Washington: A distinguished Indian-origin scientist has been awarded the prestigious International Meteorological Organisation (IMO) Prize for his research on climate change and predictability.
Dr Jagadish Shukla, Professor, George Mason University, was awarded the highest honour to be bestowed by the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), a UN agency, at a ceremony at the US National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC.
The award is in recognition of "his research on monsoons and coupled ocean-land-atmosphere interactions establishing a scientific basis for predictability of climate in the midst of chaotic weather, leading to the introduction of routine operational dynamical seasonal prediction."
The honour is also in consideration of his contributions "to fostering international cooperation in weather and climate research by developing and leading numerous international research programmes and creating new institutions worldwide for improving weather and climate research and the betterment of global society." Dr Alexander Bedritsky, President of the WMO presented the prestigious award to Shukla.
The Indian Ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen and Administrator of Oceans Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Vice Admiral (Retd) Conrad Lautenbacher also spoke on the occasion. In his congratulatory message read out on the occasion, Union Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal announced that the Government of India has decided to designate Shukla as the Chairman of an International Advisory Panel on Meteorology and Climate.
