Dr. Jun Du

Dr. Jun Du is a senior meteorologist at NOAA and one of the pioneers in the field of ensemble weather forecasting. He developed the world's first operational regional ensemble forecast system, NOAA's Short Range Ensemble Forecast System (SREF). The SREF system significantly advanced the application of ensemble prediction in routine weather forecasting and has been widely used in forecasting heavy rainfall, severe convection, and aviation weather.

Through the World Meteorological Organization Research Demonstration Project for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the Aviation Weather Project for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Dr. Du contributed ensemble forecasting technologies and products to specialized weather services for these two major international events.

His research covers a broad range of topics, including atmospheric predictability and ensemble numerical weather prediction; statistical and dynamical calibration of model forecasts; forecast verification for numerical weather prediction and artificial intelligence models; anomaly-based weather analysis and forecasting techniques; incorporation of forecast uncertainty into forecast products and decision-making tools; and precipitation analysis. His work has been published in nearly 100 scientific articles and book chapters.

Dr. Du has also been active in professional service to the meteorological community. He served as Associate Editor of Weather and Forecasting from 2009 to 2014 and became an Editor of the journal in 2026. He has also served on the editorial boards of Journal of Meteorological Research, Advances in Meteorological Science and Technology, Meteorology, and Hydrometeorology.

He is President-elect of the Chinese-American Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (COAA) in 2026 and will serve as President in 2027. He previously served two terms as Executive Secretary of COAA from 2004 to 2006.

Dr. Du graduated from Zhejiang University (formerly Hangzhou University) in 1982. He received his master's degree from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 1988, where he studied under the distinguished meteorologist Academician Shiyan Tao. He received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Arizona in 1996.