Michael Rennie

Senior Scientist
Research, Earth System Assimilation, Actively Sensed Observations

Summary:

Michael Rennie has been working at ECMWF since 2011 on the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite (Doppler Wind Lidar) project. His current research topics include: improving the quality of the Aeolus wind product through developments to the Level-2B (L2B) processing algorithms, settings and calibration; the Aeolus DWL instrument per se; operational data assimilation and monitoring of Aeolus L2B horizontal line-of-sight (HLOS) winds at ECMWF; NWP impact assessment of Aeolus winds in the ECMWF model and research and development to maximise the impact.

Professional interests:
  • Data assimilation with a focus on the use of Aeolus HLOS winds and previously aircraft winds, super-pressure balloon winds and GNSS radio occultation observations
  • Impact assessment of the satellite Aeolus' wind product in NWP
  • Expertise in the Aeolus L2B wind product and its retrieval
  • Data science
Career background:
  • 2011-present: Scientist at ECMWF working on the Aeolus Doppler Wind Lidar project (part of the Aeolus DISC)
  • 2005-2010: Scientist at UK Met Office working on the assimilation of GPS radio occultation
  • 2001-2005: MSci MA, Natural Sciences Tripos (physics), University of Cambridge
External recognitions
  • Member of the Aeolus Science Advisory Group
  • Member of the Mission Advisory Group for ESA's Earth Explorer candidate mission: WIVERN

Peer reviewed papers

Marseille, G., de Kloe, J., Marksteiner, U., Reitebuch, O., Rennie, M., and de Haan, S.: NWP calibration applied to Aeolus Mie channel winds, QJRMS, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4244

Žagar, N., Rennie, M., and Isaksen, L., Uncertainties in Kelvin Waves in ECMWF Analyses and Forecasts: Insights From Aeolus Observing System Experiments, 2021, Geophy. Res. Let., 48, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094716

Weiler, F., Rennie, M., Kanitz, T., Isaksen, L., Checa, E., de Kloe, J., Okunde, N., and Reitebuch, O.: Correction of wind bias for the lidar on board Aeolus using telescope temperatures, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7167–7185, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7167-2021, 2021.

Rennie, M., Isaksen, L., Weiler, F., de Kloe, J., Kanitz, T., and Reitebuch, O.: The impact of Aeolus wind retrievals on ECMWF global weather forecasts, QJRMS, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4142

Polichtchouk, I, Bechtold, P, Bonavita, M, Forbes, R, Healy, S, Hogan, R, Laloyaux, P, Rennie, M, Stockdale, T, Wedi, N, Diamantakis, M, Flemming, J, English, S, Isaksen, L, Vána, F, Gisinger, S, Byrne, N (2021). “Stratospheric modelling and assimilation”. ECMWF Technical Memoranda 877.

Weiler, F., Kanitz, T., Wernham, D., Rennie, M., Huber, D., Schillinger, M., Saint-Pe, O., Bell, R., Parrinello, T., and Reitebuch, O.: Characterization of dark current signal measurements of the ACCDs used on board the Aeolus satellite, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5153–5177, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5153-2021, 2021.

Martin, A., Weissmann, M., Reitebuch, O., Rennie, M., Geiß, A., and Cress, A.: Validation of Aeolus winds using radiosonde observations and numerical weather prediction model equivalents, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2167–2183, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2167-2021, 2021.

Rennie, M., and L. Isaksen. (2020). “The NWP Impact of Aeolus Level-2B Winds at ECMWF”. ECMWF Technical Memoranda 864. https://dx.doi.org/10.21957/alift7mhr

Rennie, M. and L. Isaksen. 2020. “Use of Aeolus observations at ECMWF”. ECMWF Newsletter No. 163.

Straume, A.G., M. Rennie, L. Isaksen, J. de Kloe, G.-J. Marseille, A. Stoffelen, T. Flament, et al. (2020). “ESA’s Space-Based Doppler Wind Lidar Mission Aeolus First Wind and Aerosol Product Assessment Results”. Edited by D. Liu, Y. Wang, Y. Wu, B. Gross, and F. Moshary. EPJ Web of Conferences 237: 01007. https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202023701007

Stoffelen, A., Benedetti, A., Borde, R., Dabas, A., Flamant, P., Forsythe, M., Hardesty, M., Isaksen, L., Källén, E., Körnich, H., Lee, T., Reitebuch, O., Rennie, M., Riishøjgaard, L., Schyberg, H., Straume, A. G., & Vaughan, M. (2020). Wind Profile Satellite Observation Requirements and Capabilities, Bull. American Meteorol. Soc. 101(11), E2005-E2021, from https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/101/11/bamsD180202.xml?rskey=6gD1Gr&result=1.

