1. Open Science Conference
ORGANISATION
International Organising Committee
Co-Chairs:
Michel Beland, President of the Commission for
Atmospheric Sciences
Alan Thorpe, Director General of European Centre for
Medium-range Weather Forecasts
Science Programme Committee
Co-Chairs:
Gilbert Brunet, Chair of the World Weather Research
Programme/Joint Science Committee
Alan Dickinson, Chair of THORPEX/International Core
Steering Committee
The World Weather
Open Science Conference
August 2014
Montreal, Canada
For more information
please contact:
World Weather Research Programme
c/o World Meteorological Organization
7 bis, avenue de la Paix - PO Box 2300
CH 1211 Geneva 2 - Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) Fax: +41 (0)
Website:

2. SCIENCE TOPICS/APPLICATIONS
BACKGROUND
THEME
SCIENCE TOPICS/APPLICATIONS
Weather prediction has achieved immense progress, driven by research and by the development of an increasingly sophisticated infrastructure such as telecommunications, computational and observational systems. Predictive skill, in some cases, now extends beyond 10 days, with an increasing capability to give warning of severe weather events many days in advance. The concomitant development of ensemble methods currently provides essential information on the probability of specific events, a key input in numerous decision making systems. Partly due to these advances, the needs of the users have simultaneously diversified, and now routinely encompass “environmental” prediction products related to air quality or hydrological processes.
Progress has been possible as a result of the research and technical developments carried out in operational centres, academic institutes and the computing industry. Over the last few decades a number of major international research programmes have been critical in fostering the necessary collaboration. In particular, the WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) and THORPEX, in recent years have, played major roles in accelerating this progress. As science is advancing critical questions are arising such as the possible sources of predictability on weekly, monthly and longer time-scales; seamless prediction; and the effective utilization of massively-parallel supercomputers.
Consequently, the time is right for a major World Weather Open Science Conference to examine the rapidly changing scientific and socio-economic drivers of weather science.
Weather and Environmental Prediction Research
The Conference will include the following science and application topics.
* Science topics
- Data Assimilation and Observations;
- Predictability, Dynamical/Physical/Chemistry Processes;
- Coupling of sub-systems;
- Ensemble forecasting techniques;
- Parameterizations and the “grey” zone;
- Seamless Prediction of the Earth system: from nowcasting to medium-range to seasonal forecasts;
- High-impact weather, weather regime transitions and climate-change driven extreme events
* Applications
- Societal and economic applications of environmental prediction, such as (but not limited to) energy, agriculture, air and water quality and quantity, health, tourism, transport, insurance, and urban environments/megacities
OBJECTIVES
The World Weather Open Science Conference will highlight recent advances in weather science and in the science and practice of weather prediction. The Conference will also consider areas where a predictive capability is emerging, including a range of aspects of the natural environment, to provide predictions of importance in a range of different socio-economic sectors.
In this context the Earth system, and environmental prediction, encompasses the atmosphere and its chemical composition, the oceans, sea-ice, and other cryosphere components, the land-surface, including surface hydrology, wetlands, and lakes. It also includes the short time-scale phenomena that results from the interaction between one or more components, such as severe storms, floods, heat waves, smog episodes, ocean waves and storm surge.
A first objective of the Conference is to review the state of knowledge in weather and weather-prediction science and thereby confirm a roadmap for the legacy of THORPEX. This will also inform an update of the World Weather Research Programme strategic plan.
A second objective of the Conference is to explore the many applications of weather prediction to the natural environment. The Earth System Prediction approach for weather and environmental prediction is seen as an effective way to better address the rapidly changing and increasing socio-economic demands for weather services.
A third objective of the Conference is to encourage a new generation of research scientists who can contribute to new and advanced earth system prediction models.
A final objective is to raise the visibility and importance of a strong and vibrant world weather science research activity, in harmony with the needs of operational weather services and their stakeholders, in the public and the private sectors.