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NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149

Professional Interests

Dr. Marks is a recognized expert in tropical cyclones and is the leader of the NOAA tropical cyclone research efforts as the research lead of NOAA’s Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project (HFIP) and the director of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorology Laboratory. Dr. Marks also serves as co-lead of the NOAA Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) Working Group for Tropical Cyclone Research (WG/TCR). His research interests include analyzing meteorological remote sensing   (e.g., microwave radar and radiometer) and numerical model data sets, particularly in tropical cyclones and mesoscale convective systems to understand the storm kinematic and precipitation structure.

Besides his role within NOAA Dr. Marks is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the University of Miami, as well as a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Dr. Marks received a B.S. in Meteorology from Belknap College (1973) and both an M.S. (1975) and Sc.D. (1981) in Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Marks is a member of the American Meteorlogical Society (AMS) and became a Fellow of the AMS in 2000. He served as a member of the AMS Committee on Radar Meteorology, the Atmospheric Research Awards Committee, and the AMS Council.

Current Research Projects

Manuscripts in Review

  1. Marks, F. D., J. A. Zhang, P. Dodge, and C. Sandin, 2017: The atmospheric boundary wind layer structure at the landfall of Hurricane Fran (1996) from WSR-88D radar observations. Mon. Wea. Rev., (submitted).
  2. Fitzpatrick, P., Y. Lau, G. Alaka, and F. Marks, 2019: A multi-metric ranking technique for comparing forecast products applied to 2017 Atlantic tropical cyclone guidance. Wea. Forecasting. (submitted)
  3. Gopalakrishnan, S. G., K. K. Osuri, F. D. Marks, and U. C. Mohanty, 2019: An inner-core analysis of the axisymmetric and asymmetric intensification of tropical cyclones: Influence of shear. Mausam: Quarterly Journal of Meteorology, Hydrology and Geophysics. (submitted)

Hightlighted Publications

  1. Marks, F. D., 2016: Advancing the understanding and prediction of tropical cyclones using aircraft observations, Advanced Numerical Modeling and Data Assimilation Techniques for Tropical Cyclone Prediction. Ed: S. Gopalakrishnan and U. C. Mohanty, Springer Netherlands. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0896-6.
  2. Marks, F. D., 2016: Hurricanes: Observations. In Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences (2nd edition), G.R. North, J. Pyle, and F. Zhang (eds.). Academic Press, Volume 6, 35-56, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-12-382225-3
  3. Marks, F. D., P. G. Black, M. T. Montgomery, and R. W. Burpee, 2008: Structure of the eye and eyewall of Hurricane Hugo (1989). Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 1237-1259. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2007MWR2073.1

    Recently Published Peer-Reviewed Papers

    1. Aguilar, C., I.C. Enochs, K. Cohen, L. Chomiak, G. Kolodziej, A. Baker, and D. Manzello. Understanding differential heat tolerance of the threatened mountainous star coral Orbicella faveolata from inshore and offshore reef sites in the Florida Keys using gene network analysis. PLOS Climate, 3(11):e0000403, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000403 2024
    2. Aksoy, A. A Monte Carlo approach to understanding the impacts of initial-condition uncertainty, model uncertainty, and simulation variability on the predictability of chaotic systems: Perspectives from the one-dimensional logistic map. Chaos, 34(1):011102, https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0181705 2024
    3. Alaka, G.J. Jr., J.A. Sippel, Z. Zhang, H.-S Kim, F. Marks, V. Tallapragada, A. Mehra, X. Zhang, A. Poyer, and S.G. Gopalakrishnan. Lifetime performance of the operational Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting model (HWRF) for North Atlantic tropical cyclones. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 105(6):E932-E961, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0139.1 2024

      Recent Presentations

      1. Frank Marks, Pioneering the Use of Doppler Radar in Tropical Cyclones, Robert Houze Symposium, 97th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, January 2017
      2. Frank Marks, Landfalling Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Distributions, Lance Bosart Symposium, 97th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, January 2017

      Awards and Honors

      2018Dr. Daniel L. Albritton Outstanding Science Communicator AwardNOAA/OAR
      2015Gold Medal for developing and implementing the high-resolution HWRF modelUS Department of Commerce
      2014Banner I. Miller AwardAmerican Meteorological Society
      2012Administrator's Award for outstanding management of the G-IV Tail Doppler Radar projectNOAA
      2012Research Employee of the YearNOAA/OAR
      2011Verner E. Suomi MedalAmerican Meteorological Society
      2011Outstanding Scientific Paper Award for Weather and WaterNOAA/OAR
      2010Distinguished Career AwardNOAA
      2008Research Employee of the YearNOAA/OAR
      2005Richard H. Hagemeyer AwardNOAA/OFCM
      2005Administrator's Award for establishing and administrating the Joint Hurricane TestbedNOAA
      2005Joint Hurricane Testbed Outstanding Contributor AwardNOAA/USWRP
      2003Diversity Council Spectrum Achievement Award for ManagersNOAA
      1998Silver Medal for performance as the Research Mission Manager for the NOAA High Altitude Jet procurementUS Department of Commerce
      1989Distinguished Authorship AwardNOAA/ERL
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