HMEI at EMS 2009 Toulouse, France, 28 September - 2 October 2009
The HMEI Secretariat will be attending EMS in Toulouse and will be at the HMEI booth (booth number 5) kindly donated to HMEI by the exhibition organizers.

We look forward to welcoming our Members, both exhibiting and attending the EMS, and also all the many friends and colleagues of HMEI to our booth.

HMEI member exhibitors are:
CAE Spa; Campbell Scientific.; Kipp & Zonen BV; MeteoModem; METEK GmbH; Leosphere; Scintec AG; and SELEX Sistemi Integrati GmbH; Vaisala.

See more information about EMS in the listing below in our Conferences with Exhibition/Sponsorship Opportunities 2009 section.

Report - Joint CIMO Expert Team on Surface-based Instrument Intercomparisons and Calibration Methods, Seventh (reduced) Session, and International Organizing Committee (IOC) on Surface-based Intercomparisons, Seventh (reduced) Session (ET-IOC-SBII-7), Sestola, Italy, 22 - 27 June 2009
The Executive Secretary, Bruce Sumner represented HMEI members at this meeting.

The WMO report of the Sestola meeting is now available at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/IMOP/reports/2009/ET-IOC-SBII-7_Report_final.pdf

The official photo of the Participants at the Sestola meeting, Please click to enlarge.

Meeting Participants
Dr Emanuele Vuerich
Dr Claudia Monesi
Dr Miroslav Ondras
Dr Isabelle Ruedi
Mr Michel Leroy
Dr Eckhard Lanzinger
Prof. Luca Lanza
Dr Luigi Stagi
Mr Bruce Sumner

Welcome
Lieutenant Colonel Fabio Malaspina (Director of CAAM, Sestola) welcomed participants. The Director of ReSMA-Vigna di Valle Colonel Gianni Daddario then opened the meeting. He was pleased to note the good work of the Intercomparison campaign and of the whole expert team. Dr Ondras thanked the Director of having this important meeting in Sestola to finalize the Intercomparison. Col. Constante de Simone, Director of the National Centre of Meteorology and Climatology then welcomed participants to the meeting, and also looked forward to showing participant the important observatory on Mt Cimone. Also Col. Paolo Pagano from the Italian Meteorological service welcomed the participants. He mentioned that this meeting is the final outcome over ten years of activities and was pleased that the Italian service was able to participate in this important Intercomparison.

Meeting Session on Rainfall Intercomparison at Vigna di Valle
The meeting opened at 9.30 on 22 June. It was decided to try to get some conclusions done in the first few days and to send these to the participants for their comments, and for these to be incorporated into final report by the end of this session on Friday.

The comments received from the manufacturers were then discussed by the meeting to ensure that all their concerns are addressed. Eckhard Lanzinger was requested to reply to all the participants who provided comments and to let them know how their comments were resolved by the meeting and incorporated in the final report. This was done, and all manufacturers who provided comments were advised, either by email or by telephone, of how their comments were resolved and incorporated into the final report.

It was requested by HMEI that the names of the instruments and the manufactures names be standardized throughout the report. There are at least 9 tables of the participating instruments, and the names of the instruments currently vary considerably. HMEI provided a revised list of the participating instrument model names and company names. These will be used to update the final report.

Discussion was then centred on a summary table of the comparison of all the instruments that would be included in the final report. The table included the quality of 1 minute rainfall intensity and the quality of 5 minute rainfall intensity. It was decided to delete the 5 minute quality assessment from the table, and to only include the 1 minute assessment in the data sheets. The finalized table was sent to all participants for their confirmation. Many replies where received during the meeting, and these were incorporated into the summary table. Many companies also took this opportunity to advise the Expert Team of other issues in the Final Report regarding their own instruments. The Team resolved all these concerns and again advised the manufacturers of the outcomes during the time of the meeting.

Several hours were spent on analyzing an email received during the meeting from company Attex. This included the requirement that each participant being provided with his own raw instrument data (agreed), letting participants analyze their own data in their own way (agreed), having the manufacturers attend a workshop to produce a report (agreed, at manufacturers expense) and the report can be published by the manufactures or presented at such sessions at WMO TECO.

The team agreed with a suggestion from Environmental Measurements Ltd to include an indicative cost of instruments in the summary table of the report, as these are many different instrument technologies included in this Intercomparison, and it could be beneficial to show the large range of instrument prices. HMEI was requested to obtain these costs by the end of the meeting. If there was not universal agreement to provide the costs, they would not be included in the report. HMEI requested this information from all participants. However some participating manufacturers objected and it was decided not to pursue this idea in this Intercomparison, and instrument costs, even just ranges of stars, will not be included in the final report. However the team members thought that this could be a good idea for future Intercomparisons, and may be requested in the application form for participation in future Intercomparisons.

The meeting agreed on the set of conclusions for inclusion in the final report. In addition a set of recommendations were approved by the meeting, one set of recommendations for the users and another set of recommendations for the instrument manufacturers, including a list of parameter values that should be included in instrument manuals, such as range, resolution, linearity, measurement uncertainty (for the whole range), threshold, etc.

The availability of the final data sets was discussed. Manufacturers will be able to apply to the Intercomparison Site Manager (Emanuele Vuerich) for their own raw data, the 1-minute reference data and the 1-minute ancillary data after publication of the Final Report. Other third parties, including manufacturers, will be able to apply to the ET/IOC chairman (Michel Leroy) for the full data base of 1-minute data after the publication of the final report, for the purposes of scientific studies, if they provide full justification and confirmation that the data will only be used for scientific purposes, including papers and conference reports. The data to be provided will be the 1-minute instrument data, 1-minute reference data and the 1-minute ancillary data.

