EuroGOOS News. No. 3 - October Editorial. Contents. Page

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1 EuroGOOS News No. 3 - October 2000 Editorial The last few months have been very busy for EuroGOOS Members, and for the EuroGOOS Office. This Newsletter will be brief, as we are still in the midst of a spate of meetings and active programmes and decisions. The purpose of this note is to report quickly on some major meetings, and give advance notice of key events. The 7 th EuroGOOS Annual Meeting takes place at the IFREMER centre at Brest, France, on 30 November 1 December. There will be a dinner hosted by the City of Brest to which participants are invited on the evening of 29 November. The Commission Conference entitled EurOCEAN 2000 was held in Hamburg in magnificent surroundings from 29 August to 1 September, and EuroGOOS held several very successful side meetings. The North West Shelf Task Team is making rapid progress with its NW Shelf Plan, and will hold a further planning meeting in Nice on 6-8 November. The Plan itself will be an ambitious statement reviewing the benefits of operational oceanography in the region, the vast range of organisations which stand to benefit, and the implementation plans of the EuroGOOS Members. The NWS-Plan, to be known as the NW Shelf Operational Observing System, or NOOS, will provide the framework for exploiting the results of the European Shelf Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment, which held a meeting in Aberdeen on September. Also in Hamburg the EuroGOOS Data Policy Panel met, and made rapid progress. Eleven Agency Members have now signed the Data Policy legal document, and 9 of these have provided Catalogue lists of the data types and products available in real time, or preliminary lists for such Catalogues. In several areas, especially the Baltic Region, data are already being exchanged within the principles of the EuroGOOS Data Policy. The Planning Group for the European Directory of Initial Observing Systems also met in Hamburg, and the EuroGOOS Officers held a meeting to plan the Annual Meeting in Brest. In the next few weeks there is the EuroGOOS Conference on Operational Ocean Observations from Space in Darmstadt on 5-6 October; the joint ICES-GOOS meeting at Southampton on October, and meetings of several of the Regional Task Teams and projects, including the MFSPP meeting in Bologna on October. I hope that every Agency Member of EuroGOOS will be able to send a representative to the Annual Meeting. It is our tradition to have Annual Meetings which are attended by the full Membership. The IFREMER site is in a beautiful location overlooking the sea. Reports for circulation in the advance papers should reach the EuroGOOS Office by 31 October. Contents Page 1. EuroGOOS business, actions requested, and notices Key Actions requested...2 Key information Recent events Hamburg EurOcean 2000 Conference...2 Officers...2 Data Policy Panel...3 North West Shelf Task Team...3 ESODAE Meeting, Aberdeen...3 EU-ESF Meeting on European Infrastructures Forthcoming Meetings EuroGOOS Space Conference...4 ICES-GOOS...4 MFSPP Second Annual Meeting...4 NWSTT and ESODAE...4 First GOOS Users Forum...4 Royal Met. Society 'Operational Oceanography'...4 EuroGOOS Annual Meeting...4 Pacem in Maribus...4 GOOS Steering Committee...4 Oceanology International Americas...5 Calendar of forthcoming meetings...5

