Prof. Celeste Saulo of Argentina becomes the first female Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). She takes the helm at the fore of international efforts to monitor and tackle climate change and increasingly extreme weather.
Prof. Saulo has been Director of the National Meteorological Service of Argentina since 2014. He is at present the First Vice-President of WMO. She will take office on 1 January 2024 and succeeds Prof Petteri Taalas, who has completed his two-term mandate.
She was appointed after receiving the requisite two-thirds majority of votes at the World Meteorological Congress, the top decision-making body of the 193-Member WMO.
The Congress is also due to elect the WMO President and Vice-Presidents and its Executive Council.
“In these times when inequality and climate change are the greatest global threats, the WMO must contribute to strengthening the Meteorological and Hydrological Services to protect populations and their economies, providing timely and effective services and early warning systems,” Prof. Saulo said.
“My ambition is to lead the WMO towards a scenario in which the voice of all Members is heard equally, prioritizing those most vulnerable and in which the actions it undertakes are aligned with the needs and particularities of each one of them,” said Prof. Saulo.
CAREER BACKGROUND
Prof. Saulo combined her calling for science and teaching with university management and the connection of scientific research with the needs of the society.
At the National Meteorological Service of Argentina, she promoted substantive organizational changes, based on a management that strives for concrete results, meets social demands, articulates at national, regional and international levels, and cultivates equity, inclusion and mutual respect.
Prof. Celeste Saulo has long involvement with WMO. She was elected in June 2015 as a member of the WMO Executive Council. In April 2018, she was elected as Second Vice-president for WMO. In June 2019, she was elected First Vice-President, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
Prior to that, she was a member of various WMO expert scientific panels.
Until 2018, she was a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the World Weather Research Program (WWRP). She has also been a member of the Working Group on Seasonal to Interannual Prediction and of the WCRP/CLIVAR Panel for the Variability of the American Monsoon Systems.
Her research has been key for better understanding the South American Monsoon System, and the associated patterns of precipitation and circulation during the warm season. In the last few years, she deepened her activity on interdisciplinary problems such as wind energy production, agricultural applications, and early warning systems.
She has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and book chapters. She acted as Principal Investigator in 23 research projects financed by national and international agencies.
Her vast teaching experience has been mainly related with numerical weather prediction. She also taught atmosphere dynamics and thermodynamics, mesoscale meteorology, cloud dynamics and cloud microphysics.
ACTIVITIES
Prof. Saulo says her favorite activities are playing tennis, cooking for her family and dancing Latin rhythms. She is passionate about music, enjoys reading and cinema.
(Sourced from WMO)
