Report
COST Action ES0702, 3rd Management Committee (MC3) & Working Group (WG) Meeting,
Oslo, Norway, 18-20 March 2009

This meeting held 18-20 March 2009 in Oslo, Norway, was a joint meeting and workshop of the WGs of COST Action ES0702, was held at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The workshop was on usage of local, micrometeorological and remote-sensing observations for data-assimilation and validation of mesoscale atmospheric models. More information on this workshop is available at: http://:netfam.fmi.fi/OBS09 and www.eg-climet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=16.

HMEI was represented by Raisa Lehtinen from Vaisala, who is a Finnish representative expert on the EG-CLIMET Working Group 1- Instrumentation. HMEI thanks Raisa Lehtinen for this report.

EG-CLIMET - A EUROPEAN CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY SCIENCE PROGRAMME
COST Action 0702 EG-CLIMET is a 4.5-year programme for European Ground-Based Observations of Essential Variables of Climate and Operational Meteorology. The Action started in May 2008, and 14 countries have joined since the beginning. The main objective is to specify and develop cost-effective integrated profiling systems suitable for climate and weather observations. These observations are essential for the development of climate change policies and weather services securing the safety and quality of life of the public. Four working groups concentrate on different aspects: Instrumentation, Assimilation, Observing Experiments and Optimum Observation Strategies. The Instrumentation working group brings together users and manufacturers of wind profilers, cloud radars, Lidars, radiometers, ceilometers and other remote sensing instruments.

EG-CLIMET organises bi-annual Management Committee and Working Group meetings. The first meeting was held in Payerne, Switzerland (November 5-7 2008), and the second meeting in Oslo (March 18-20 2009). These are intensive 3-day workshops where participants from meteorological institutions, universities and instrument manufacturers meet to report on activities, and discuss and decide on campaigns and scientific projects. The working groups meet separately to share information and define concrete tasks. A typical working format is the Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM). A grant from the COST Action budget allows for an expert to visit an institution or manufacturer in another European country for a development project.

The Oslo meeting was a joint workshop with NetFAM (Nordic Network on Fine-scale Atmospheric Modelling). A total of 15 oral papers were presented, as well as 6 invited talks. About 60 people participated in this successful workshop. Several presentations discussed the use of high spatial and temporal resolution data, such as weather radar and wind profiler measurements and GPS integrated water vapour. The results are still somewhat mixed, but new forecast model strategies and assimilation techniques are beginning to better support these types of data. For example, wind profiler impact is highest when model resolution increases, and in complex topography. High time-resolution is becoming more important, and interesting studies showed the effect of spatial vs. time distribution of observations. Most assimilation error comes from insufficient representativeness of the measurements; instrument errors have a small impact.

Test beds, such as within the FUND project in United Kingdom, or the Helsinki Test bed, are crucial in optimizing the required observations in terms of cost and impact. The Observation Experiments working group will organize data exchange and other activities, such as extending the FUND observations over continental Europe. The EUMETNET/EUCOS programme is very interested in using the results, possibly extending activities to local scale weather prediction and climatology. Frequently used measurement techniques include wind profilers, micro-wave radiometers, GPS tomography and weather radar radial winds. Combinations of instruments will be needed in order to understand complex phenomena, such as the hydrological cycle, cloud internal structure and radar scattering from clusters of droplets.

Around 15 teams applied for EG-CLIMET financing through the STSM programme. The STSM programme will be an important form of activity of the EG-CLIMET Action in 2009, in addition to the tasks defined by each working group. Experiences and results were presented from a pilot project, which was collaboration between DWD, Vaisala, and the University of Neubrandenburg on a new wind profiler clutter filtering algorithm. The Instrumentation group will concentrate on similar concrete development projects, as well as creating a web site for providing up-to-date information for instrument users.

The EG-CLIMET Action is a unique and valuable organization for advancing the quality of meteorology and climate observations in Europe. Industry representatives are welcome to join the workshops and programmes. For more information, see www.eg-climet.org.
 

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