develop a global earth observation network that is as integrated as the planet it observes.