EUMETNET

C-SRNWP Programme

Report 2006-1: January - March

Conferences and Workshops

Second EUMETSAT SAF Workshop on "Land Surface Analysis"

At the invitation of EUMETSAT in my capacity of EUMETNET Programme Manager, participation at the Second EUMETSAT SAF Workshop on "Land Surface Analysis" which took place at the Instituto de Meteorologia de Portugal, Lisbon, 8-10 March.

Presentation of two talks:

- The first talk on snow mapping with the use of SEVIRI. The talk was centred on a method using the high temporal resolution of SEVIRI for differentiating between clouds and snow. This high temporal resolution is a property that others sensors like AVHRR (on the NOAA orbiters) or MODIS (abroad the satellites TERRA and AQUA) do not possess.

- The second talk was a presentation of the results of a small survey I made among the European NMS participating to the SRNWP Programme. The aim of the survey was to give to the Workshop an idea about of the use of satellite data by the NWS for the determination of surface parameters like albedo, emissivity, snow cover, fraction of vegetation cover, leaf area index, etc. The answers of this survey will be made available in the SRNWP web site in the course of the second quarter.

Workshop on "A Vision for the NWP in Europe"

Initiated by the document "A vision for NWP in Europe" written by the former Chief Executive of the Meteorological Office, Dr. David Rogers, and following the scoping meeting that took place the 24th of November 2005 in Exeter, the proper meeting mandated by the EUMETNET Council at its 24th Meeting took place at the ECMWF the 15 - 17 of last March. The SRNWP Co-ordinator, who was co-chair of that meeting, presented a talk titled "General considerations and propositions for collaboration and harmonization". The aim of the meeting was to define areas where collaborations in NWP in Europe could take place or be intensified. Six areas have been selected and recommended to the EUMETNET Council for further consideration.

OUTLOOK April - June 2006

Enhanced collaboration in NWP in Europe

The recommendations made at the "NWP Vision Meeting" will be discussed by the EUMETNET Council at its 27th Meeting (4-6 April, Toulouse). If they are accepted (at least some of them), the preparatory works for their realisation will become the first priority task of the Programme Manager.

Conferences and Workshops

EUCOS Scientific Advisory Team: the 2006 Meeting (ECMWF, 11-12 May)

At this important meeting, the Programme Manager will present a summary of the debates and of the recommendations made at the "NWP Vision Meeting" (ECMWF, 15-17 March). It will also present the recommendation put forward unanimously at the 2005 SRNWP Annual Meeting (Ljubljana, 3-5 October) for a revision of the EUCOS policy for its next period, in the sense that EUCOS must not only care for the "General Forecasts" (i.e. forecasts on the synoptic scale), but also for the regional forecasts whose importance for the European NMS has been steadily increasing for several years. Today, in the small and medium NMS in Europe, the investments in manpower and computer resources for high resolution regional NWP are larger than for the synoptic scale.

Joint ALADIN - HIRLAM - SRNWP Workshop in Sofia (Bulgaria, 15-19 May)

The 16th ALADIN Workshop, the 2006 HIRLAM All Staff Meeting and the Third SRNWP Mesoscale Verification Workshop will all take place separately during the same week (15-19 May) and in the same building in Sofia (Bulgaria). It is hoped that exchanges and interactions between these meetings will take place.

J. Quiby

C-SRNWP Co-ordinator

19th of April 2006