Dr. Christof Appenzeller

Biography

Christof Appenzeller is the Director General of the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss and an Adjunct Professor at ETH Zurich since 2012, having previously served as a senior lecturer since 2004. His research interests focus on the analysis and prediction of weather and climate systems, particularly annual climate variability, climate change, and weather-climate risk management. He has led a variety of research projects and has been involved in steering committees for the National Centre of Competence Research Climate (NCCR-Climate) and the National Centre for Climate Services (NCCS), as well as the Centre for Climate System Modelling at ETH Zurich. Furthermore, he is part of the EXCLAIM initiative, which focuses on extreme scale computing for cloud-resolving weather and climate modeling. Appenzeller played a significant role in bridging the interface between science and policy, actively participating in forums such as ProClim. Since January 1, 2023, he has been appointed as the Director of MeteoSwiss, overseeing approximately 380 employees across Zurich, Geneva, Payerne, and Locarno. In this capacity, he serves as Switzerland’s Permanent Representative to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and is a member of the WMO Executive Council, leading the Swiss Delegation to various councils including EUMETSAT and ECMWF. He holds a doctoral degree in atmospheric dynamics from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at ETH Zurich and has previously worked at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington and at the Department of Climate and Environmental Physics at the University of Bern. Appenzeller has authored numerous scientific publications in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature.

Research Interests