Unidata Users Committee Meeting Summary

2-3 October 2003
Boulder, Colorado

Meeting Agenda

Meeting Action Items/Resolutions

Members: Jim Steenburgh, Univ of Utah, Chair	UPC Staff:
Rich Clark, Millersville Univ, Chair, outgoing member
Elen Cutrim, Western Michigan Univ	Steve Chiswell
Bill Fingerhut, Lyndon State College, outgoing member	Ben Domenico
Charles Graves, St Louis Univ	Emily Doremire
Anton Kruger, Univ of Iowa	Steve Emmerson
Mark Laufersweiler, Univ of Oklahoma	Joanne Graham
Michael Morgan, Univ of Wisc-Madison	Jo Hansen
Thomas Mote, Univ of Georgia	Ed Hartnett
Tony Rockwood, Metropolitan State	Yuan Ho
Donna Tucker, Univ of Kansas	Robb Kambic
Michael Voss, San Jose State Univ	Jeff McWhirter
	Linda Miller
	Don Murray
Ex-Officio Member:	Mohan Ramamurthy
	Russ Rew
Tom Whittaker, Univ of Wis-Madison, Technical Rep	Jeff Weber
	Stu Wier
	Anne Wilson
	Tom Yoksas Scott Kehoe

Administrative:

• Welcomed new members; Elen Cutrim, Western Michigan; Thomas Mote, University of Georgia; Michael Voss, San Jose State Univ
• Thanked outgoing members: Rich Clark, outgoing Chair-Millersville; Bill Fingerhut, Lyndon State; TonyRockwood, Metropolitan State
• The next meeting is proposed for 11-12 March 2004
• Review of Action Items from previous two meetings (March and June 2003)
  • Action 1: A community Email and Web Portal query from the Users Committee will be created by Charlie Murphy, Policy Committee Liaison and Rich Clark, Users Committee Chair, regarding the following issues:

o impact of budget cuts at university institutions
o technical support (IT) impact
o Pay-per-byte
o are there implications to Unidata

• Action 2: Unidata should start exploring technical solutions pertaining to improved methods of sharing the data load at IDD sites.
  • Unidata is responding by testing LDM6 and NLDM with Unidata sites, e.g., Texas A&M.
• Action 3: Investigate the Warning Event Simulator (WES) case studies with COMET regarding the proprietary Informix database. Find out if the case studies will be available to the community and what equipment will be needed to run them. Jeff Weber, Unidata will report at next meeting.
  • Unidata is exploring methods to continue the case study project in some form. The Users Committee indicated the desire for the "collection of data" for research. Funding is not directly available, but it is clear from community input that the UPC needs to pursue this activity, perhaps within the context of THREDDS.

New Actions Derived from Above Referenced Discussions:

• Action 1: As a result of discussion regarding the “pay per byte” issue, the Unidata Users Committee requests the Unidata Policy Committee to send a letter to the Dean, Internet Technology (IT) Department and the Chair of the Departments of university sites providing IDD relay service to other Unidata sites, on behalf of the Unidata community. Consideration might be given toward providing a “certificate of appreciation.”
  Action 2: The following “Resolution” to the Policy Committee, describes the importance and continuation of the case study project to the Unidata community, which is viewed as valuable to both research and education purposes.
  Resolution 1:
  The case study library has been an important resource for the Unidata community and the Users Committee encourages Unidata to explore options for its continuation.

Policy Committee Liaison Report - Tom Whittaker for Melanie Wetzel

• Rich Clark reviewed the items from the Policy Committee meeting, 19-20 May 2003
• Highlights include:
  • Action item for UPC to create a histogram for support of various Unidata software packages to clarify and quantify support issues. This action has been completed.
  • Profiler network will continue while the FSL and NWS work toward an integrated observing system which will include the profilers
  • NOAA's funding level has been reduced
  • Joe Mulligan, NESDIS, provided an overview of NPOESS
  • Discussion of "pay per byte" issue, using the Budget and Support Survey results gathered from the community

