Pierre Kirstetter

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Pierre Kirstetter

Professor

Email: pierre-emmanuel.kirstetter@ou.edu
Phone: (405) 325-6092
Office: National Weather Center, Room 4616

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Ph.D., Meteorology (2008)
Grenoble Alps University, France

M.S., Geosciences (2005)
Grenoble Alps University, France

Dipl. Ing. (M.Sc.Eng.) Civil Engineering and Environmental Science (2004)
Grenoble Alps University, France

About

Our research seeks to improve weather and water prediction by better understanding the processes that govern atmospheric precipitation and its hydrologic impact at all scales. We combine state-of-the art remote sensing tools, innovative analysis of ground and satellite observations, and modeling. Our research improves the state of knowledge as well as real-world applications and operations.

Research Focus

Precipitation processes, variability, and microphysics
Extreme precipitation and flood events
Radar and satellite remote sensing
Radar Meteorology - Radar Hydrology
Remote sensing of atmospheric water vapor for tropical and subtropical climates
Hydrometeorology – Applied mathematics – Statistics – Geostatistics.

Current Research Projects

National Science Foundation - 14th International Precipitation Conference (IPC14) - Emerging Directions in Precipitation Science and Applications: Going Beyond, 06/01/2023–05/31/2024.
National Science Foundation - CIF: Mobile Rapid Scanning Radar for Enhancing Weather Radar Research and Education, NSF Community Instruments and Facilities program, 2113075, 08/15/2021 – 07/31/2024.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Bridging the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Level II and Level III precipitation using Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor-GPM (MRMS-GPM), Precipitation Measurement Mission Science Team 2018 program, #80NSSC19K0681, 03/01/2019–02/28/2024.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Evaluation of Precipitation Products from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and Global Precipitation Measurement Mission, Global Precipitation Measurement Ground Validation program, # 80NSSC21K2045, 09/01/2022–08/31/2023.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Global High‐Resolution Datasets of Convective or Stratiform Type for Precipitation, MEaSUREs program, 09/01/2023–08/31/2028.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Probabilistic Quantitative Precipitation Estimation with Geostationary Satellites, NASA/NOAA Earth Science Research from Operational Geostationary Satellite Systems 2019 program, NA16OAR4320115, 07/01/2020–09/30/2023.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - The Horus Digital Polarimetric Phased Array Radar: Weather Observations and Further Enhancement, 10/11/2022–09/30/2023.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Development of Real-Time Multistatic Passive Radar Networks for Severe Weather Prediction, 08/01/2023–07/31/2025.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - A Next Generation Multi-Decadal to Real-Time Probabilistic Gridded Precipitation Dataset and Integrated Precipitation Event Database for CONUS, 9/1/2023 - 8/31/2026.
United States Geological Survey - Fixed-mount laser scanning instrumentation for remote stream gaging in shallow rivers with frequently changing geomorphologies, 10/1/2023 - 9/30/2026.

Experience

Associate Professor, 2019-present, School of Meteorology, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma
Faculty, 2014-present, Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC), University of Oklahoma
Affiliate, 2011-present, NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, OK
Adjunct Faculty, 2015-2018, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma
Research Scientist, 2014-2018, Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC), University of Oklahoma
NASA Postdoctoral Research Scientist, 2011-2013, University of Oklahoma
Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), 2009-2010, Labratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC), French National Center for Scientific Resarch (CNRS), Paris, France

Awards

2023 International Precipitation Conference Leadership Award “In Recognition of Outstanding Leadership and Dedication as the Organizer of the 14th International Precipitation Conference (IPC14) held at the National Weather Center”
International Precipitation Conference Committee 2023 Vice President for Research and Partnerships Annual Award for Excellence in Research grants
2022 - Leading Researcher at the University of Oklahoma - https://research.com/university/university-of-oklahoma
2022 - Research Excellence Award - College of Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences, University of Oklahoma
2022 - IEEE Senior Member
2022 - Regents' Award for Superior Research and Creative/Scholarly Activity - University of Oklahoma
2022 - Vice President for Research and Partnerships Awards for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity – University of Oklahoma
2018 - “Publons Peer Review Awards 2018” given by Publons, top 1 percent of peer reviewers in Geosciences
2018 - Excellence in refereeing - American Meteorological Society Editor’s Award, Journal of Hydrometeorology, “For thorough, thoughtful reviews of a large number of manuscripts, completed in a timely manner”
2018 - Invited Scientist, LABEX Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (L-IPSL)
2017 - Best Paper Award, 2017 International Symposium on Weather Radar and Hydrology
2015 - NASA Group Achievement Award, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Post-Launch Team, “For exceeding all expectations for GPM operations, data processing, algorithm performance, science impact, and education and public outreach within one year after launch”
2014 - NASA Robert H. Goddard Award, Exceptional Achievement in Science “For outstanding precipitation retrieval algorithm development to support the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission”
2014 - NASA Robert H. Goddard Award, Exceptional Achievement in Science “For creative development and use of validation data for Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) from surface-based sensors and four highly successful field campaigns”
2014 - 1st NASA Precipitation Measurement Missions Science Team Award

Professional Activities and Organizations

Professional Memberships

Member European Geosciences Union (EGU), 2018-present
Member Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2015-present
Member American Meteorological Society (AMS), 2014-present
Member American Geophysical Union Precipitation Committee, 2013-present
Member NASA Precipitation Measurement Missions Science Team, 2013-present
Member World Meteorological Agency’s Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites International Precipitation Working Group (IPWG), 2013-present
Member American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2012-present

