Efforts referenced within this report are based on five of the six
endeavors articulated in the Unidata 2008 Proposal:
Endeavor 1: Responding to a broader and more diverse community
Endeavor 2: Comprehensive Support Services
Endeavor 4: Software to analyze and visualize geoscience data
Endeavor 5: Distributed, organized collections of digital material
Endeavor 6: Improved data access infrastructure
MeteoForum - Unidata/COMET
Background
The MeteoForum vision was articulated in the 2001 Fulker/Spangler
proposal submitted in application for UCAR Director's Opportunity
Funding (Jack Fellows):
MeteoForum - An International Network of Meteorological
Training Centers for the 21st Century
"The MeteoForum pilot project will include a small group of educational
institutions (some universities and some WMO RMTCs) that are motivated
to enhance the contributions of modern meteorology in their regions.
Participants will be expected to have relatively fast Internet access,
appropriate computers, and suitable personnel. Some of these personnel
will be trained to run MeteoForum software on their computers so as to
to access real-time data, training materials, and other resources.
Where practical, participants in the MeteoForum pilot also will
contribute real-time data and educational resources to the
effort. By integrating these elements, the pilot project will serve as
a model on which to build a full-scale international MeteoForum.
Initially, the MeteoForum pilot project will build upon capabilities
now offered in the U.S. by the government-sponsored COMET and
Unidata programs"
The MeteoForum initiative is a low-level yet active collaboration
that is being conducted in spare time.
Recent Activities of Note
The IDD-Brazil, inaugurated at the end of December,
2003, continues to expand in Brazil.
Brazilian participants:
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) - top level
relay and data injection node
INPE/CPTEC - top level relay and data injection node
(INPE is the Brazilian equivalent of NASA; CPTEC runs
models operationally for Brazil in a role that is similar
to NCEP's role in the US)
Universidade de Sao Paulo - leaf node (will evolve into
a data injection node)
Universidade de Santa Catarina - leaf node
Universidade Federal do Para (UFPA) - leaf node (RMTC)
(in progress to return to active status)
Pontifica Universidade Catolica de Minas Gerais - leaf node
Laboratorio Nacional de Computaçao Cientifica (LNCC) -
leaf node
CEFET-RJ - Technical school of Meteorology in Rio de Janeiro -
leaf node
INMET - Brazilian National Weather Service - leaf node
Non-Brazilian participants:
Universidad de Buenos Aires - leaf node (RMTC)
Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal) - leaf node
Many of these institutions began participating as a result of
a Unidata presence at the XIII Congresso Brasileiro de
Meteorologia (CBMET, the 13th Brazilian Meteorological Congress)
in September 2004.
UFRJ and CPTEC personnel have been actively conducting outreach
to Brazilian universities to inform them of the availability of
real time data and to see if they have unique data holdings that
they would be willing to share.
Sites that are expected to join the IDD-Brazil in
the coming months include:
National Institute for Amazonic Studies (INPA)
In addition to the sites above, an operational organization
named FURNAS has also expressed interest in participating
in IDD-Brazil data exchange. Their participation will
require a quid pro quo arrangement with other IDD-Brazil
participants.
As a result of attending the El Nino conference of the Red de
Universidades del Pacifico Sur (RUPSUR) in Santiago, Chile in
November, 2004 (a NSF-funded trip), the Universidad de Chile
began participating in the IDD in September, 2005.
RUPSUR institition(s) scheduled to begin participating in the IDD:
Universidad de Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela (in progress)
The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH)
in Husbands, St. James Barbados has been receiving real time data
feeds of global observational data, GOES-East satellite imagery,
and NCEP and UKMT model output pertintent to the Caribbean since
the Unidata site visit in November, 2004.
The CIMH, which is also a WMO RMTC, joined the IDD to:
access real-time meteorological data
take advantage of meteorological analysis and display
capabilities available in Unidata-supported packages
increase existing Institute capabilities
After a long period of inactivity, the
Universidade de Buenos Aires (UBA) joined the IDD/IDD-Brazil in
July. The full suite of Unidata application packages was installed
on the UBA machine that was procured as a result of a Unidata Equipment
Grants award:
GEMPAK
IDV
LDM
McIDAS-X, -XCD
In late August, the UBA contact (Dr. Maria Gassmann) reported
substantial gains being made in the use of the real time data
being delivered by the IDD in conjunction with GEMPAK.
Attended the European Geophysical Union (EGU) meeting in Vienna,
Austria in April to report on the international expansion of
the IDD. While in Vienna, three Unidata staff (Mohan, Linda, and Tom)
met with University of Vienna representatives to inform them of the
availability of real time data through the IDD. This contact
is expected to eventually result in extension of the IDD to
Austria.
In late July, two representatives from the Romanian National
Administration of Meteorology attended the McIDAS training workshop
held in the UPC offices in Boulder. By virtue of their degree
granting programs, they were given access to the Unidata distribution
of McIDAS-X for education and training uses.
The NOAAPORT installation at the Universidad de Costa Rica
has continued experience problems all of which relate to
the use of the existing UCR 7 meter satellite dish, LNB, and cabling.
It is expected that this problem will be resolved in the next
month, but progress has been slow.
Additional MeteoForum Information
Background material on MeteoForum can be found in previous User and Policy
Committee Meeting reports:
October 2004 User Committee Meeting
MeteoForum - Yoksas.
October 2004 Policy Committee Meeting
MeteoForum - Yoksas