Report of the Rainfall Intercomparison
The meeting decided that the final report of the Vigna di Valle Intercomparison should be published before the end of 2009. It is now available from the Publications area of the WMO website at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/IMOP/publications-IOM-series.html

Meeting session on Intercomparison of screens, temperature and humidity, in Ghardaïa, Algeria
The International Organising Committee then reviewed the status of the screens, temperature and humidity Intercomparison held in Ghardaïa, Algeria. Originally the comparison was due to start in 2007, but there were many problems with sensors, data acquisitions and other issues. The Intercomparison started officially on 1 November 2008, and is due to finish on 31 October 2009. All sensors are connected to a Yokokawa data logger. Here is a list of all the screens and sensors:

Participating instruments: (Table supplied by the IOC)

DAS stands for Data Acquisition Unit
DS stands for Dedicated Software

10 second data from all the sensors are stored in a local data base. One minute values are prepared and quality controlled and this data is then transferred to Trappes, France. Algeria appears to have problems with data analysis, and Meteo France is prepared to step in and conduct the data analysis in collaboration with Algeria.

Report of the Ghardaïa Intercomparison
A preliminary report of the Ghardaïa Intercomparison will be prepared and included in the WMO report of the Sestola meeting (see link to the meeting report above). This will allow manufactures to see some preliminary results. The final report of the Ghardaïa Intercomparison is due about March 2010, and will be presented at CIMO in September 2010 in Helsinki.

Future Intercomparisons
A follow up Intercomparison of screens, temperature and humidity sensors, hopefully with the same participants as those in Ghardaïa, is planned to be held in a cold locality, namely the Arctic, starting in the spring of 2011. Canada has volunteered to host this Intercomparison.

A teleconference call with Rodica Nitu in Canada, the organizer for this next Arctic Intercomparison, confirmed the tentative dates, data acquisition and calibration procedures for the next Arctic Intercomparison.

Terms of Reference for Lead Centre on Precipitation Intensity
Discussion on the terms of reference for Lead Centres on Precipitation Intensity (LC-PRIN) was undertaken by the Expert Team. These lead centres are a new idea to be set up within CIMO. The terms of reference will be submitted to the CIMO Management Group for endorsement and for final approval by CIMO next year. The basic concept for these lead centres is to provide specific guidance about instrument calibration and their achievable accuracy, performance of laboratory field tests and provide research and technical developments about the measurement of precipitation intensity and related data analysis and interpretation. The Vigna di Valle site is suggested as a lead centre, so as to not lose its experience gained during the precipitation intensity Intercomparison. Also the Vigna di Valle site could be included as a test site of further testing and future Intercomparisons. It was also decided not to limit such lead centres just to precipitation intensity, but also to allow rainfall accumulation. It was suggested the proposed centres should be called ‘Lead Centres for Precipitation Measurement’.

Meeting Closure
The meeting closed at 12.30 pm on Saturday 27 June.

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1st Meeting of the WMO-BIPM Workshop Steering Committee, Paris, France, 22 June 2009
The HMEI Executive Secretary; Bruce Sumner was nominated by peers to participate and represent the private industry in this steering committee. However as Mr Sumner, on this occasion, was not available due to his participation in the Sestola meeting noted above, the HMEI Administrator, Ms. Charstone, deputized for him.

This was a single day meeting convened by the World Metrological Organization (WMO) and the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) for the purpose of making material arrangements for an International Workshop on Measurement Challenges in Global Observation Systems for Climate Change Monitoring: traceability, stability and uncertainty, which the two organizations will jointly be organising for 2010.

Meeting Attendees
Attendees at the meeting were:
Dr William Bell - ECMWF
Dr James H. Butler - AREP, GAW and GCOS
Prof. Bertrand Calpini {co-chair of the Steering Committee} - WMO CIMO
Ms Christine Charstone (substituting for Mr Bruce Sumner) - HMEI
Dr Pedro Espina {co-coordinator of the workshop and meeting rapporteur} -BIPM
Dr Wolfgang Finsterle (substituting for Prof. Werner Schmutz) - WRC
Dr Nigel Fox - NPL
Dr Gerald Fraser - GSICS
Dr Martin Milton NPL
Dipl.-Chem. Petra Spitzer - PTB
Prof. Andrew Wallard {co-chair of the workshop} - BIPM
Dr James Whetstone - CSTL, NIST
Dr Robert Wielgosz {co-chair of the Steering Committee} - BIPM
Dr Wenjian Zhang - WMO

Welcome
The participants were welcomed to the BIPM by Prof. Wallard. The meeting was co-chaired by Dr Wielgosz (BIPM) and Dr Calpini (WMO-CIMO). Dr Wielgosz spoke of the role of the BIPM and briefly described the background of the relationship between the WMO and the BIPM and that since 2002 there has been a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the WMO and the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM).

Dr Wielgosz also spoke about the motivation for the planned workshop on Measurement Challenges for Global Observation Systems for Climate Change Monitoring: Traceability, Stability and Uncertainty (here after to be known as the Workshop).

WMO Presentation
Dr Zhang - gave a presentation on WMO. The presentation noted the excellent work done for forecasting up to 7 day forecasts. Noted the new challenges that Climate Change issues are bringing and longer range forecasting related to this, also for now-casting when looking at disaster mitigation. Noted the wide range of observations needed for Climate Change issues and the need for WWW to expand its observing range to include whole of Earth as a dynamic system. Dr Zhang proposed that WMO could be the host venue for the Workshop.

Workshop Dates and Logistic
The steering committee decided to accept the WMO invitation for the Workshop to be held at the WMO building conference facilities in Geneva. Thus decisions made for the time and place and other logistic details are as follows:

Location: Geneva WMO - Facilities in WMO Building

Date: A three day Workshop to be held on one of the following dates: 23-25 February 2010 or 2-4 March 2010 or 30 March to 1 April 2010 (The exact date will be announced later when the confirmation of speakers' and the venue's availability are confirmed).

