Taroh Matsuno, Director-General of the Frontier Research System for Global Change (FRSGC) has been selected as a Honorary Member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). 

The AMS, one of the leading professional societies for atmospheric and related sciences in the United States, bestows the prestigious life-long title to a few scientists who have made the outstanding accomplishment on researches on atmosphere and ocean, as well as meteorology-related researches, which contributed greatly to the development of meteorology. Past recipients includes famous Novel-Prize winners such as Dr. E.V. Appleton, who discovered the ionosphere. Matsuno is the fifth to receive this honor, after the late professor Shigetaka Syono of the University of Tokyo, a pioneer on the dynamic meteorology in Japan, who contributed to the growth of eminent scientists, the late professor Tetsuya Fujita of the University of Chicago, known as "Dr. Tornado", Dr. Akio Alakawa, Professor Emeritus of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), who are a pioneer on the development of Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM), and Dr. Shukuro Manabe, one of the leading scientists on the development of Atmospheric-Ocean General Circulation Model and research on global warming, who served as a Program Director of the Global Warming Research Program at FRSGC. 

Also , Matsuno has been awarded the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Medal in 1999, which is presented to individuals on the basis of outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere, for his "Fundamental contributions to the theory of waves and wave flow interaction in geophysical systems" from the AMS in 1999. Matsuno's honors in Japan are Societal Award and Fujiwara Award from Meteorological Society of Japan, and Japan Academy Prize. 

His doctoral thesis published in 1966 was the first thorough study of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic waves in the equatorial area in which he has shown that particular types of waves exist in the equatorial region and propagate eastward or westward along the "equatorial duct." Those theoretically predicted wave motions were discovered later both in the atmosphere and in the oceans and it turned out that they play important roles in various phenomena, such as El Nino. Among various studies he has conducted, another important work is the theoretical and numerical modeling study of sudden stratospheric warmings. The temperature rises 40-50 C in a few days, which takes place in the mid-winder occasionally. His expertise includes meteorology, especially on large-scale dynamics, and climate dynamics. 

After graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1966, Matsuno taught at Kyushu University, University of Tokyo, and Hokkaido University. He also served as the Director of the Center for Climate System Research, the University of Tokyo. After retiring the professor's post at Hokkaido University in 1998, he has been serving as the Director-General of FRSGC, and also as the Director of Integrated Modeling Research Program as an additional post. 

About this honorary news, Matsuno says:
"I am very greatful to receive this honor. I got interested in the meteorology in my junior high school year, and more than a half century has passed since I have involved in this field of meteorology and related studies such as climate change and global environment. I am very happy that I have been able to pursue my career on what I really like."