CRAIG DONLON

Craig has been engaged in Earth observation and oceanography for over 25 years including operational oceanographic service delivery, oceanographic application of satellite data, developing satellite climate data records, research to improve our understanding of air-sea interaction and validation of satellite ocean datasets. After receiving a PhD in Oceanography (1994) from the University of Southampton, UK, Craig moved to the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, as an Assistant Research Professor in Oceanography, then in 1998 to the European Commission Joint Research Centre in Italy where he continued to work on satellite oceanography.  He became the Director of the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature at the Met Office UK in 2003, working closely with the World Meteorological Organisation as the Joint Commission on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) where he was the Services Programme Area coordinator leading several teams dedicated to sea ice, ocean forecasting, wind waves & storm surges and maritime safety systems (GMDSS). During this time Craig worked with the European Commission MyOcean project that has now developed into the Copernicus Marine Environmental Monitoring System (CMEMS). Since September 2008, Craig has worked at ESA as the Sentinel-3 Mission Scientist as part of ESA/ESTEC Mission Science Division in the Netherlands.