Financial Costs:
Covered by participants (However conference room hire costs may be covered by WMO).

Workshop Participant
Participation in the Workshop will be by invitation. Invitations to participants are expected to be sent out in October 2009. Approximately 120 attendees are expected at the Workshop.

Workshop Topics (eight topic sessions to be held in two lots of four in parallel over 2 days)
It was stressed that Topics need to be particularly important to climate change and measurements for ongoing detection of this. It was also established that uncertainties are a main concern in all areas of measurement for Global Observation Systems. After considerable discussion the steering committee decided on the following topic areas for the Workshop:

Climate trends from satellite sounding data

Stable time-series for key GHGs and other trace species

Radiation and earth energy balance

Microwave imagery data in climate and NWP

Aerosol composition and radiative properties

Earth surface (land and water) temperature

Surface properties:  albedo, land cover and ocean colour

Ocean Salinity

Workshop Format
Expert speakers for each topic will be invited to give presentations at the plenary session of the Workshop. The sessions will be arranged as following:

Plenary Session
The first day will be a plenary session with speakers on issues directed towards the topics and include: a WMO address; a BIPM address; a GCOS speaker; an IPPC speaker. Various members of the steering committee are dealing respectively with the organization of speakers for of the topics. A final draft program will be sent to the committee members for approval/suggestions. There expected to be be approximately 5 speakers per topic. Speakers are due to be invited in mid October this year.

Break out Topic sessions for the Workshop
Subsequently the Workshop will divide into "breakout groups" which will each focus on discussing one of the topic areas. A rapporteur for each group will be nominated to report back to the final session. It is expected there will be approximately 15 people per topic for each of the breakout groups..

A guideline/template for rapporteurs was discussed, and it was agreed that one should be produced.

Final Plenary
The afternoon of the final day will see the rapporteurs reporting back from the break out sessions, to a panel led plenary session that will identify priorities and produce a summary of action points.

Posters
Posters will be invited from participants.

Expected Conference Outcomes
Eventually a document/booklet of the conference findings is to be published. These findings may eventually (with close cooperation between BIPM and CIMO) feed into CIMO guide.

Actions from the 1st Meeting of the Steering Committee
The various actions necessary for the organisation of speakers, venue, workshop programme, breakout sessions and invitations to participants, were delegated to the members of the steering committee. The HMEI Secretariat is responsible for creating the draft of the reporting template for breakout session rapporteurs. The1st draft of outlines for break out sessions: including introduction/background and proposals for chair, rapporteur, speakers and participants, are due to be submitted to the steering committee by 28 August 2009.

Closure of Meeting
The steering committee meeting closed at 4.00pm.

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MeteoWorld Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, China  2010
HMEI has been asked to participate as a partner in the MeteoWorld Pavilion, a pavilion dedicated to Meteorological themes, which is part of the UN pavilion, at the World Expo 2010 in China. This is an interesting chance for HMEI as an association to promote its name and reputation in the world.

The HMEI Secretariat attended meetings in Geneva on 10 June 2009 with the CMA organisers of the Meteorological Pavilion and 17 June 2009 Dr Tang-Xu from CMA, along with other partner organisations who wish to collaborate with CMA in helping set up this pavilion . For its participation the Association of HMEI has been asked to help with the supply of footage for the video presentations to be created for the several themes of the pavilion. The overall themes, as supplied by CMA, for video or photographic footage are as follows:

1. World-wide unusual weather landscapes and wonders of atmospheric phenomenon. (Photos and videos).
    
2. Material about dreams of exploring, utilizing  and altering weather. (Descriptions, images, and video).
    
3. Material about future observatory design schemes and concepts and prototypes which illustrate future Weather Prediction and Service provided by Members of WMO. (descriptions, images, and video).
    
4. Old films or photos that reflect the history of weather research. Material or photos or videos that dictate climate change historically. Physical materials that show evidence of climate changes.
    
5. Materials demonstrating the close connection between meteorology and city development. (Descriptions, images, and video).
    
6. Popular science movies about weather. (Newest, advanced).
    
7. Action cases taken by the cities and communities around the world which respond to climate changes. (Descriptions, images, and video).
    
8. Scenes of world-wide meteorologists at work. Typical cases which show the spirit of science as pursuing perfection, hardworking and the dedication of the meteorological community. (Descriptions, images, video and related explanations).
    
9. Practice and effects of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems in different countries. (Descriptions, images, and video).
    
10. Exciting gadgets and weather related artworks that can improve lives in variety of ways. (Family experience in weather service of the near future).
     
11. Promotional material for WMO, GEO and EUMATSAT. Materials which relate to weather, climate and water and the role of NMHSs that can capture the attention of visitors. Photos or videos and related explanations about current status and future plan of observation systems.
    

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New COST Actions
In July, Prof. Sylvain Joffre (Chairman of COST-Earth System Science and Environmental Management (ESSEM)) sent HMEI the following information on new COST Actions, which we pass on to HMEI Members,  with thanks to Prof. Joffre. A link to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for each new COST Action is included in the descriptions below.

During the last months, COST-ESSEM has accepted the following new COST Actions:

ES0805 - The Terrestrial Biosphere in the Earth System (End date: June 2013) (see MoU here)
The main objective of the Action is a cross-disciplinary assessment of our current understanding of the terrestrial biosphere from an Earth system perspective to improve the reliability of future Earth system projections in coupled climate-biosphere simulations.

ES0806 - Stable Isotopes in Biosphere-Atmosphere-Earth System Research (SIBAE) (End date: November 2012) (see MoU here)
The main objective of the Action is to use stable isotopes on C, N, O and water cycles as a critical research tool in Biosphere-Atmosphere-Earth System research across scales and disciplines to: 1) synthesize isolated experiments in Europe to identify innovative process- and system-oriented research areas; 2) assess current state-of-the-art models to improve process representation and to better link experimental and modelling communities; 3) benchmark and advance innovative cutting-edge technologies; 4) create a training/teaching network across Europe.

