Meteorologist, dedicated worker, reading, hiking, and folk dance learner.

Dr. Hui Shao joined the JCSDA as one of two scientists hired in November 2017. Supporting the scientific mission for assimilating new satellite instrument measurements at the joint center, Hui will focus on assimilation of the Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) observations. The effort will touch on two aspects, data and assimilation, related to available and future GNSS-RO missions. The data aspect includes data pre-processing, data validation, characterization of observation errors, and quality control. The assimilation aspect includes improving data assimilation ethodology, development of new observation operators for assimilation of GNSS-RO, transitioning of available research to operations, and collaborating with the US and international GNSS-RO communities. This effort will help improve operational GNSS-RO assimilation capabilities, accelerate research to operation transitions and, eventually, help improve numerical weather forecasts, as well as other operational applications.

Hui developed an interest in GNSS-RO observations and their assimilation as part of her Ph.D. research. Her dissertation centered on the assimilation of GNSS-RO measurements through various methods, including the ray-tracing method and (local) refractivity and bending angle methods, as well as the non-local refractivity (excess phase) method. Since then, she has continued to develop her knowledge of RO data processing and assimilation and has applied this knowledge to other data assimilation systems and NWP applications. Recently, two of her projects have been related to GNSS-RO observations. One project was to assess RO bending angle and refractivity data quality and errors from commercial satellites. The other project involved development of a forward operator for assimilation of COSMIC RO slant total electron content observations. Besides pursuing her research on satellite data assimilation, Hui recently worked at the Developmental Testbed Center as the Data Assimilation Task Lead. She also served as the DTC liaison at NCEP, supporting NOAA operational Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) and Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) data assimilation systems.

Hui has a Ph.D. in Meteorology from Florida State University and M.S. and B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from Nanjing University, China. Outside of work, one of her favorite things to do in her free time is hiking with her family, including her two boys. She also keeps busy attending her sons’ various activities.