NCAR senior scientist Bill Kuo directs the program office for the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate, or COSMIC. This globe-spanning satellite network, launched in April 2006, will furnish round-the-clock weather data, monitor climate change, and improve space weather forecasts by using signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS). Kuo served as the U.S. project director for the Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment and is a recognized leader in the fields of mesoscale numerical modeling and data assimilation. For many years he was the lead developer of the MM5 weather model, used around the world. His scientific interests include mesoscale modeling, explosive marine cyclogenesis, mesoscale convective systems, heavy rainfall prediction, data assimilation, the use of GPS for meteorological research, and model initialization. Kuo divides his time between COSMIC and NCAR's Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division.