ES0901 - European Procedures for Flood Frequency Estimation (FloodFreq) (End date: May 2013) (see MoU here)
The main objective is to undertake a pan-European comparison and evaluation of methods for flood frequency estimation under the various climatologic and geographic conditions found in Europe, and different levels of data availability. This Action undertakes a pan-European comparison and evaluation of
different methods for flood frequency estimation under the various climatologic and geographic conditions found in Europe, and different levels of data availability. A scientific framework for assessing the ability of these methods to predict the impact of environmental change (climate change, land-use and river engineering works) on future flood frequency characteristics (flood occurrence and magnitude) will be developed and tested. The availability of such procedures is crucial for the formulation of robust flood risk management strategies as required by the Directive of the European Parliament on the assessment and management of floods. The outputs from FloodFreq will be disseminated to: academics, professionals involved in operational flood risk management from private and public institutions, and relevant policy makers from national and international regulatory bodies. This Action enables cooperation between researchers involved in nationally funded research projects to, thereby enabling testing of methods free from the constraints of administrative boundaries, and allowing a more efficient use of European flood research funding.

ES0902 - Permafrost and Gas Hydrate Related Methane Release in the Arctic and Impact on Climate Change - European Cooperation for Long-term Monitoring (PERGAMON) (End date: May 2013) (see MoU here)
The main objective is to quantify the methane input from marine and terrestrial sources into the atmosphere in the Arctic region, and ultimately to evaluate the impact of Arctic methane seepage on global climate.

The Arctic is a key area in our anthropogenically-warming world as massive releases of methane currently locked up in permafrost and gas hydrates, both on land and in marine sediments, could increase atmospheric concentrations of this greenhouse gas much faster than predicted. The vast Arctic continental shelf, wetlands and Tundra might become major emitters of methane in the future. At present, there are a handful of unconnected projects involving research on methane seepage in this area. The exchange of information about these ongoing and also planned activities with respect to gas hydrate destabilization and permafrost thawing is minimal within the EU and almost non-existent at an international level.

The aim of this Action is to promote networking between the disparate groups within the EU, and to develop coherent links between the terrestrial and marine communities, with the ultimate goal of establishing a long-term monitoring project led by members of the EU, but also involving experts from Russia, the US and Canada. In order to achieve these objectives, work-visits, workshops, electronic-newsletters, sessions at conferences, data compilation and joint field campaigns are planned together with lobbying on EU and national levels to promote research on this important topic.

ES0903 - Spectral Sampling Tools for Vegetation Biophysical Parameters and Flux Measurements in Europe (End date: May 2013) (see MoU here)
The main objective of the Action is to develop common protocols and new instruments within a larger European network for optical measurements, bringing together scientists and industries in order to increase the reliability, value and cost-efficiency of the existing spectral observations within the European flux network. The Action will focus entirely on the optical sampling strategies, which can be considered a fundamental tool in monitoring Biophysical Parameters (BP) and which act as a "bridge" between the flux tower and the remote sensing community.

Flux towers remain a primary tool for understanding ecosystem carbon fluxes within the FLUXNET and CarboEurope IP networks. In the last years, important EU initiatives have been started (such as EUFAR, IMECC, ICOS and COST Action ES0804) to coordinate a common dataset for characterizing the carbon balance of Europe. Dissemination and coordination will be fundamental in this Action. Development of common measurement methodologies, data management systems, and metadata protocols will make a significant contribution to the European research community.

The objectives are also to standardise ground spectroradiometric measurements, to analyse the limits and opportunities of the current tools, to introduce a new low cost sensor to continuously monitor BP, and to facilitate interdisciplinary science collaborations between the optical sampling, remote sensing and flux tower scientific communities.

TD0803 - Detecting evolutionary hot spots of antibiotic resistances in Europe (DARE) (End date: November 2012) (see MoU here)
The main objective of DARE is to identify and characterize environmental hot spots for antimicrobial resistance emergence and spreading of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance patterns, aiming at the development of measures to control antibiotic resistance evolution in waste waters.

Note from the HMEI Executive Secretary: There are various opportunities for HMEI Members to be involved in COST actions. One example can be seen in COST Action ES0806, regarding isotopes in the Biosphere-Atmosphere-Earth System, where on page 25 of the MoU it is noted that during the second year of this Action it is planned to hold a workshop on instrumentation (possibly jointly with instrument manufacturers).

More information on COST - ESSEM can also be found at: http://www.cost.esf.org/domains_actions/essem/Actions/(acno)/2

Opportunities for Members
HMEI received, in August from Chris Little at the UK Met Office, information on the latest VGISC procurement, conducted by Météo-France on behalf of themselves, Météo-France International and the UK Met Office, as below.

On behalf of the whole v-GISC team at Météo-France and UK Met Office, Jacques Roumilhac & Jean-Pierre Aubagnac, we are pleased to announce the publication of the v-GISC software Tender in the French Official Bulletin of Public Tenders BOAMP, under the following title:

Fourniture du logiciel v-GISC remplissant les fonctions des centres du nouveau système d’information globale de l’Organisation Météorologique Mondiale : GISC (Global Information System Centre), DCPC (Data collection and Production Centre) et NC (National Centre)

which translates as:
Provision of the v-GISC software offering the functions of the new global information system of WMO (World Meteorological Organization): GISC (Global Information System Centre), DCPC (Data Collection and Production Centre) and NC (National Centre).