Director's Report-Mohan Ramamurthy

• Complete Presentation
  • Discussion included thanks to the outgoing Users Committee members
  • The first orientation for new Users Committee members (Elen Cutrim, Western Michigan Univ; Tom Mote, Univ of Georgia.) to improve communication between the UPC and the members was noted to be a success

Workshop Follow Up-Mark Laufersweiler, Michael Morgan

• Review of workshop questionnaire indicated:
  • Some participants wanted less emphasis on GIS, others indicated too much emphasis on GIS
  • Some participants seemed confused between the summer tri-annual workshop and the regular Unidata training workshop
  • Recommendation that Unidata research the areas of atmospheric chemistry

• Unidata Users Committee needs to define the difference between workshops (tri-annual or training) for future coordination. Unidata should resurrect the research done previously for atmospheric chemistry information and data with the EPA and NOAA

• Idea of the "message in a bottle" became the focus. We need to learn from previous workshops by reviewing the successes and "lessons learned" during the workshops. A list of bulleted items from the panel summaries would be helpful. By creating a timetable early on, and providing publicity outside of the current Unidata community, the workshop could draw larger numbers and broader participation

• The workshop publication for the BAMS was discussed. Anton Krueger, Mark Laufersweiler, Michael Morgan and Jo Hansen will work on the publication

• Prior to the follow up survey, a list of activities already underway in reaction to the workshop would be useful, e.g., GIS email list, Jeff Weber and Yuan Ho's efforts on reformatting Grib gridded products into GeoTiffs

• Tom Mote will send GeoTiffs (based on his use of GIS at the University of Georgia)

• The Users Committee and community need to help the UPC with guidance on future activities related to GIS. Perhaps a visiting scientist to Unidata who has implemented GIS could be of assistance. Need to stay in touch with the NWS on GIS-related activities.

Action 4: Mark Laufersweiler, Michael Morgan, and Anton Krueger will develop a follow up survey to send to the workshop participants by October 31, 2003. All workshop information will be saved for future workshop planning, i.e., “message in a bottle.”

Action 5: A summer workshop meeting summary will be created, based on participants survey information gleaned from both the exit survey conducted during the workshop, the follow up survey (Action 4 above), and the workshop meeting summaries. A workshop summary report will be submitted to the AMS for publication by the end of November.

Unidata Status Reports-All

Reviewed with the following discussion points:

• GEMPAK can now be used with fire weather products
• McIDAS-change to Unidata-Wisconsin data stream implementation
  • Tom Whittaker mentioned the possibility of basing thenext-generation McIDAS on Unidata's IDV
• IDD/LDM now reaching Brazil and the UK
• IDD throughput capacity tested at 1.2 TB/day average, 2.4 TB/day peak
• The Users Committee commended Unidata on the LDM 6 stats for reliability, efficiency and monitoring tools
• NLDM testing continues and additional sites are being sought to participate in the testing. Contact Anne Wilson for more information
• NetCDF-HDF project is underway after obtaining NASA funding
• WRF output doesn't yet use standard netCDF conventions
  • LEAD project will deal with this issue
• Equipment Awards were made, but stronger proposals are needed in the future:
  • A clear statement about the focus for proposals and the follow up newsletter article is needed
• The <my.unidata> Web site needs Users Committee input. The Users Committee should provide "use cases" for improving the Web site:
  • On line training would be beneficial for inclusion on the Web site
• THREDDS-a list of existing servers should be provided, including the data being served
• External Liaison-monthly Unidata seminars are currently underway:
  • Suggestion of use of the Personal Interface to the Grid (PIG) to provide the presentations to interested community members
  • Use of webcasts should be considered for provision of the presentations to the community

Action 6: The Users Committee will provide a letter of support commending the Unidata technical staff involved in development of the LDM6, based on its excellent performance for Internet data distribution for the Unidata community. This letter will be combined with other supporting materials to be submitted for nomination for the UCAR Technical Achievement awards.

Action 7: In future Equipment Award solicitations, a clear statement regarding the “needs-based” issue will be made, along with the focus of the RFP.

