Roland Potthast

Prof. Dr. Roland Potthast is a Full Professor for Applied Mathematics at the University of Reading, UK, and Director of the Meteorological Analysis and Modeling Department (FE1) at the German Weather Service (DWD) since 2020. He leads ~110-120 researchers focused on operational numerical weather prediction (NWP), Earth system modeling, and data assimilation for the ICON model.

• Key Institutions: University of Reading, German Weather Service (DWD), Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), ETH Zurich.
• Research: Data assimilation, inverse problems, ensemble/particle filtering, high-resolution NWP systems (ICON-global, ICON-EU, ICON-D2), and integration of machine learning with weather modeling.

Scientific Contributions: Developed hybrid ensemble-variational data assimilation (EnVar) schemes, 4D-LETKF for convective-scale systems, and ultra-rapid data assimilation methods. His work impacts air traffic control, severe weather warnings, and energy supply applications.

• Awards/Grants:
  • ESM Project (2022-2030), BeCoM (2022-2025), CONTRAILS (2022-2025).
  • DFG grants, EPSRC funding, EU projects, and international fellowships.

Leadership: Steering Committee member for ICON Consortium, COSMO Consortium, and EUMETNET AI program. He also contributes to supercomputing initiatives at HLRS and Gauss Centre.