The announcement is available on the BOAMP at: www.boamp.fr/index.php?action=avisFO1&identifiant=09-168546&total=2&_s=0&indice=0

TED of the OJEU is at:
http://ted.europa.eu/Exec?DataFlow=N_list_results.dfl&Template=TED/N_result_details_curr.htm&Page=1&docnumber=2009211525&StatLang=FR
and on the Météo-France Tenders Portal, where registered users can download the Tender Pack at:
http://meteofrance.forsup.net/XMain/erreur.php?fm_rfq=1&rfq_id=9572&erreur=20&AdminX=357f0ae111ff4d216e291831aa0a05a0 

The English translation of the announcement is available here  and also a navigation guide for the Météo-France Portal, which we hope you will find helpful, is available here.

Offers will be accepted until September 28, noon French local time. English is the preferred language for tenders. A question day is organized in Toulouse on August 27, for which you will find a registration form in the Tender Pack.

Jean-Pierre Aubagnac, Météo-France DSI/DEV
42 Avenue Coriolis, 31057 Toulouse, France

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Upcoming Intercomparisons

WMO Intercomparison of Radiosondes in China
The WMO site inspection and logistics planning meeting for this Intercomparison will be held 31 August to 4 September, 2009. Only the WMO Team organising the Intercomparison will be attending.  However the HMEI Secretariat will collate and pass on to WMO any issues from HMEI manufacturers that may need to be addressed at this stage of the organisation.

A subsequent meeting on this Intercomparison will be held on either 9 December 2009 or 10 January 2010, probably in Geneva, but the dates and venue are to be confirmed. At this meeting the complete Intercomparison Organising Committee (IOC) team, the Remote-sensing expert, the HMEI manufactures participating and the WMO Secretariat will be expected as attendees. This meeting will give a briefing on the Chinese site and a report on the initial meeting in China. Following on in this meeting will be specific items, germane to achieving a successful Intercomparison and answering questions for participants in the Intercomparison.

Arctic Intercomparison of Screens, Temperature and Humidity Sensors, Canada, 2011
A follow up Intercomparison of screens, temperature and humidity sensors is planned to be held in a cold locality, namely the Arctic, starting in the spring of 2011. Canada has volunteered to host this Intercomparison. It is hoped that the participants will be the same as those in the recently finished Ghardaïa, Algeria Intercomparison.

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Upcoming WMO Meetings, and Workshops

 Joint WMO/ITU Seminar on “Use of Radio Spectrum for Meteorology: Weather, Water and Climate Monitoring and Prediction”, Geneva Switzerland, 16-18September 2009
This meeting will have a strong focus on Earth Observations in relation to resolution 673 (WRC-07) and Climate Change. For more information on the WMO position on resolution 673, please see item 3.7 of the document at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/ISS/Meetings/SG-RFC_Brasilia2008/documents/WMOpreliminarypositiononWRC-11.doc

Ilkka Ikonen from Vaisala is the HMEI expert on the Steering Group on Radio Frequency Coordination (SG-RFC), all of whom WMO are inviting to this Seminar.

The HMEI Executive Secretary has also been invited to attend and invites other HMEI Members who have relevant expertise and would like to attend the seminar with him to please contact him at hmei@wmo.int.

The WMO link to the seminar agenda is: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/TEM/WMO_RFC/seminar-itu-wmo.html. The ITU web site for this seminar is : http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=conferences&rlink=seminar-itu-wmo&lang=en.

WMO/CIMO ET on Meteorological Radiation and Atmospheric Composition Measurements, Davos, Switzerland, 14-18 September 2009
HMEI Members who are on the Expert Team and wish to attend this meeting, please contact the HMEI Secretariat at hmei@wmo.int.
The HMEI member representing HMEI will be: Joop Mes - Kipp & Zonen.

Documents for this meeting will shortly be online at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/IMOP/meetings.html 

 Regional Association 6 (RA-VI) (Europe) 15th Session, Brussels, Belgium, 16-24 September 2009
HMEI Members attending as HMEI representatives at this meeting are:
Rémy Pepin - Modem; Allyson Turnbull - EEC; Mike Ueltzen - The Republic Group; and Rob Doornbos - Vaisala.

The agenda for this RA is available here. Other documents for this meeting are available from the link  at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/meetings/cbodies_en.html

 25th Session of the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel Meeting (DBCP-XXV), Paris, France, 28 September - 1 October 2009
HMEI has been invited to attend this meeting. Therefore any Member interested in attending this meeting please contact HMEI at: hmei@wmo.int

The Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP) was established in 1985 as a joint WMO/IOC initiative. It was originally concerned only with drifting ocean data buoys, but in 1993 expanded its activities to also encompass moored data buoys on the open ocean. It addresses the requirements and needs for real-time or archival data from buoys, both drifting and moored, coordinates buoy deployments worldwide, and provides a forum for the exchange of technical and related information on buoy technology, communications systems and the applications of buoy data, to both operations and research.

The Panel coordinates its activities with other programmes such as the WWW, GOOS and GCOS. The implementation of buoy deployments is coordinated at the regional level through Action Groups.

There will be a Technical Workshop on the 28 September, receding the DBPC session, please see the announcement here for details.

The agenda and links to other documents for this meeting can be seen at: http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewEventAgenda&eventID=193.

Training Workshop on GUAN Upper-air Observations for RA-II (Asia), New Delhi, India,  5-9 October 2009
NOTE this meeting has been cancelled.

2nd meeting of Joint Steering Group for the IODE Ocean Data Portal and the WIGOS Pilot Project for JCOMM, Oostende, Belgium, 15-16 October 2009.
This is an invitation only meeting, which HMEI has been asked to attend.

As HMEI has been invited to be involved with the JCOMM Pilot Project, and this meeting will be important in establishing what participation HMEI will have in the project, we would like to be represented at the meeting. However the HMEI Executive Secretary is unable to attend.

Therefore HMEI Members who are interested in attending and representing HMEI would be most welcome. Please email hmei@wmo.int if you are able to attend this meeting.