2 1. EuroGOOS business, actions requested, and notices Key Actions requested 1. All Chairmen of WGs, Task Teams, Panels, and leaders of projects to prepare reports on their work during 2000, and plans for 2001, for presentation at the EuroGOOS Annual Meeting, 30 Nov - 1 Dec, Brest, France. Reports to the EuroGOOS Office by 31 October. 2. Agencies wishing to sign the EuroGOOS Data Policy, please obtain a legal top copy from the EuroGOOS Office. 3. Agencies who have signed the EuroGOOS Data Policy are requested to prepare complete catalogues of all data products which will be available, and to present these for review at the Annual Meeting. Key Information 1. The European Infrastructures Meeting in Strasbourg concluded that there should be a permanent European body for the funding and maintenance of research Infrastructures. (See Nature, vol.407, p.433). 2. EuroGOOS Officers have decided to maintain subscriptions at the same rate for the year 2001, but subscriptions will have to be raised for the year The magnitude of the increase required will be discussed at the Annual Meeting. 3. Note revised structure for the EuroGOOS Annual Meeting, described below. 4. Contact persons are requested to remind or warn their financial divisions that the invoices for the agency subscription to EuroGOOS will be posted to you early in January Subscriptions will be the same as last year. 2. Recent events Hamburg EurOCEAN 2000 Conference This Conference was attended by about 300 people with an accompanying poster and display booth area. There was ample opportunity for discussion and debate, much of it relating to European infrastructure and collaboration. EuroGOOS held side meetings, of which the following notes provide a summary. Action Lists and Minutes have already been circulated, and copies can be obtained from the EuroGOOS Office. Officers Dik Tromp chaired a meeting of the Officers on 30 August. The key decision in this meeting refers to the conduct of the Annual Meeting. The change reflects the fact that EuroGOOS has progressed from strategic planning to phased implementation. The format of the Annual Meeting will now start with the morning of 30 November devoted to the reports of the Project Leaders Committee. In this session we will receive the reports of the Regional Task Team Chairmen, Specialist Panels, and Project Leaders. Each report will include a summary of the achievements of the year 2000, and requests for action or support for the year The meeting will synthesise the requests for action which can either be passed to other bodies present, or to the Science Advisory WG or the Technology Plan WG, or to the Annual Meeting on 1. Dec. The afternoon of 30 November will be the meetings of the SAWG and TPWG, first separately, and then jointly for the last hour. The two WGs will analyse the progress of work during 2000, and consider the requests and requirements raised during the Project Leaders Committee that morning. The SAWG meeting will additionally be 2

3 considering the proposed Concerted Action regarding a strategy for European Infrastructure in Operational Oceanography. The SAWG and TPWG can make decisions with regard to their own programmes and commitments, and pass major decisions to the Annual Meeting the next day for approval. The Officers decided to maintain the EuroGOOS subscription unchanged for the year 2001, and invoices will be despatched in early January. It is almost certain that the Subscription will have to be increased slightly for the year 2002, to run for a few years unchanged thereafter. This will be discussed during the Annual Meeting. Data Policy Panel Hans Dahlin chaired a lively session during which the Agencies present confirmed an active programme of generating data catalogues for operational data exchange. The adoption of web-based technology promises to provide secure, rapid, and flexible file transfers between agencies wishing to obtain operational data within the framework of the EuroGOOS Data Policy. An interesting new development, which we did not anticipate, is that within several countries there are government agencies and commercial companies which are not Members of EuroGOOS, but who wish to use the criteria for data exchange stated by the EuroGOOS Data Policy as a set of standard conditions. These organisations will not be signatories to the EuroGOOS Data Policy itself, and we are developing a procedure so that they can sign up to a similar set of conditions, linked to one or more EuroGOOS Members in their country. This will result in an industry standard for operational ocean data exchange in Europe. NWS Task Team Leen Droppert chaired the North West Shelf Task Team in a detailed discussion of the draft text for the North West Shelf Plan, to be known as NOOS. Many sections of text have already been written, and the next drafting and review session will be in Nice, France, on 6-8 November. A substantial report will be ready for the Annual Meeting. ESODAE Meeting, Aberdeen, September Howard Cattle convened a meeting of the European NW Shelf Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment at Aberdeen, and the meeting was supported and organised by Fugro Geos. There was a series of excellent papers on different user group requirements for model outputs and forecasts in the NWS region. Most of the discussion naturally referred to physical parameters, for which there is an established demand from a great range of industries and services. These papers provided the bulk of the information and influenced plans for an ESODAE follow on. EuroGOOS has already established through the Bio-Ecology Workshop held at RIKZ that the water quality and ecosystem modelling community is ready to consider operational modelling and services. At the ESODAE Meeting Einar Svendsen gave a thoughtprovoking paper describing the needs of fisheries agencies and water quality managers for the outputs from physical models, information on Atlantic inflows into the North Sea, and the development of ecological operational services. EU-ESF Meeting on European Infrastructures, Strasbourg, September This meeting was attended by about 400 experts from a vast range of scientific disciplines, and was dominated by big physics, astronomy and molecular biology. There were about people present who had a primary interest in the environmental sciences or oceanography. We tried to establish the point that European Infrastructure did not have to be one huge piece of equipment at one place, but could be a complex system of dispersed components, deployed on a European scale, responding to a European requirement, and funded- at least partially- at a European level. The final day of the meeting was attended by Commissioner Busquin and Minister Gago, and the final resolution is summarised in Nature (vol.407, p.433) and probably other national scientific news magazines, and EC websites. 3