M.Šavli, J.de Kloe, G.-J.Marseille, M.Rennie, N.Žagar and N.Wedi , Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 145 , 3499 (2019). doi:10.1002/qj.v145.725 . doi: 10.1002/qj.3634

Dharmalingam S, Plougonven R, Hertzog A, Podglajen A, Rennie M, Isaksen L, Kébir S. Accuracy of Balloon Trajectory Forecasts in the Lower Stratosphere. Atmosphere. 2019; 10(2):102. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10020102

L. Isaksen and M. Rennie, 2018. “ECMWF assesses pioneering Aeolus wind data”. ECMWF Newsletter No. 157.

Illingworth A, Battaglia A, Bradford J, Forsythe M, Joe P, Kollias P, Lean K, Lori M, Mahfouf JF, Mello S, Midthassel R, Munro Y, Nicol J, Potthast R, Rennie M, Stein T, Tanelli S, Tridon F, Walden C, Wolde M, 2018, WIVERN:  A NEW SATELLITE CONCEPT TO PROVIDE GLOBAL IN-CLOUD WINDS, PRECIPITATION AND CLOUD PROPERTIES, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (in press)

Horányi, A., Cardinali, C., Rennie, M. and Isaksen, L. (2015), The assimilation of horizontal line-of-sight wind information into the ECMWF data assimilation and forecasting system. Part II: The impact of degraded wind observations. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 141: 1233–1243. doi:10.1002/qj.2551

Horányi, A., Cardinali, C., Rennie, M. and Isaksen, L. (2015), The assimilation of horizontal line-of-sight wind information into the ECMWF data assimilation and forecasting system. Part I: The assessment of wind impact. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 141: 1223–1232. doi:10.1002/qj.2430

Rennie MP 2010. The impact of GPS radio occultation assimilation at the Met Office. QJRMS Vol. 136 No. 646 pp. 116-131.

Buontempo C, Jupp A, Rennie MP 2008. Operational NWP assimilation of GPS radio occultation data. Atmos. Sci. Lett. 9: 129–133.

Technical reports and conference papers:

Aeolus DISC TN “The NWP impact of Aeolus Level-2B winds at ECMWF”, AED-TN-ECMWF-NWP-025, v3.0, August 2021

Rennie MP, 2017, An Assessment of the expected quality of Aeolus Level-2B Wind products, ILRC 28 conference paper

Rennie MP, de Kloe J, 2017, Assessment of Level-2B wind errors resulting from realistic simulation of ISR/IRC/AUX_RBC calibration chain, ESA technical note, TN17.1

Rennie MP, 2017, CCN6 results: further Chain-of-Processors testing of L2B results and testing of the CCN6 L2B processor algorithm updates, ESA technical note, TN17.4

Rennie MP, 2016, Advanced monitoring of Aeolus winds, ESA technical note, TN16

Rennie MP, 2015, Aeolus L2B-processing of A2D airborne campaign data, ESA technical note, TN8.3

Rennie MP, 2015, Prospects for wind lidar assimilation, Seminar on Use of Satellite Observations in Numerical Weather Prediction, 8-12 September 2014, Conference Paper

Rennie MP, 2014, Testing the behaviour of wind retrievals with the new E2S simulation options, ESA technical note, TN17.3

Rennie MP, Dabas A, 2014, End-to-end testing of the continuous mode L2B processor, ESA technical note, TN15.3

Horányi, A., Rennie, M., Isaksen, L., 2013, The expected NWP impact of Aeolus wind observations, ECMWF Newsletter Feature Article.

Rennie MP, de Kloe J, 2013, Aeolus observational requirements and the measurement grouping algorithm, ESA technical note, TN15.2

Rennie MP, 2013, Inventory of Aeolus Target Assimilation Systems, ESA technical note, TN15.1

Rennie MP 2010. Investigation into the consistency of radiosonde and GPSRO observations and their application in NWP at the Met Office. F R&D Technical Report No. 541. Met Office: Exeter, UK.

Rennie MP 2008. The assimilation of GPS Radio Occultation measurements at the Met Office. Proc. GRAS SAF Workshop on Applications of GPS radio occultation measurements, ECMWF, 16-18 June 2008.

Rennie MP 2008. The assimilation of GPS radio occultation data into the Met Office global model. F R&D Technical Report No. 510. Met Office: Exeter, UK.