International extension of Unidata packages and services began in earnest with the UOP Director-funded, joint Unidata/COMET MeteoForum pilot project. Unidata products (especially the netCDF) and services were used internationally before MeteoForum, but there was no concerted effort expended to advertise/promote our offerings.
The MeteoForum vision was originally 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" |
| NB: MeteoForum funding has long been exhausted. |
The continuing international activities at the UPC are best characterized as a natural extension of our outreach activities for the higher education research and education communities.
Earth and space science Cyberinfrastructures: Data, Tools, Distribution and Forecast Systems for International Collaboration
The goal of this year's session (IN03) is the same as last year's:
JA07/IN03 is the most popular of all ESSI sessions garnering 68% of abstracts submitted.
Since not all of the monies available in the travel grant awarded by NSF ATM/OISE for last year's Joint Assembly were spent, an extension was requested from NSF so that the remaining monies could be used to fund participation in this year's Joint Assembly by two Latin Americans.
UCAR - AAAS Africa Initiative (http://www.africa.ucar.edu/)
As part of this initiative, a workshop is being convened in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on April 2-6, 2007. Details of the the conference can be found in:
Sahel Conference 2007: Improving Lives by Understanding Weather (http://www.africa.ucar.edu/sahelconference.html)
The conference website will be updated as planning activities evolve.
Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, China (Hong Kong), Cabo Verde, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Jamaica, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, Venezuela.
As the UCAR-AAAS Africa initiative evolves, it is expected that interest in Unidata product offerings will grow throughout Africa.
Current Brazilian participants:
Non-Brazilian participants:
Many of these institutions began participating as a result of the Unidata/CPTEC/UFRJ presence at the XIII Congresso Brasileiro de Meteorologia (CBMET, the 13th Brazilian Meteorological Congress) in September 2004. Presentations by active IDD-Brazil participants at the 2006 CBMET in Florianopolis, Brazil has continue to increase interest in Latin America.
RUPSUR institution(s) scheduled to begin participating in the IDD:
Further information on Unidata international activities can be found in the separate International Activities White Paper.
Background material on MeteoForum can be found in previous User and Policy Committee Meeting reports:
October 2005 User Committee Meeting MeteoForum - Yoksas.
by Tom Yoksas