 Information on the meeting is available at:
http://www.iode.org/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewEventAgenda&eventID=468 

3rd Session of the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM-III), Marrakesh,  Morocco, 4-11 November 2009
HMEI Members interested in attending as HMEI representatives at this meeting please contact the HMEI Secretariat at: hmei@wmo.int.

The agenda for this meeting is available here.Other documents for this meeting are available from the link on the page at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/meetings/cbodies_en.html

Commission for Atmospheric Sciences - 15th session (CAS-XV), Incheon, Republic of Korea, 18-25 November 2009
HMEI Members interested in attending as HMEI representatives at this meeting please contact the HMEI Secretariat at: hmei@wmo.int.

The agenda is available here. Other documents for this meeting are available from the link at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/meetings/cbodies_en.html

Commission for Climatology - 15th session (CCl-XV), Turkey 19-24 February 2010
HMEI Members interested in attending as HMEI representatives at this meeting please contact the HMEI Secretariat at: hmei@wmo.int.

Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM), Hong Kong, February 2010
This will be a 5.5 day meeting preceded by a 1.5 day Technical Conference. HMEI Members interested in attending as HMEI representatives at this meeting please contact the HMEI Secretariat at: hmei@wmo.int.

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Upcoming Conferences with sponsorship/exhibition opportunities

2009 World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden, 16-22 August 2009
The First Announcement (available here) for the 2009 World Water Week in Stockholm, August 16-22, provides  information on the theme, structure, and special focus of the 2009 Week. It also provides guidelines for convening a seminar or side event or submitting an abstract for presentation during the workshops. of which there are eight. The theme for 2009 is Water - Responding to Global Change: Accessing Water for the Common Good  with Special Focus on Transboundary Waters. Learn more about the 2009 World Water Week at: www.worldwaterweek.org

SPIE Remote Sensing and Security & Defence Conference and Exhibition, Berlin, Germany, 31 August - 3 September 2009
To be held in the Berliner Congress Centre, with a European focus, this event attracts more than 400 attendees in the security and defence sector.
Areas include:

• Infrared Systems
• Remote Sensing
• Biological and Chemical Sensing
• Unmanned/Unattended Sensors
• Imaging and Display Technologies
• Optical Materials and Technologies

HMEI Companies exhibiting at the SPIE exhibition are:
Jenoptik Laser Optik Systeme GmbH and Skye Instruments Ltd.

Information is available at: http://spie.org/x6201.xml

World Climate Conference-3 “Climate prediction for decision-making" Geneva, Switzerland, 31 August - 4 September 2009
This important climate conference will have a major exhibition, of similar magnitude to that held with the WMO Congresses. Exhibition dates are:
Setup: August 28, 29 & 30
Conference/Exhibition: August 31- September 04
Dismantling: September 05 & 06

The exhibition and conference will be held at the CICG (Centre International de Conferences Genève). The exhibition will be held on the ground floor only, in the large entrance area of the conference center.

Basic exhibition space (of which there are 67 modules) is available at 5,000CHF per module of 6 sq. meters; see the exhibition prospectus, available here for more details on what this includes (including the costs, an exhibition plan and application form for exhibitors). This prospectus includes information on Sponsorship opportunities in addition to the basic exhibiting information and also a Preliminary Programme Overview.

The organisers state:
"Commerce and industry will have an especially important role in demonstrating existing and emerging technologies and services in the area of climate change to a wide audience of decision makers and opinion leaders".

The Conference is expected to attract around 1500 attendees, in particular:
• Heads of States and Governments;
• Ministers and key government decision-makers;
• CEOs of international and multinational corporations;
• Heads of major economic groupings;
• Eminent scientists;
• Heads of United Nations Agencies and other intergovernmental organizations;
• Heads of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs);
• Heads of scientific and research institutions.

The theme of WCC-3 will be “Climate prediction for decision-making”, focusing on the application of climate information and predictions to societal problems related to agriculture, water, health and sustainable development.

Please see the brochure for this conference here. Information on the conference is also available at: http://www.wmo.ch/pages/index_en.html.

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Joint International Convention of the 8th IAHS Scientific Assembly / 37th IAH Congress, Hyderabad, India, 6-12 September 2009
The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and the International Association of Hydro geologists (IAH) are organising the 8th IAHS Scientific Assembly and 37th IAH Congress, respectively in Hyderabad, India during 6th to 12th September, 2009. The world's scientific and professional community, policy makers, executives and the NGOs are all welcome to participate in the event.

The long cherished perceptions of International Scientific bodies, putting up concerted efforts to organize some of their important international activities as joint events in developing nations has become a reality with unprecedented initiative taken up by the IAHS President, Dr. Arthur Askew and the IAH president, Dr. Stephen Foster. Thanks to these two giants of the Premier International Hydrological Science Associations and their united band of Executive Bodies in organizing the 8th IAHS Scientific Assembly and the 37th IAH Congress as a Joint International Convention in India.
There will be an exhibition with this event. Ongoing information is available on the webpage: http://www.cig.ensmp.fr/~iahs/ Information about the conference & exhibition is available at: http://202.71.128.145/brochure/iahsbrochure.pdf This brochure has all the details and applications for exhibiting.

HMEI Members know to be exhibiting there are: Baron, OTT and Vaisala.

Information on the IAHS (International Association of Hydrological Sciences) can be found at: www.iahs.info. Information on the IAH (International Association of Hydrologists) can be seen at: www.iah.org.

13th International Workshop on Atmospheric Icing of Structures, IWAIS 2009, Andermatt, Switzerland, 8-11 September 2009
This event includes the Final Workshop of the COST Action 727 "Measuring and Forecasting Atmospheric Icing on Structures".
In order to give a high attention to the posters, there will be one full afternoon dedicated to the poster session. All posters will be presented in one room with enough space for discussions and with free coffee and tea at disposal. In addition, all coffee breaks during the sessions will also be held in the poster area.

There are sponsorship opportunities with this event; see http://www.iwais2009.ch/index.php?id=30.

