Minutes of the 7th
Assembly of the ALADIN Partners
The
7th Aassembly
of the ALADIN Ppartners held in
Bucharest, Romania on 28th of October 2002,2002 was opened by M.arinel IoanaOANA, General
Director of National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology who welcomed the
participants. Participants from 14 countries and the ECMWF observer attended
the meeting (Annex 1). Tunisia apologized for the
absence of its representative due to budget shortage.
The proposed agenda (Annex 2) was discussed
and a new item was introduced under the AOB topic. It concerned the potential
use of the ALADINladin
model in climate mode for scientific purposes, by the International Arctic
Research Center (IARC) of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.
J.-F.
Geleyn and E. Legrand, from Meteo-France, made the general overview of
the ALADINladin
pProject from Meteo-France. There were presented global manpower
estimates also in
connection with ALATNET pProject,
the configurations of the operational ALADIN implementation together with the
expected changes for 2003 and also problems related to the observation
processing and telecommunications. The total effort was stabilized around 600
persons*month per year but with a too high ALATNET contribution and to much
dependency of EU funding.
The
discussions around the presentations raised underlined the
problems of using ODB due
to the (lack of documentation). H. Bötger, the ECMWF representative, underlined the fact that
ODB is internal software of ECMWF and pieces of it were offered to be used externally. The migration problems to
other computing
platform led to some delay in
generating a stable
ODB documentation. However the available ODB documentation is expected
for the next spring.
Another discussed problem concerned the use and of the CYCORA
package, which should involve a more
homogenous level of the model cycle and less
homogenous namelists.. All the participants were interested about the connection between the AROME and ALADIN project.
After a short presentation
(by D. Banciu for O. Diaconu) about the ALADIN verification procedure in
Romania, J.ure Jerman from Slovenia presented the main challenges in the verification field and the
“Prototype
for a common
objective verification at synoptic scales” (following the
proposal of the Budapest verification meeting, March, 2002).
The round table discussion,
moderated by D.ijana
Klaric (Croatia the LACE project leader)
showed a large dispersion of the participants’ opinions. It was proposed to create a “forum” to document the extreme meteorological
events. There was risen the question of the financial support and human efforts.
Slovenia showed its availability to host the procedure and countries like
Belgium, Croatia, theCzech Republic, France, Morocco,
Poland, Portugal, Romania were ready to contribute to its development and use. Both Directors of NMS of Hungary
and Austria expressed the need of more details for
making a decision.
It was suggested (I.
Obrusnik and D. Klaric) to continue the prototype development and to present
the results and a detailed documentation including the past and foreseen economical efforts to the
next Assembly of Ppartners,
which will decide on this matter.
I. Mersich announced the offer of a Hungarian scholarship for a research stay in Budapest for the year
2003.
“The report on CSSI (Coordinators for Scientific and Strategic
Issues) activities” was given by D.ominique Giard (Meteo-France), following
the list of duties assigned by the Directors. It was underlined that an
efficient decentralized research cannot work without a minimum of means. A few
recommendations for improving the efficiency of the research actions were also
expressed, being debated during the round–table discussions upon the means of
research.
J.ean-F.rancois Geleyn
made the introduction to the next topic, “networking”. He showed that within the EWGLAM meeting in De Bilt (October, 2002), the
ALADINladin
model was considered the best concerning the high-resolution details for the
Central Europe floods in this summer. The ALATNETlatnet project
was also positively appreciated appreciated at the mid-term review and Meteo –France took
into consideration the possibility to use the ALADINladin
non-hydrostatic dynamics inside the AROMErome project. The
problems of interfacing with AROMErome, the need of
some centralized efforts and financial support were underlined as well.
D.ominique Giard
presented “The progress in the Aladin
research along the first 10 months of 2002”,
accordingly with the main domains of activities pointed out in the “3rd
Medium-term ALADINladin
Research Plan”: coupling, dynamics, physics, data assimilation and
predictability.
J.-F. Geleyn pointed out the research problems linked to the AROME project.
The main problems raised during the “round-table discussions on
means of research” were linked to the
sub-critical size of some of the ALADINladin teams, the
decentralization of research, training, maintenance, the level of participation
to the meetings, the data exchange.
We need more training and communication!
Speaking about training, J.ean-F.rancois Geleyn
pointed out the existence of a psychological barrier of the researchers that
could have a tuition activity at medium level. The necessity of more
publications, documentations and waysmeans to motivate
the people to publish more was
also underlined.
