Melissa Breeden, part of the Atmosphere-Ocean Processes team at the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory

CIRES researcher Melissa Breeden (she/her) joined PSL's Atmosphere–Ocean Processes Team in January 2021. Melissa develops real-time subseasonal forecast models of environmental conditions relevant to agriculture for regions important to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). Using a linear inverse model, she has developed a forecast model for sub-seasonal precipitation over Afghanistan, which will be implemented during the Afghan rainy season (November – April). Melissa also diagnoses sources of prediction skill, including ENSO and the MJO, for environmental conditions relevant to agriculture to bolster predictive understanding of Afghanistan's weather and climate. She next plans to develop forecasts for the Horn of Africa region.