Theodore M. Giannaros

Atmospheric Modeler

National Observatory of Athens

Inst for Env Research

About me

I am an atmospheric modeler fascinated by the powerful nature of our planet’s atmosphere that drives the various phenomena in which I am interested.

My research activity spans almost a decade, dating back in 2007 when I obtained my MSc Environmental Physics. Although my interests have shifted over the time, my research activity shows considerable continuity since my principal research directions remained unchanged. These are focused on numerical modeling and, in particular, numerical weather prediction and regional climate modeling. Hence, my research is in principle based on the exploitation of numerical models for studying in detail the atmospheric environment. Areas of special focus include severe weather, the urban environment (heat island effect), regional climate, renewable resources (wind and solar energy), human-biometeorology, and most recently fire-atmosphere interactions.

Interests

Numerical weather prediction/Severe Weather
Human-biometeorology and bioclimatology
Urban meteorology and climatology

Education

PhD in Atmospheric Physics, 2013

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
MSc in Environmental Physics, 2007

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
BSc in Physics, 2005

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Skills

Numerical models

WRF, WRF-Chem, WRF-SFIRE, WRF-Hydro, RayMan

Programming

Fortran, NCL, Python, NCO, CDO, GDAL

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

QGIS, ArcGIS

Professional appointments

March 2014 – Present

Athens, Greece

Postdoctoral Researcher

National Observatory of Athens

In the frame of my present appointment, I am working with state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction and regional climate models (WRF, WRF-Chem, WRF-SFIRE, WRF-Hydro), as well as with human-bioclimate models (RayMan), for both research and operational purposes. Specific duties include:

Responsible for human-biometeorology and bioclimate modeling activities.
Developer and in charge of operating the fire-spread forecasting service of the National Observatory of Athens, based on the coupled fire-atmosphere WRF-SFIRE modeling system.
Developer and in charge of operating the weather forecasting service based on the WRF model, including lightning forecasts (http://meteo.gr/meteomaps/wrf_slp.cfm).
In charge of operating the dust forecasting service based on the WRF-Chem model (http://meteo.gr/meteomaps/wrf_dust.cfm).
Developer of the AEOLUS-RIO2016 forecasting service for supporting the Hellenic Olympic Sailing Team during the Summer 2016 Olympic Games (http://www.meteo.gr/meteoplus/rio2016.cfm).
Contact person and in charge of relevant modeling activities in the context of the “Convective phenomena at high resolution over Europe and the Mediterranean” CORDEX FPS (https://www.cordex.org/cordexnews/276-fps-2.html).
Leader scientist of the “Impacts of dust on Mediterranean cyclones” research initiative in the context of the “Med-Cyclones” science team of the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX).
Contact person and in charge of relevant modeling activities in the context of the “Study of a haboob in Iran” research initiative of the WMO SDS WAS.

May 2013 – January 2014

Thessaloniki, Greece

Postdoctoral Researcher

Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics

Specific duties include:

Responsible for meteorological, regional climate and human-bioclimate modeling activities.
Developer and in charge of operating 2 operational forecasting services: 1 for numerical weather prediction (http://lap.physics.auth.gr/forecasting/index2.php) and 1 for environmental health indices (http://lap.physics.auth.gr/forecasting/index_aq.php).

Recent Publications

25 publications with 295 total citations (h-index=10)

More Publications

Fita L, Polcher J, Giannaros TM, Lorenz T, Milovac J, Sofiadis I, Katragkou E, Bastin S (2019). CORDEX-WRF v1.3: development of a module for the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to support the CORDEX community. Geoscientific Model Development 12:1029-1066.

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Karagiannidis A, Lagouvardos K, Lykoudis S, Kotroni V, Giannaros TM, Betz HD (2019). Modeling lightning density using cloud top parameters. Atmospheric Research 222:163-171.

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Giannaros C, Melas D, Giannaros TM (2019). On the short-term simulation of heat waves in the Southeast Mediterranean: Sensitivity of the WRF model to various physics schemes. Atmospheric Research 218:99-16.

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