WWRP OSC-IOC 1 Draft Report of the meeting The first meeting of the International Organizing Committee of the World Weather Open Science Conference of the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) was held in Hilton Hotel, Austin, United States of America, on 8 January 2013 (See Annex 1 for agenda and Annex 2 for participants). The agenda and the presentation files are available at http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/wwrp/new/osc_montreal_2014_main_page.html. 1 Opening of the meeting The participants (physically and remotely via Webex) were welcomed to the meeting by the Co-Chairmen, Michel Béland and. 2 Objective of WWRP OSC/IOC 2.1 Report of Co-Chairs Michel Béland introduced the purpose of the meeting. added that one of the motivations for the OSC came from the Denver WCRP OSC, that is, to review the important scientific questions related to weather science (as distinct from climate science) and its applications: such a meeting has never been held before. He added that the timing of the OSC in 2014 coincides with the end of the 10-year THORPEX research program and that the WWRP OSC would also consider the legacy and future plans for THORPEX. 2.2 Report from WMO Secretariat (Membership) Tetsuo Nakazawa reported on the current membership of the IOC. There are thirteen members in the IOC, including two Co-Chairs. There are also a number of ex-officio members; two co-chairs of SPC and UPC, chair of LOC, chair of Sponsorship and Exhibit Committee, Communications Specialist(s), and a representative of the National Research Council of Canada, who will be responsible for the financial and technical aspects of the conference. In the discussion on the responsibilities of these members, and the roles of their committees, it was mentioned by co-chair Michel Béland that as pertains to sponsorships, each member of the IOC would be expected to contribute in some fashion. Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (1): The IOC approved the establishment of the Science Program Committee (SPC) and of the User Program Committee (UPC) and of the co-chairpersons of both SPC and UPC. The IOC also approved the establishment of the Sponsorship and Exhibit Committee and LOC and urged to identify the membership for these committees. Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (2): The IOC asked the WMO Secretariat to provide the drafts of the Terms of Reference for the SPC, UPC, LOC, Sponsorship Committee and Communications for review by the IOC ASAP. 2.3 Terms of Reference of the IOC Tetsuo Nakazawa reported the Terms of Reference of the IOC. There are 9 items as follows.
1. Provide overall leadership for the organization of the OSC 2. Provide oversight on the scientific and stakeholders science programme structures 3. Help Identify and or approve invited or keynote speakers 4. Provide oversight and contribute, as necessary to the financial, communications, sponsorships and technical planning 5. Make final decisions on matters related to the OSC overall budget, financial support to participants and sponsorships 6. Establish a Scientific Program Committee (SPC) and a User Program Committee (UPC): their mandates will be to define the format of the OSC, including the selection of conveners and of the abstracts for presentation at the OSC 7. Provide oversight to the Local Organizing Committee 8. Provide oversight to the venue (Congress Center) on all logistical arrangements 9. Ensure that the OSC is conducted in line with Canadian and WMO policies / procedures During the discussion, there was a comment on merging items 3 and 6 together, in the sense that the IOC would propose also keynote speakers for plenary sessions, opening and closing ceremonies, etc. Also it is suggested that the item 5 should be modified to final approval of NRC proposed conference budget. The representative of NRC, Laurier Forget, presented in more details the type of services his unit could and would offer for the organization of the conference, ranging from full budget preparation, and a signed agreement between Environment Canada (EC) and NRC on each organization s responsibilities, including financial accountabilities for the conference, negotiations with the conference center for all technical matters related to the conference, ie, floor space, IT, etc, hosting of the web site for information on the conference (flyers, calls for abstracts, grants or financial help for some of the participants, listing of keynote speakers), abstract management with the SPC and UPC and their convenors, help and information for travel and visa issues. Hans Volkert mentioned the high quality of the NRC support for the past MOCA 09 conference held in Montreal in 2009, with 1500 participants from 50+ countries, setting in fact a very high standard for following meetings from IUGG associations.. Michel Béland mentioned that the discussions between NRC and EC should be completed hopefully by the end of January, with a briefing note being finalized to inform the ADM s of EC involved in the conference (Science and MSC), and obtain approval at the necessary level to enter into an agreement with the NRC. Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (3): There are some suggestions to revise the Terms of Reference of the IOC. The IOC members are requested to send new revised paragraph to the Secretariat as early as possible to finalize the Terms of Reference of the IOC. 2.4 Organizing structure of the IOC Tetsuo Nakazawa showed the organizing chart for the IOC, as follows.