The participation to meetings was
improved during last year but it did not reach the desired level. D.ominique Giard
proposed to the Partners to establish the participation of each country to at
least theone
ALADINladin
workshop.
The participants paid a visit to the new location of the National Weather Forecast Centre, recently inaugurated in October 2002.
J.ure Jerman presented the “ALADINladin training
actions during the year 2002”. There were
mainly three types of training: a) advanced training along seminars (3rd
ALATNET Seminar on Numerical Methods and NWP Applications, LACE training course
on Physics, LACE Training course on Maintenance), b) basic and advanced
training in Toulouse and Prague, c) basic local training.
J.en-F.rancois Geleyn, coordinator of the ALATNET project, presented
figures from made a the mid-term review, showing that the targets for the second year of the project were
achieved by with
at least 80-85% in all its aspects (training, science, manpower,
finances). The young researchers’
activity was considered very satisfactory but the publication ratedensity and the
ALATNET relevance have to be increased. The project was very well appreciated
in Brussels (“ impressive, well targettedtargeted and diversified, very high quality
presentations, « corporate
identity » well apparent, networking aspects well running and correctly
oriented towards training of «stagiaires» as well as towards the scientific
future of our branch … “)!
J.ean-F.rancois Geleyn
made the introduction to the topic “Opportunities
within the 6th PCRD”.
The
EUMETNET/SRNWPhort Range
Numerical Weather Prediction Members (ALADIN, -LACE, COSMO,
HIRLAM Consortia and NWS of the United Kingdom of Great Britain) submittedpresented,
within the frame of Network of Excellence of the Sixth
Framework Programme, the following proposal an Expression of Interest for
a Network of Excellence:
“Improvement of Weather Forecasting and Risk Assessment in Europe by Very High Resolutions
Simulations, Ensemble Forecasting and ModellingModeling System
Developments”.
It seems that it is necessary to increase
the interest and knowledge about meteorology in Brussels (feeling expressed by
Dr. Obrusnik) and to encourage our association to bigger projects linked to the
hydrological problems: rain forecast and downstream floods or risk management
(of course, not overlapping the SRNWP proposal), oriented towards the regional
aspects (i.e. floods over small basins). J.ean-F.rancois Geleyn proposed, if appropriate within the
new targets of the 6th FP to, to send a letter to
all Partners in order to evaluate the interest for such topics and D. Giard
underlined the problems of the coordination of suchthe big and diversified projects,
which in the frame of the network of excellence could be done by a dedicated
manager. She also
mentioned the alternative possibility to concentrate (like now in ALATNET) on
the training opportunities for NWP, but at an enlarged SRNWP-type level this
time.
J.ean-F.rancois Geleyn
presented the report of the working group on the cooperation between the ALADIN
consortium and non-Member African NMSs, underlying the efforts made by the
concerned bodies: ACMAD, DMN-Morocco, Participants, participants to the
Pretoria meeting and the WG itself. Related documents were available for the
Participants to the Assembly: 1) the official report of the WG’s meeting in
Ston-Dubrovnik (Croatia) on 19/04/02;2) the common document from ACMAD and
DMN-Morocco (in French + courtesy translation of a draft version); 3) document
produced after the Pretoria meeting on response to a WG’s wish; 4) a synthesis
by the rapporteur of the interactions between these two documents and of the
opinions exchanged between the WG’s Members following the Ston-Dubrovnik
meeting.
The ALADINladin community
felt proud of the African interest in its work and results and emphasized
genuine interest of the Partners in the numerical weather prediction progress
in Africa.
The
recommendations of the working group were discussed and approved by the
Partners. There were many discussions around the area limitation of the ALADIN implication in Africa. It was asked to enlargedenlarge the countries
list of countries
initially proposed by the WG (limitted to the north
by a specific border line encompassing, from West to East, the following
countries: Guinea, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea)
with Djibouti and Ethiopia
that fall under the same geographical criteria.. Morocco suggested that
all the Arabic countries couldto
be considered as “target countries” and Portugal asked the former Portuguese
colonies to be considered as well. It was agreed that these last two demands, in
contradiction with some of the guidelines of the WG, could in any case be
treated via the standard mechanisms of the MoU and that the Partners interested
in such co-operations should initiate an appropriate process as future
potential “contact Members”.