Professional Service

Academic service 2022 – present
CEES English Training and Certification Test Panelist, University of Oklahoma 2022 – present
Representative for the University of Oklahoma to the Universities Space Research Association Council of Institutions, University of Oklahoma 2022 – present
Coordinator, Memorandum of Understanding between OU and the Laboratoire Atmosphères, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Université Paris-Saclay, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers in France. 2021 – 2022
Committee Member, School of Meteorology Strategic Regular Faculty Recruiting Applications committee. 2020 – present
Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (formerly Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies), University of Oklahoma 2020 – 2021
Committee Member, School of Meteorology Strategic Plan writing team, University of Oklahoma 2021 – present
Chair, School of Meteorology Awards Committee, University of Oklahoma Identify and facilitate the promotion of colleagues for awards 2020 – present
Member, School of Meteorology Awards Committee, University of Oklahoma 2019 – present
Member, Mobile Radar Committee, University of Oklahoma 2019 – 2021 Member, College of Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences Dean Evaluation Committee, University of Oklahoma 2018 – present
Executive Associate Director and Committee Member, Hydrology and Water Security Program, University of Oklahoma Editorial service 2017 – present
Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrology (98 editor records) Handle the peer review process for manuscripts submitted to the journal: select reviewers, oversee the peer-review process, and make decisions. 2016 – present
Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrometeorology (AMS) Support the journal by providing high-quality reviews and by providing special assistance to handling Editors. Community service 2022 – present
Chair, 14th International Precipitation Conference 2022 – present
Co-Chair (with Dr. Kazumasa Aonashi, Japan Meteorological Agency, Meteorological Research Institute), Baseline Surface Precipitation Network Working Group for the International Precipitation Working Group 2022 – present
External Partners Lead, NASA Decadal Survey Earth System Observatory Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) Applications Leadership team 2021 – present Member, NASA AOS Applications Working Group 2021 – present
Member, NASA AOS Radar Working Group 2021 – present
Member, NASA AOS Radiometer Working Group 2021 – present
Member, NASA AOS Sub-orbital Working Group 2020 – present
Group leader, NASA PMM Phase Discrimination working group 2020 – 2021
Group leader, NASA PMM Snow working group 2020 – 2020
Group co-leader, NASA PMM Validation Network training workshop 2018 – 2019
Chair, NASA Global Hydrology and Resource Center’s (GHRC) User Working Group 2017 – 2020
Member (Co-chair 2017-2018), NASA Global Hydrology and Resource Center’s (GHRC) User Working Group 2017 – 2019
Chair, AGU’s Precipitation Technical Committee 2017 – 2019
Member, NOAA Hydrology Initiative Working Group 2015 – 2016
Deputy Chair, AGU’s Precipitation Technical Committee 2014 – 2015
General Chairman of the Organizing Committee, 4th International Symposium on Earth-science Challenges (ISEC2015) between Kyoto University & University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 2015.

Courses Taught

ENGR 3401 - Engineering Economics
CEES 4253 - Probability and Statistics
METR/CEES 5643 - Quantitative Hydrometeorology

Selected Publications

Kirstetter, P.E., J.J. Gourley, Y. Hong, J. Zhang, S. Moazamigoodarzi, C. Langston, A. Arthur, 2015: Probabilistic Precipitation Rate Estimates with Ground-based Radar Networks. Water Resources Research, 51, 1422–1442. doi:10.1002/2014WR015672
Kirstetter, P.E., T.Y. Yu, R. Palmer, D. Parsons, H. Ishikawa, J. Erlingis, 2016: The 4th International Symposium on Earth-science Challenges: Integrating Research and Education to Study Severe Weather and Climate Variability. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 97, ESI29–ESI32. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0010.1
Carr, N., P.E. Kirstetter, J.J. Gourley, Y. Hong, 2017: Polarimetric Signatures of Mid-Latitude Warm-Rain Precipitation Events. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 56, 697–711. doi: 10.1175/JAMC-D-16-0164.1
Gourley, J.J., Z. Flamig, H. Vergara, P.E. Kirstetter, R. Clark III, E. Argyle, A. Arthur, S. Martinaitis, G. Terti, J. Erlingis, Y. Hong, K. Howard, 2017: The Flooded Locations And Simulated Hydrographs (FLASH) project: improving the tools for flash flood monitoring and prediction across the United States. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98, 361–372. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00247.1
Skofronick-Jackson, G., W. Petersen, W. Berg, C. Kidd, E. Stocker, D. Kirschbaum, R. Kakar, S. Braun, G. Huffman, T. Iguchi, P.E. Kirstetter, C. Kummerow, R. Meneghini, R. Oki, W. Olson, Y. Takayabu, K. Furukawa, T. Wilheit, 2017: Global Precipitation Measurement for Science and Society. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98, 1679-1695. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00306.1
Terti, G., I. Ruin, J.J. Gourley, P.E. Kirstetter, Z. Flamig, J. Blanchet, A. Arthur, S. Anquetin, 2019: Towards Probabilistic Prediction of Flash Flood Human Impacts. Risk Analysis, 39, 140-161. doi: 10.1111/risa.12921
Palmer, R., D. Bodine, P. Kollias, D. Schvartzman, D. Zrnic, P.E. Kirstetter, et al..: Primer on Phased Array Radar Technology for the Atmospheric Sciences. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 103(10), E2391-E2416. 10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0172.1
Upadhyaya, S., P.E. Kirstetter, R. Kuligowski, M. Searls, 2022: Towards Improved Precipitation Estimation with the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager: Algorithm and Evaluation. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 148(748) 3406– 3427. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4368
Derin, Y., P.E. Kirstetter, 2022: Evaluation of IMERG over CONUS Complex Terrain Using Environmental Variables. Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2022GL100186. 10.1029/2022GL100186.
Kuntla, S. K., M. Saharia, P.E. Kirstetter, 2022: Global-Scale Characterization of Streamflow Extremes. Journal of Hydrology, 615(A). 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128668