Gianpaolo Balsamo is a principal scientist at ECMWF responsible for a team working on coupled earth system modelling activities and is responsible for the development of the land surface processes model at ECMWF. His research activities include land surface modelling and data assimilation. His expertise is documented in over 100 publications in international peer reviewed journal and book chapters. He is a member of the Scientific Steering Group (SSG) of the Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) programme and member of Land Expert Team of the Short-Range Numerical Weather Prediction (SRNWP).