Florence Rabier (born 1964) is a French meteorologist who is director-general of the

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by most of the nations of Europe. It is based at three sites: Shinfield Park, Reading, United Kingdom; Bologna, Italy; a ...

. She works on

numerical weather prediction Numerical weather prediction (NWP) uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to weather forecasting, predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Though first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of comput ...

(NWP). She was appointed a

Knight of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

in 2014.

Early life and education

Rabier joined

Météo-France Météo-France is the official French meteorological administration, also offering services to Andorra and Monaco. It has the powers of the state and can exercise them in relation to meteorology. Météo-France is in charge of observing, study ...

as an undergraduate engineer in meteorology from the

École nationale de la météorologie École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. After completing her undergraduate she joined the

Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier University Paul Sabatier University (''Université Paul Sabatier'' , UPS, also known as Toulouse III) was a French university, in the Academy of Toulouse. It was one of the several successor universities of the University of Toulouse, established in 1229, ...

, where she earned a master's degree in meteorology. She moved to the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

(

Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University ( , UPMC), also known as Paris VI, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, ...

) for her doctoral studies, where she researched variational assimilation of meteorological observations in the presence of baroclinic instabilities.

Research and career

From 1992 to 1998, Rabier worked at the

(ECMWF), where she developed four dimensional variational data assimilation methods for NWP. In 2008 she returned to Météo-France, where she was head of the observations team and then, from 2011, deputy director of GMAP (Groupe de Modélisation pour l'Assimilation et la Prévision). She improved methods for assimilating satellite observations in NWP. She worked on data from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), an instrument on European meteorological satellites which provides information on atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles. IASI has been operating since 2007 and has considerably improved operational meteorology. During the

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

(2007–2008) she participated in a field campaign over

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. Rabier moved back to the ECMWF in 2013, where she served as Director of Forecasts. In 2016 Rabier was appointed Director-General of ECMWF. She was Chair of the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

Advisory Committee on Earth Observations from 2021 to 2023. From 2021, she has been a member of the international scientific board of the IFAB (International Foundation for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data). In 2022, she was promoted to Ingenieur general de classe exceptionnelle.

Awards and honours

* 1994 Prix Prudhomme * 2014 * 2014

Académie de l'air et de l'espace An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...

Grand Prix de l'Académie * 2022 Honorary Member American Meteorological Society * 2024

French Academy of Technologies The National Academy of Technologies of France (''Académie des technologies'') is a learned society, founded in 2000, with an emphasis on technology, and the newest of French academies. In 2007 it acquired the status of ''établissement public'', ...

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabier, Florence 1964 births Living people French women scientists 21st-century women scientists French meteorologists Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni Paul Sabatier University alumni Knights of the Legion of Honour Women meteorologists Météo-France staff