-Contributed by CliC YOPP Fellows Alice Bradley & François Massonnet
The World Weather Research Program’s (WWRP) Polar Prediction Program’s (PPP) Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) Planning Summit was held in Geneva, Switzerland July 13-15, 2015.
Major goals of the meeting included:
- Determining observing priorities and planning for intensive observing periods.
- Identifying stakeholder needs
- Planning for the YOPP data legacy
- Beginning the process of collecting commitments from YOPP participants
- Getting involved parties on the same page in the planning process
CliC SSG Co-Chair Gerhard Krinner presented CliC’s contributions, and CliC YOPP fellows Alice Bradley and Francois Massonnet co-chaired breakout group sessions on observations and modeling, respectively. About 25 hard copies of the document highlighting planned CliC contributions to the YOPP effort were distributed at the meeting. This document was extremely well received. There were several subjects discussed at the YOPP summit that had been raised as particular areas of interest in previous CliC meetings, listed below.
Antarctic science was not well represented on the YOPP planning committee. This issue was raised early in discussions at the summit, and received more focus in the following days. One Antarctic intensive observing period has been planned for, with David Bromwich leading the organizing effort. Discussions at the summit concluded that increased coordination with SOOS, SORP, and SCAR in planning for the Antarctic IOP will be important for keeping the Antarctic science community represented in YOPP.
Data management was a major discussion point during the summit, and there was significant interest in getting more data onto GTS from existing stations. The WMO is aware of this need and will work with YOPP participants. A significant lesson from IPY was the need for a more concrete data management policy, and there will be specific requirements for data sharing for both modeling and observational groups participating in YOPP.
Data retrieval was recognized as one of the major areas where YOPP can help the community. There are stations in both the Arctic and the Antarctic that are not currently able to get data onto the WIS network. YOPP is working with the WMO in advance of the intensive observing periods to make sure that as much as possible of the data that is currently being collected is available in real time for numerical analysis and prediction.
Model output also received attention. It was stressed that modelling groups should be prepared to save model tendencies (time and space derivatives) in the atmosphere and the sea ice, at least. This type of output will be particularly valuable over intensive observing periods when a direct model-data comparison of the terms involved in equations of mass, momentum and energy will be possible.
Data assimilation garnered attention, too. Participants recognized the need to better understand the error structure of models that will be used, in order to transfer observable information everywhere in the model. The realization of data-denial type of experiments was also encouraged.
Sea ice modelling was emphasized many times during the breakout group discussions. It was suggested, among others, to test to what extent the most common EVP rheology is (un)realistic in high-resolution configurations. CliC’s Sea Ice Modeling Forum will be well suited to contribute to this effort.
Please see the full meeting report for the summary of the meeting. Further details will be coming soon in version 2 of the implementation plan.
[YOPP – The Year Of Polar Prediction Website]
[YOPP Summit Website]
[YOPP Summit Report]
[CliC Contribution to the YOPP effort]