In discussion, it was noted that the SPC and UPC should also interact closely to coordinate their respective programs. It was also suggested that the OSC IOC would need a dedicated administration secretarial support, ideally contributed by the host organization (ie, Environment Canada, EC ). Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (4): The IOC recommended that the issue of the need of a dedicated administration secretarial support be settled between EC and WMO. 2.5 Timelines Tetsuo Nakazawa presented the milestones to the OSC in August 2014, as follows. December 2012 Establish the IOC January 2013 1st IOC meeting (Approve Co-chairs of the SPC and UPC) February 2013 Establish the SPC and UPC April 2013 1st SPC/UPC meeting June 2013 Second Announcement (with invited talks and format) October 2013 Final Announcement with the Call for abstract submission and early registration January 2014 End abstract submission March 2014 Detailed Programme schedule decided; end early registration 17-23 Aug. 2014 Conference Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (5): The IOC agreed that the second announcement should be issued in July 2013, with a list of keynote speakers and a tentative format of the program and sessions. It was further requested that the IOC members start establishing a list of potential keynote speakers, as a matter of urgency, noting that these people have busy agendas, and that having top level speakers will help attract participants to the OSC. 3. Planned Activities 3.1 Overall goals and objectives of the OSC. This matter had already been discussed at the beginning of the meeting. In general, there was a consensus for the text proposed in the flyer for the conference. The OSC should be seen as a golden opportunity to: 1) raise the visibility of weather and related socio- economic sciences and its numerous applications for an increasingly diversified user community, 2) identify the major scientific challenges laying ahead, and recognize these in the THORPEX legacy decisions and the WWRP scientific strategic implementation plan, and 3) be seen as an exciting opportunity for a new
generation of research scientists to contribute critical knowledge for the well being and safety of the world population, in an environment that is changing at an accelerating pace. 3.2 Guidelines to the Committees under the IOC 3.2.1 Scientific Program Committee Co-chairs of the Scientific Program Committee, Gilbert Brunet and Sarah Jones, presented their plan about the Scientific Program for the IOC. They mentioned that the overarching theme of the OSC is Seamless Prediction of the Earth System: from nowcasting through medium range to seasonal forecasts. They showed the five themes in the Scientific Program, namely, Data Assimilation and Observations; Predictability and Dynamical/Physical/Chemical Processes; Interactions between sub- systems; Prediction of the Earth system: putting it all together; Impacts of weather and climate events (joint session with UPC) They indicated that the SPC would be composed of 10 members (two from each theme) plus two co-chairs, thus 12 members in total. The SPC should propose a choice of keynote speakers (15 in total, two for each theme plus speakers for crosscutting themes) for the plenary. Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (6): The IOC members are requested to provide potential candidates of invited/keynote speakers to Co-Chairs of the SPC ASAP. Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (7): The IOC requested the Co-Chairs of UPC to develop the themes in the User Program and to coordinate with the Scientific Program, as soon as is possible. 3.2.2 Young/Early Career Scientist Involvement Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (8): The IOC assigned Deon Terblanche as developing a programme for young scientist involvement to the IOC. One model that could be followed is APECS, developed during the IPY. 3.2.3 Additional Membership Decision/Action WWRP IOC 1 (9): The IOC invited Jim Hurrel from NCAR as an additional IOC member. 4. Other Business 4.1 Next IOC Meeting Hans Volkert suggested that the next face to face IOC meeting could be held at the time of the DACA13 meeting in Davos, Switzerland, July 8-12.
Annex 1 Agenda for the 1st International Organizing Committee of the WWRP Open Science Conference (Submitted by WMO Secretariat, 17 December, 2012) Venue: Room 616B of Hilton Hotel Austin Time: 9h00 12h00 (Austin Time), 16h00 19h00 (Geneva Time) WEBEX (teleconf software) will be set up for the participants remotely to the meeting via internet 1. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING 1.1. Opening of the meeting (9 am, 8 January 2013) 1.2. Working arrangements for the meeting 2. OBJECTIVE OF WWRP OSC/IOC Michel Beland/ 2.1. Report of Co- chairs (Objective) Michel Beland/ 2.2. Report from WMO secretariat (Membership) Tetsuo Nakazawa 2.3. Terms of reference of IOC Tetsuo Nakazawa 2.4. Organizing structure Tetsuo Nakazawa 2.5. Tentative timeline toward to the OSC Tetsuo Nakazawa 3. PLANNED ACTIVITIES 3.1. Overall goals and objectives of the OSC All members 3.2. Guidelines to the Committees under the IOC (Scientific Program, All members User and Social/Interdisciplinary science Program, Young/Early Career Scientist Involvement, Sponsorship, Local Organization, Commercial Exhibit) 3.3. Financial and technical Support for the IOC meeting Tetsuo Nakazawa 4. OTHER BUSINESS 4.1. Decisions/Actions in this meeting Michel Beland/ 4.2. Next IOC meeting Michel Beland/
List of participants Annex 2 Family Name First Name Email Working Group / Project IOC Members (physically attended) Michel Beland michel.beland@ec.gc.ca WWRP/OSC IOC Co-Chair Alan.Thorpe@ecmwf.int WWRP/OSC IOC Co-Chair Meiyan Jiao jiaomy@cma.gov.cn Deputy Administrator, CMA Roger Wakimoto wakimoto@ucar.edu NCAR IOC Members (remotely attended via Webex) Hans Volkert hans.volkert@dlr.de SG of IAMAS DLR, Germany Deon Terblanche dterblanche@wmo.int Director, Research Branch, WMO Bill Lapenta Bill.Lapenta@noaa.gov On behalf of Louis Uccellini Pedro Leite da Silva IOC Members (could not attend) NCEP Representative Dias pldsdias@gmail.com Director, KNSC, Brazil Gordon McBean gmcbean@eng.uwo.ca ICSU Representative Michel Jean Met. Service of Canada (pending for concurrence) Julia Slingo julia.slingo@metoffice.gov.uk Chief Scientist, UKMO Albert van Jaarsveld albert@nrf.ac.za President, NRF, South Africa (pending for concurrence) Rob Vertessy r.vertessy@bom.gov.au CEO, BoM, Australia Ex-officio members Gilbert Brunet gilbert.brunet@metoffice.gov.uk Chair, WWRP JSC Sarah Jones Sarah.Jones@dwd.de Member, WWRP JSC David Rogers drogers@hc-foundation.org Health and Climate Foundation Brian Mills Brian.Mills@ec.gc.ca Chair, WWRP SERA WG Laurier Forget Laurier.Forget@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca Canadian Research Council WMO Secretariat Tetsuo Nakazawa tnakazawa@wmo.int Chief, WWRD, WMO