The Workshop programme and the online registration are now available on the conference website: http://www.iwais2009.ch/.

8th International Carbon Dioxide Conference (ICDC8), Jena, Germany, 13-19 September 2009
The objective of the conference is to provide a multidisciplinary forum for all aspects of modern carbon cycle research pertinent to understanding the natural and anthropogenic controls of atmospheric carbon dioxide and its interactions in the global Earth system with a special focus on the contemporary anthropogenic perturbation. See more information at: http://www.conventus.de/icdc8/.

One of the main conference topics will be: Measurement and observational aspects and techniques (atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial carbon measurements, monitoring networks, remote sensing, isotopes, ice-core and other paleo-carbon observations, new observational techniques, forward and inverse modelling)

There are exhibition and sponsorship opportunities at this conference. If you are interested in either of these please contact Mr Felix Angermüller at: felix.angermueller@conventus.de.

HMEI Members exhibiting or sponsoring at ICDC8 are: LI-COR Biosciences and IMKO Micromodutecknik.

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OceanOBS'09 Conference,  Venice, Italy, 21-25 September 2009
The conference has a vision of strengthening and enhancing the international framework under GCOS/GOOS/WCRP for sustained world ocean observing and information systems supporting the needs of society about ocean weather, climate, ecosystems, carbon and chemistry

There is also the possibility of exhibiting at this event, please contact the ESA Conference Bureau by email at: esa.conference.bureau@esa.int.

Conference Goals:

• celebrate progress in implementing the existing initial ocean observing system, realizing societal benefits from it and highlighting its potential;
• develop a consensus plan for sustaining and evolving systematic and routine global ocean observations over the next 10 years in support of societal benefits.

More information is available at: http://www.oceanobs09.net/goals/index.php

EMS 2009 Toulouse, France, 28 September - 2 October 2009
The HMEI Secretariat will be attending EMS in Toulouse and will host the HMEI booth (booth number 5) kindly donated to HMEI by the exhibition organizers.

HMEI member exhibitors are:
CAE Spa; Campbell Scientific.; Kipp& Zonen BV; MeteoModem; METEK GmbH; Leosphere; Scintec AG; and SELEX Sistemi Integrati GmbH; Vaisala. There are also four other non-HMEI Members exhibitors.

More information about the exhibition is available at: http://meetings.copernicus.org/ems2009/exhibition/index.html

The conference will be held in Toulouse at the facilities of Meteo France. The conference building of Meteo France is not large enough to host everything and will be extended with two large tents for hosting the exhibition, posters. The arrangement with the tents will also include the catering facility. The exhibition will be held from Monday 28 September at midday to Thursday 1 October.

Only the conference lectures will be held in the Conference Centre, all other activities, including the coffee breaks, the poster sessions, the exhibition and the icebreaker on Monday evening will be held in two large tents adjoining the Conference Centre.

The EMS has a newsletter that keeps its colleagues up to date on EMS matters, including the Annual Meeting. Newsletter No. 4 for March is the latest one. It is available at: http://www.emetsoc.org/publications/documents/ems-message-04-March09.pdf

The conference theme will be: “High Resolution Meteorology – Application and Services”. It will be useful if the exhibitors can focus on this theme as well. One of the special events will be the Tenth anniversary of the EMS.

The program will contain:

• ECAM
  The ECAM will provide a forum to discuss new services emerging and the associated challenges ahead. The application sectors will include safety, energy, media, health, agriculture, transport on land, sea and in the air.
   
• Atmosphere and the water cycle (AW)
  - Dynamical meteorology
  - Boundary layer and small scale processes
  - Air-sea interactions at all scales
  - Hydro-meteorology
  - Environmental meteorology and earth system science
  - Agro-meteorology
  - Instruments and observing strategies
   
• Communication and Education (CE)
• Climatolog
• Numerical Weather Prediction at all timescales (NWP)
  

The conference hours will be same as in 2008. For more information on the conference see: http://meetings.copernicus.org/ems2009/index.html

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7th International Exhibition METEO EXPO 2009, St. Petersburg, Russia, 14-16 October 2009
This is the first announcement of Russian National Meteorological Congress and METEO EXPO 2009 which will take place at the "Moscow Gates" Congress Center and Hotel in St. Petersburg.

The National Meteorological Congress, which will be held for the first time since 1971, will bring together professionals in the field of meteorology from all regions of Russia and CIS countries, alongside with the consumers of hydro/meteorological information in all branches of economy.

METEO EXPO 2009 will become a meeting place of the decision-makers in the field of meteorology and related areas, and of the consumers of hydro/meteorological/environmental monitoring information. Russian and CIS hydro/meteorological organizations will introduce their services to the enterprises of all sectors of the economy and the government.

The organizers welcome manufacturers and suppliers of instruments, systems and equipment for meteorology, hydrology, environmental monitoring and associated products and services to take part in METEO EXPO 2009.

The "Moscow Gates" Congress Center and Hotel is 4 star accommodation. Discounted accommodation will be offered to the participants and guests.

More information on METEO EXPO 2009 (freight forwarding/customs clearing, applications forms, floor plan, hotel booking/visa support and etc.) will soon be available in the Internet: www.meteo.imd.ru 

8th International Symposium on Tropospheric Profiling (ISTP8), Delft, Netherlands, 18-23 October, 2009
Although this does not have an exhibition associated, there are interesting opportunities for those wishing to present information on relevant, important and new technologies in tropospheric profiling.

This symposium will be held on the campus of the Delft University of Technology. The theme of the symposium is "Integration of Needs Technology and Applications". At this conference the needs of the research community will be presented as well as benefits from improved tropospheric profiling. Recent progress in observing technologies, the combination of different sensors and retrieval algorithms will be assessed.