4 3. Forthcoming EuroGOOS Meetings, and those with EuroGOOS connections Forthcoming Meetings Brief notes: EuroGOOS Space Conference 5-6 October, Darmstadt To present papers on the full range of potential utilisation of operational remote sensed observations of the ocean, and endorse a Conference Statement proposing a European procedure for development of operational missions in future. MFSPP, Second Annual Meeting October, Bologna The Mediterranean Forecasting System Pilot Project is holding its second annual meeting in Bologna. There will be major reports on the Target Operational Period (TOP) and the experience of running a quasi-operational service during spring and summer We will need to look ahead to the next stage of developing operational ocean observations and services in the Mediterranean in collaboration with MedGOOS. ICES-GOOS October, SOC Roald Saetre has prepared a useful agenda for a meeting to discuss how GOOS and ICES can work together in the North Atlantic area, with the full involvement of EuroGOOS. There are obvious areas for really important exchange of data and plans regarding both physical and biological models. EuroGOOS will be providing the meeting with copies of the BOOS Plan, The Atlantic Workshop Report, the draft report of the EuroGOOS Bio-Ecological Workshop, the draft NOOS Plan, the Data Policy, and the EuroGOOS proposal on European Infrastructure. NWSTT and ESODAE 6-8 November, S France Following the successful meetings of NWS Task Team in Hamburg and ESODAE in Aberdeen, a joint meeting will be held in Nice to finalise the NOOS Plan, and reports for the EuroGOOS Annual Meeting, and plans for First GOOS Users Forum November, Costa Rica Contact the GOOS Project Office in Paris for details. Royal Met. Society, Operational Oceanography, 15 November This is a UK meeting involving Trevor Guymer, Nic Flemming, and several active participants in EuroGOOS meetings, especially the Space Panel. EuroGOOS Annual Meeting 30 Nov-1 Dec, Brest For structure of the meeting see the report of the officers meeting in Hamburg, above. All Member Agencies are requested to appoint a representative for the Annual Meeting. Please inform the EuroGOOS Office of the name of your representative. Reports and documents for circulation before the meeting should reach the EuroGOOS Office by 31 October. It is essential that participants be given one month to read and review documents, and consult with other experts in preparation for the Annual Meeting. The availability of does not mean that documents should be circulated at the last minute. Details of travel, accommodation, hospitality etc., for the Annual Meeting will be distributed electronically and put on the EuroGOOS Home Page next week. Pacem in Maribus 3-6 December, Hamburg Dr Peter Ehlers, President of BSH Germany, is Chairing a session of this conference, where Dik Tromp will present a paper about EuroGOOS. GOOS Steering Committee March, Chile The Annual Meeting of the GOOS Steering Committee will take place in Chile in March Details from the GOOS Project Office, Paris. 4

5 Oceanology International Americas 3-5 April, Miami The company that has organised the Brighton OI Conference for many years is holding the first Oceanology International Americas Conference in Miami in April This could be an excellent opportunity to organise some side meetings to discuss collaboration across the Atlantic on operational oceanography. Information on the programme and exhibition will probably start to appear soon on the Spearhead Online electronic bulletin. Calendar of forthcoming meetings Date Meeting Venue 5-6 October EuroGOOS Conference on Operational Darmstadt, Germany Ocean Observations from Space October ERS and ENVISAT Symposium Gothenburg, Sweden October MFSPP 2nd Annual Meeting Bologna, Italy October ICES-GOOS Meeting Southampton, UK 6-8 November NWSTT and ESODAE Nice, France November First GOOS Users Forum Costa Rica 15 November Royal Met Society 'Operational Oceanography' UK 30 November - 1 December EuroGOOS Annual Meeting Brest, France 3-6 December Pacem in Maribus Hamburg, Germany March 2001 GOOS Steering Committee Chile 3-5 April 2001 Oceanology International Americas Miami 5