Dr. Eva Mekis: Climatologist and Meteorologist

Woman wearing glasses and navy blue sweater.
Photo: Eva Mekis

“My career provides me with continuous opportunities for learning. I am passionate about using my knowledge and skills for the benefit of all.”

Meet Dr. Eva Mekis.

Dr. Eva Mekis works as a Climatologist and Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). She graduated from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary in 1980, with a double major in meteorology and mathematics education. Eva then worked as a Research Associate from 1980-1988 at the Research Centre for Water Resources Development (VITUKI) before coming to Canada as a post-doctoral fellow at the Hydrometeorological Division of ECCC.

Since beginning her career with ECCC in 1994, Eva has taken great pride in her work with precipitation. She was responsible for the development and maintenance of daily and monthly adjusted precipitation datasets, which are an essential component of the widely used Adjusted and Homogenized Canadian Climate Data (AHCCD) database available on the Canadian Open Data Portal.

In the last decade, Eva has switched her focus from climate to meteorology. She became the project lead of the Precipitation Round Table (PRT) discussion, providing greater inter-departmental co-ordination between key sections within ECCC. The focus of the PRT is to support MSC regarding investments in surface-based monitoring infrastructure, data quality enhancement, improving data availability and network integration for the benefit of all users. During these years following observation from source until final distribution, Eva became an expert of precipitation instruments as well. During this time, her most memorable experience was visiting several supersites across Canada and participating in the measurement science of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

Eva has represented ECCC at the international level through her participation in the Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment (SPICE) World Meteorological Organization project. Additionally, she has authored and co-authored over 60 scientific journal and conference publications, 3 of which were listed in the highest impact articles of Atmosphere-Ocean (AO) journal in 2017. Following that trend, Eva’s 2018 paper: Overview of the present status and procedures related to surface precipitation observation networks at ECCC is again among the top 10 most read articles of AO.

Here are a few random facts about Eva:

  • What was your first job? Research associate in Water Resources Research Centre (VITUKI), Budapest, Hungary.
  • If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be? Alaska.
  • What is your favourite game or sport to watch and play? European soccer and tennis (to watch) and any type of logical games (to play).
  • If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to? Before the technical revolution…
  • What are your hobbies? Reading, hiking, music, choir, nature photography.
  • What is your favourite flavour of ice cream? Chocolate and lemon gelato.
  • What form of public transportation do you prefer? (air, boat, train, bus, car, etc.) Train. My first real vacation was to go through Europe with an Interrail pass.
  • Summer or winter? Definitely summer.
  • If you could share a meal with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? My father, he passed away many years ago.
  • What's your favourite movie? The Chorus (2004).

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