DeSouza Award-Jim Steenburgh, Rich Clark

• The call for DeSouza Award nominations was discussed. This award honors individuals whose energy, expertise, and active involvement enable the Unidata Program to better serve geoscience.
  • Past recipients of the award include Harry Edmon, Univ of Washington; Doug Yarger, Univ of Iowa; and Tom Whittaker, Univ of Wisconsin-Madison
  • The solicitation will be sent with a time frame of 31 October for nominations
  • The award will be made during the AMS Annual Meeting at the IIPS/Internet Applications, Web Portals and Cyberinfrastructure session

Action 8: A solicitation for nominations for the Russell L. DeSouza Award for work performed within the Unidata community will be sent to the Unidata community as soon as possible. Nominations should be made by 1 November. The Users Committee will select the recipient via email correspondence.

NDFD-Tom Whittaker, Linda Miller

• NWS recently introduced the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD), which includes forecast grids of sensible weather elements (e.g., cloud cover, maximum temperature) and some national graphics. It is still in an "experimental" form, but on a fast track.
  • Discussion about possibility of the data stream being disseminated via CONDUIT
  • Discussion about data format; GRIB2 versus NetCDF
  • Discussion about the volume of data, Unidata needs to monitor the changes associated with the data stream

Action 9: The UPC will investigate the possibility of using the CONDUIT data stream for the NDFD data. Jim Steenburgh will solicit approval from the CONDUIT Planning Committee.

Community Outreach and Involvement-All

• Following extensive discussion about how to reach community members, the Users Committee agreed to divide up the Unidata community contacts and to touch base with them.

Action 10: The Users Committee members will poll the Unidata community with the goal of reconnecting to the Unidata community, and to measure the satisfaction of Unidata services and tools utilized within the community institutions. This task will become a Users Committee service performed each year via a short phone survey. The goal is to represent the Unidata “community,” and not the UPC.

Regional versus Focused Tri-Annual Workshops

The concept of Regional workshops has been raised several times over the years. The scene of the only Regional Unidata Workshop was SUNY-Brockport in 1993. Several people have indicated interest in having another such workshop. Many potential site representatives have stepped forward indicating they would be happy to host such an event. A Regional Workshop would be in addition to the tri-Annual Unidata Summer Workshop which is typically focused on a particular theme.

• Several Users Committee members offered to host a workshop, which led to the following action:

Action 11: A Regional Unidata Workshop will be held at Millersville University during Spring, 2004. Rich Clark will host and the Users Committee and UPC staff will help coordinate the workshop.

IDV - Don Murray

A short discussion and demonstration of the IDV was provided.

• Level II radar data viewer is now available
• Collaborative interaction is now supported
• Recruiting volunteers to serve on the IDV steering committee

Users Committee Orientation-All

• The first new member Users Committee orientation was held for Elen Cutrim, Tom Mote, and Michael Voss
• Deemed successful and should be continued for each new cycle of new members
• Acronym list to in the notebook information for new members should be included
• Keep the notebook with a couple of summaries from previous meetings.
• One other Users Committee member should participate in the orientations in the future
• Should conduct the same orientation for new Policy Committee members

Action 12: The new Users Committee member orientation was successful, and in future orientations, an acronym list will be included. The acronym list will be added as a link in the <my.unidata> Web Portal.

Action 13: Research information on the NCEP Scientific Review Committee, and nominate a Users Committee representative to participate.

Action 14: Determine community interest by providing information via email and <my.unidata> Web Portal regarding ongoing floater service and transition to a Level II floater, if possible.

Steve Worley, NCAR/SCD, provided a discussion of the SCD Portal-Delay Model to IDD Data Products. This action was viewed as a positive step toward providing a great service for the Unidata community. Unidata will coordinate with Steve to provide a community email about the new delayed model access service.

Resolution 2:
The Unidata Users Committee thanks NCAR/SCD for providing delayed model access to IDD data products, which we believe will enhance education and research at member institutions. We encourage SCD to expand the product availability, including access to higher resolution analyses and forecast products provided by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and raw (i.e., undecoded) METAR reports.

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Linda Miller, External Liaison, Unidata
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO 80307-3000
303-497-8646 fax: 303-497-8690