Arlene Laing

Coordinating Director of the Caribbean Meteorological Organization and Permanent Representative of the British Caribbean Territories with WMO

Dr. Arlene Laing is the Coordinating Director of the Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO), a specialized agency of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that coordinates joint scientific and technical activities in weather, climate and water-related sciences in 16 English-speaking Caribbean countries. 

Dr. Laing is a member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Executive Council, Research Board, and Panel on Socio-economic Benefits.  She is known for studying tropical and mesoscale meteorology; large thunderstorm systems; flash floods and mitigation; satellite meteorology; lightning and El Niño; tropical cyclone rainfall and genesis; weather, climate, and meningitis; climate and armed conflict; and volcanic ash fall modelling. She is the lead author of “Introduction to Tropical Meteorology”, a peer-reviewed online textbook used globally. She is also a co-author and Editorial Committee member of the award-winning, “Meteorology of Tropical West Africa; The Forecasters’ handbook”.  In 2021, she was recognized as a 125th Anniversary Fellow by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences of The Pennsylvania State University. 

The CMO is an admitted Inter-Governmental Organization of the UNFCCC.

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