Conference topics will include a broad range of Tropospheric profiling measurements, instruments and measurement needs. Contributions at the forefront of integrating technologies, sensor synergy and application of profiling data are especially welcome. In addition to contributed oral and poster presentations, there will be invited talks highlighting the latest and most important advances in Tropospheric profiling technologies and applications.

More information, along with deadlines for abstract and extended abstract formats, and registration details available in the near future, can be seen at: http://www.istp2009.nl/

NOTE: There will also be a COST - European Ground-Based Observations of Essential Variables for Climate and Operational Meteorology (EG-CLIMET) meeting held in Delft during the period of this symposium.

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ECMWF-OGC Second Workshop on GIS/OGC Standards in Meteorology, Toulouse, France, 23.25 November 2009
 Whilst there is no exhibition noted, there may be good opportunities for the private vendors to put in Abstracts.

For the Opening Plenary for Monday and Tuesday, five possible sessions have been identified:

• Interoperability and Standards - Talks from OGC, INSPIRE, WMO,
• DWG Meteorology - WMS Interoperability Experiments status and outcomes - Talks from the contributors,
• Experience from meteorological communities outside the thread of Met DWG - Talks from met services that have some experience with OGC/GIS,
• Experience from other communities,
• Offering from vendors and Open Source communities.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 16 October 2009.

It is envisaged that the workshop will consist of a series of 20-minute presentations, open discussions, working groups and plenary sessions.

The aim of this workshop, jointly organised by ECMWF, the UK Met Office and Meteo- France, is to review the use of OGC standards in geo-sciences in Europe and worldwide, to promote collaboration between meteorological services in order to define a set of common standards that will enhance interoperability.

It will be held at the Conference International Centre at Meteo-France, Toulouse. The Workshop dates are Monday - Wednesday, 23-25 November 2009 at Météo-France Conference Centre in Toulouse. The website is at: http://www.meteo.fr/cic/meetings/gis-ogc/

Also there is a Meteorology Domain Working Group that has been set up within OGC, details at: http://www.opengeospatial.org/

East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress 2009, Manila, Philippines, 23-27 November 2009
The EAS Congress takes place every 3 years. The EAS Congress 2009 will highlight local implementation and good practices as key factors in scaling up the sustainable management of marine and coastal areas across the region. The brochure about this event is available here.

There will be an Exhibition on Good Practices and Innovative Technologies from 23 to 26 November 2009. For more information see: http://www.pemsea.org/eascongress/side-events/exhibition-on-good-practices-and-innovative-technologies/exhibition-on-good-practices-and-innovative-technologies

ERAD 2010 Meteorology and Hydrology Conference, Romania, September 2010
The 6th European Conference on Radar in Meteorology and Hydrology ERAD 2010 will be held in Sibu in Romania from 6-10 September 2010, hosted by the Romanian Meteorological Administration (ANM).

More information is available at the website http://www.erad2010.org/

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OTHER CONFERENCEs & EVENTS & links

SELEX -Gematronik Radar Short Course on "Weather Radar Clutter Over Land And Sea ”,  Pisa, Italy,  29 September - 1 October 2009
The goal of the course will be to outline the different types of clutter echoes. A number of techniques will be shown which have been developed to minimize the impact of ground echoes known as ‘clutter’ ranging from simple maps to avoid cluttered areas to procedures using the polarisation characteristics of radar. The available techniques will be discussed, demonstrating their success and limitations. More information can be seen in the announcement here and an overview of the course is available here. The registration form can be downloaded here.

8th International Workshop on Precipitation in Urban Areas, St Moritz, Switzerland, 10-13 December 2009
This workshop will be held in the Hotel Laudinella, in St Moritz. The theme is "Rainfall in the urban context: forecasting, risk and climate change"

The workshop website states:
Adverse weather severely impacts the life of people in urban areas. Society at large is paying attention to the quality and horizon of weather forecasts, the risks of getting wet or being flooded, to climate change and its broad impacts, as well as flood risk and flood damage, especially in urban areas. Critical questions are raised with respect to the reliability of climate simulations, the propagation of uncertainty, and the range of consequences for daily life. These are challenges for scientists, practitioners and managers alike.

Following the tradition of previous workshops (1989, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006) the main objective of this event is to provide a focussed forum for exchanging ideas and information in order to bridge the gap between scientific achievements and critical issues that need to be addressed in practice. Accordingly, contributions meeting the workshop themes are welcome on both application oriented basic research and operational urban hydrology. The format of the workshop is informal with presentations, posters and adequate time for discussion.

There will also be a special theme on: Results of WMO Intercomparisons of rain gauges: objectives, results, plans

For more information please go to: http://www.ifu.ethz.ch/stmoritz 

WMO Events List
WMO has a list of conference events related to weather, climate and water at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/meetings/conferences_en.html

Environmental Expert List
Environmental Expert has a calendar of  Air & Climate Events listed at: http://air.environmental-expert.com/events.aspx?level=1&

AMS Meeting List
The American Meteorological Society has a list of conferences of possible interest to HMEI members.
Please go to: http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/meetinfo.html

Copernicus Meeting List
Copernicus organises several scientific meetings each year (for example they organise EGU and EMS each year). Others they organise in the Geo and Environmental fields may be of interest to HMEI members. Please see the list at: http://meetings.copernicus.org/ 

International Association of Hydrological Sciences
The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) has a list of Hydrology related meetings on its website. Please see: http://www.cig.ensmp.fr/~iahs/

American Geophysical Union (AGU)
The AGU has meetings listed at: http://www.agu.org/meetings.shtml

World Water Forum
The WWF website has a Hydrology/Water events calendar at: http://portal.worldwaterforum5.org/wwf5/en-us/Lists/Calendar/UpcomingEvents.aspx

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Any HMEI Member or friend of HMEI who would like to submit an article or conference/exhibition information for this newsletter, please contact the HMEI Newsletter editor Chris Charstone at hmei@wmo.int.