Laura Bianco
Position
Research Scientist
Division
Boundary Layer Observations and Processes
Affiliation
About
Dr. Bianco is a Research Scientist at the Physical Science Laboratory of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories in Boulder, Colorado. Her main area of interest is in the boundary layer, the atmospheric layer closest to the Earth's surface. Knowledge of the boundary layer's depth and structure is essential for improving weather meteorological forecasts. In the specific, understanding atmospheric processes happening in the boundary layer is important for improving forecasting in weather and climate models; for real-time forecasting of dispersion of hazardous materials, and of wind for renewable energy; and for predicting ozone and particulate matter concentrations in air quality forecast models. Dr. Bianco has also enjoyed expanding her research to investigate boundary layer processes in hurricanes, in particular studying the effects that sea-spray droplets have transferring heat energy from the warm ocean to the cooler atmosphere, therefore contributing the maximum intensity that hurricanes reach. Most recently Dr. Bianco is focusing on improving weather forecasts for renewable energy purposes. In 2011-2012 she participated in the Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP), a Department of Energy (DOE) funded project aimed at improving the short term forecast at hub height. In 2015-2017 she was involved in the DOE/NOAA funded WFIP2 aimed to improve numerical weather prediction models' parameterizations in complex terrain. The third WFIP will be held in offshore environments starting from 2024. In this context she is part of a renewable energy research program called ASRE (Atmospheric Science for Renewable Energy) within NOAA.
Research Interests
- Boundary Layer Meteorology
- Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere
- Renewable Energy
- Radar Wind Profiler Signal Processing
- Air-Sea Interaction & Hurricane Modeling
Education
- Ph.D., Atmospheric Science, University of L'Aquila, Italy, Feb 2002
- M.S., Physics, University of L'Aquila, Italy, Jul 1998
Professional Activities
- Associate Editor for "Atmospheric Measurement Techniques"
- Wind Forecast Improvement Project - WFIP (2011-2013)
- Wind Forecast Improvement Project 2 - WFIP2 (2015-2018)
- Wind Forecast Improvement Project 3 - WFIP3 (2024-2026)
- CHEESEHEAD (2019)
Professional Memberships
- American Meteorological Society
Honors and Awards
- CIRES Technology Transfer Award "For improving forecasts of turbine-height winds and solar irradiance from the HRRR weather model to improve usage of renewable power by industry"
- 2018 Federal Laboratory Consortium Far West Region Award for Outstanding Partnership.