The ALADINladin
Partners
agreedPartners agreed unanimously (5 votes
for, 3 against contra and 6 abstentions)
to offer to the National Meteorological Services of the North African
countries proposed by
the WG (situated in the northern part of the south boundary of
Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti) the status of
“non-paying Users”, pursuant to the present ALADINladin Memorandum
of Understanding. The
also agreed (5votes
for, 3 against and 6 abstentions) to enlarge the initial list with Ethiopia and
Djibouti.
In
particular, only the Members with a right to full-membership (A-zone of the MoU,
i.e. in the African case, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) should be
able to play a role in the ACMAD strategy for sub-continental NWP roles, should
the latter be based on ALADIN. In the short term, this obviously means that
only Morocco and Tunisia could play a specific role in an agreement involving
the use of ALADIN and made on the basis of the discussion of the Casablanca
Assembly about the ACMAD letter.
It was decided that the
common ACMAD-DMN document, presented within the Assembly, would be the
basis of the minimum necessary modifications of the ALADINladin Memorandum
of Understanding, which empowers the countries of the unchangeable list to
reach this status, without endangering the principles ensuring the ALADINladin project success
so far. The strategy will be to integrate the ALADIN – NORAF model in Casablanca and
to disseminate the results to the above-mentioned countries.
The transmission of the
unique expertise existing within the ALADINladin community,
upon the link between shared development of tools and their efficiency, should
be the main axes of collaboration with the SAPREM project of ACMAD, leading to
the foreseen official ALADIN-ACMAD agreement.
The
Assembly decided the setting up of a “rotating foreign bureau” hosted by the last organizer of the Assembly of Partners, starting with
Romania. This committee will monitor, among other tasks, the
MoU modifications required by the Cooperation of the ALADINladin Consortium
with ACMAD.
(round-table)
As for the year 2001, in
2002 the ALADINladin
total effort was stabilized around 600 persons*.month as it was presented in the
technical overview of the project. The new commitments for 2003 are the
following:
Austriai 30 persons/*month
Belgium stationary
BulgariBulgaria a stationary
Croatia stationary
Czech Republic 60 persons*/month
France 122 persons*month
Hungary 48 persons/*month
Moldavia 1 person/*year
Morocco 84 persons/*month
Poland 37 persons*month
Portugal 27 persons*/month
Romania 47 24 persons/*month
Slovenia 24 persons*month
Tunisia:
The Assembly took
into consideration the demand of the International Arctic Research Center
(IARC) of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA expressed in the
letter of Mr. Syun Akasofu, Director of the Center, for the potential use of
the ALADINladin
model for research purposes, with a particular scientific interest.
The discussions
reached the conclusion that the only way in which IARC could use the ALADINladin model is
that USA should become an associate membermember, which was judged very unpractical. Hence it was judged
preferable and to slightly modify the MoU in
order to allow some this
non-standard use of the ALADINladin
model and to leave such
cases to individual and unanimous decisions of the Assembly. In the present
case such unanimity was reached and steps with the IARC can thus start..
The Assembly
exceptionally approved the use the ALADINladin model only
for climate simulations for research purposes at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and
not for being used in any real time forecasting purpose, under the
non-dissemination, non-disclosure restrictions. The Assembly established an
additional condition, requiring information feedback towards the ALADINladin community,
in terms of reports to the ALADINladin workshops
and to the Assembly of the ALADINladin Partners,
concerning the results of using the ALADINladin model.
Regarding the
common part of the ARPEGE/IFS code, the European Center for Medium Range
Weather Forecast (ECMWF), by his representative Dr. Horst Böttger, agreed, in
principle, with this demand, of course under the restrictions mentioned above.
The ALADINladin Memorandum
of Understanding will be slightly amended for authorizing thisan unanimous and exceptional procedure.
After
the failure in finding any candidacy for the organization of the 2003 ALADIN
Workshop, it was decided to compile a table of the past ALADIN (or related to
ALADIN) important organizational activities in each country. This table prepared by J.-F. Geleyn, after the Assembly is
contained in the Annex 3.
Poland reconfirmed its invitation for the
next Assembly of the ALADINladin
Partners to be held in Krakow at the end of October 2003. The period 27 –31 was
proposed, the date is to be harmonized with the other meetings calendar.
Croatia kindly presented its offer to
host the Assembly of the ALADINladin
Partners in 2004.
Closing the assembly, M. Ioana thanked the participants for attending it and for their contribution to a successful meeting.