BRIAN C. ANCELL

University of Washington
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
408 ATG Building, Box 351640
Seattle, WA 98195
(206)543-1456 (phone)
(206)543-0308 (fax)
bancell@atmos.washington.edu


Education:

B.S. Civil Engineering May 1998
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ph.D. Atmospheric Sciences August 2006
University of Washington
Advisor: Clifford F. Mass
Ph.D. Dissertation: The Nature of Adjoint Sensitivities With Respect to Model Parameters and Their Use in Adaptive Data Assimilation


Professional Experience:

Summer Research Intern, Oceanography June 1998 - August 1998
University of California at Santa Barbara
Research Project: The Plumes and Blooms Project: An Ocean Color Assessment of the Santa Barbara Channel
Advisor: David Siegel

Civil Engineer (E.I.T.) November 1998 - July 2000
Entellus, Inc., Phoenix, AZ

Broadcast Meteorology Intern June 1999 - September 1999
KNXV ABC Television Network, Phoenix, AZ

Research Assistant September 2000 - August 2006
University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences

Forecaster January 2001 - June 2004
University of Washington Student Newspaper The Daily

Postdoctoral Appointment October 2006 - Present
University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Advisor: Clifford F. Mass


Teaching Experience:

Teaching Assistant September 2001 - December 2001, September 2002 - December 2002
University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Classes: ATMS 301 - Introduction to Atmospheric Sciences

Instructor, Extreme Earth Middle School Academy July 23 - August 3, 2007
Burke Museum, University of Washington

Instructor January 2008 - March 2008
University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Classes: ATMS 370 - Atmospheric Structure and Analysis (Laboratory Section)
               ATMS 442 - Atmospheric Motions II (Laboratory Section)


Refereed Publications:

Ancell, B. C. and C. F. Mass, 2006: Structure, growth rates, and tangent linear accuracy of adjoint sensitivities with respect to horizontal and vertical resolution.
Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 134, No. 10, pages 2971 - 2988.

Ancell, B. C. and G. J. Hakim, 2007: Comparing ensemble and adjoint sensitivity analysis with applications to observation targeting.
Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 135, No. 12, pages 4117 - 4134.

Ancell, B. C. and G. J. Hakim, 2007: Interpreting adjoint and ensemble sensitivity toward the development of optimal observation targeting strategies. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, Vol. 16, No. 6, pages 635-642.

Ancell, B. C. and C. F. Mass, 2008: The variability of adjoint sensitivity with respect to model physics and basic-state trajectory. Accepted in Monthly Weather Review.


Non-refereed Publications:

Ancell, B. C. and D. A. Siegel, 1998: The plumes and blooms project: An ocean color assessment of the Santa Barbara channel.
http://www.crseo.ucsb.edu/esrg/ess_sum97/Students_ESS.1998/Brian_Ancell/brian_report.html.


Invited Seminars:

"Toward a Real-time Mesoscale 4DVAR system"
Weekly Atmospheric Sciences Seminar Series, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, March 24, 2004.

"Ensemble Sensitivities, Their Relationship to Adjoint Sensitivities, and Their Use in Data Assimilation"
Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, CA, April 17, 2006.


Conference Presentations:

"The Role of Initial Condition Error in the February 7th, 2003 Oregon Cyclone Forecast Bust: A 4DVAR Viewpoint"
Oral presentation, 12th Cyclone Workshop, Val Morin, Quebec, Canada, September 21-26, 2003.

"A 4DVAR Analysis of the February 7-8, 2002 Oregon Cyclone"
Poster presentation, 20th Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting/16th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction, AMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, January 11-15, 2004.

"Comparing Ensemble and Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis"
Oral presentation, 7th International Workshop on Adjoint Applications in Dynamic Meteorology, Obergurgl, Tyrol, Austria, October 8-13, 2006.

"Structure, Growth Rates, and Tangent-Linear Accuracy of Adjoint Sensitivities with Respect to Horizontal Resolution"
Oral presentation, 13th Cyclone Workshop, Monterey, CA, October 22-26, 2006.

"The Use of Ensemble-based Sensitivity for Determining the Impact of Supplemental Observations"
Oral presentation, 22nd Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting/18th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction, Park City, UT, June 25-29, 2007.