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From the newsletter editor:
Apologies for the delays to our ‘JUNE’ newsletter.
My home PC went on the blink last month and things are only now coming right again. As an interim measure I shall send several of these “newsemails”. Then I’ll combine them together and send out the hard-copy edition of the newsletter. At present we only have emails for about half of our membership. When the news subscription notices arrive (with the ‘June’ newsletter) members will be invited to supply an email address which we can use to send future ‘newsemails”. These will be the quickest way to stay informed.
Bob McDavitt
President’s Report for June Newsletter
The big event on the horizon is our upcoming annual conference “Resource Management under Stormy Skies: Water Allocation at the Cross Roads?” to be held in Christchurch November 20-23 and jointly with the New Zealand Hydrological Society and the New Zealand Association of Resource Management. Conference themes include the use of science within the Resource Management Act, innovative water management, future land use options, integration of science, management and community, future climates: science and management, air and water quality, resource measurement: issues, challenges and new ways forward and preventing and mitigating natural disasters. A call for papers has been made with the deadline for submissions the 31st of August. Be sure to visit the conference website for further details: http://www.conference.canterbury.ac.nz/rmuss/.
On the theme of the Meteorological Society working collaboratively with the Hydrological Society and the tireless efforts of Paul White (Paul, I don’t know where you get all of your energy from!), in December this year, Environment Canterbury will be hosting the ‘Hydrological Society Summer School’, a one week course intended to develop the interest in hydrology of motivated senior school students. Many members of both societies have agreed to volunteer their time in this endeavour. We look forward to hearing more from Katrina Richards in the December issue of the Newsletter.
Some of you may not be aware that the recently PhD’d Frank Drost has jumped ship and taken up a position at the University of New South Wales and will no longer be Secretary of our society. Thank you very much Frank for all of your efforts over the past few years. We wish you every success in your new role. In the meantime, Simon Kjellberg of Auckland has kindly agreed to take up the secretary position.
Keep warm,
Kim Dirks
Auckland VP Report from Kim Dirks
On May 11th, Helen Power, the SGES New Zealand visitor for 2006 and from University of Otago, presented a seminar at the University of Auckland, attended by several Met Soc members, on
The Climatology of Dust over North America (Dr. Helen Power,)
Helen’s primary research interests are relationships between atmospheric particles (aerosols) and their affect on climate by absorbing and reflecting solar radiation, and how they influence the formation and properties of clouds
In July Mike Uddstrom of NIWA is presenting a seminar to the Physics Department of The University of Auckland (joint with Met Soc): on
Environmental Forecasting: Some new directions (Dr. Michael Uddstrom)
A large fraction of New Zealand's GDP is sensitive to weather and to weather impacts. These include river floods, water quality, energy generation (hydro and wind) and health to name a few. Invariably, what ultimately matters is "what the weather does". To understand the answer to that question, we must be able to forecast a chain of events, e.g. to forecast inundation means that we must first forecast the future distribution and intensity of precipitation, model the flow of run-off into streams and hence forecast a hydrograph, which in turn must drive an inundation model. Such a chain is very susceptible to error inflation.
Mike is researching these issues with a view to identifying future opportunities that will arise from New Zealand participation in THORPEX, THe Observing System Research and Predictability EXperiment.
Wellington VP Report from Jim Renwick
For the period mid-April to June, there were no Wellington MetSoc seminars. However, my new PhD student, Joe Kidston, has indicated he's willing to give a talk on his MSc work in micrometeorology some time in July.
In late April, Warren Gray and I attended the 8th International Conference on SH Meteorology and Oceanography (8ICSHMO), the follow-on to 7ICSHMO hosted by the NZ Met Society in 2003. 8ICSHMO was held at Iguacu Falls in Brazil and was a very successful meeting, with about 400 delegates, half of them students. Warren was a member of the programme committee, and I was invited to give a presentation summarising John Kidson's career and his contribution to atmospheric sciences. I also
presented a poster on Antarctic sea ice.
En route to 8ICSHMO, I gave a seminar at the City University of Buenos Aires, on southern Pacific ENSO effects. There was a lot of interest in the NZ research scene, and in the NZ Met. Society. I left contact details, web addresses etc, with a couple of people in the atmospheric sciences department. Perhaps a joint conference in Patagonia one day?
Christchurch VP Report from Peyman Zawar-Reza
On March 7th, Dr James Harle of National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton presented a talk at Canterbury University on
“An overview of the UK High Resolution Global Environmental Modelling (HiGEM) project”
On March 30th, Dr David Vaughan from the British Antarctic Survey presented a Gateway Antarctica Lecture at Canterbury University on
“Antarctica and Global Climate Change”
David is a world export on the effect of global change on the Antarctic ice sheets and the recent disintegration of Antarctic ice shelves.
METSOCIETY CONFERENCE 2006
Details from web site : http://www.conference.canterbury.ac.nz/rmuss/
The way that we manage our environmental resources in New Zealand is coming under increasing pressure, particularly in the area of water allocation. This conference aims to explore these pressures related to the science and management of water allocation.
The management of water resources in New Zealand is vitally important for the economic and environmental future of the country. It is critical that current managers make long-term sustainable decisions on water allocation, based on sound scientific understanding of where the water is, how much is available, and how land management affects both water quantity and quality. The conference will take place in Canterbury, the region with the most irrigation, and potentially the greatest water allocation stresses in New Zealand. It is a joint conference, bringing together hydrologists, meteorologists and resource managers to present scientific research and debate issues around water management. The conference also includes field trips within the Canterbury region to view current water management pressures and solutions to problems.
Call for Papers
We invite abstracts submissions for the Conference programme along the following conference themes.
• The use of science within the Resource Management Act
• Innovative water management
• Future land use options
• Integration of science, management and community
• Future climates: science and management
• Air and water quality
• Resource measurement: issues, challenges and new ways forward
• Preventing and mitigating natural disasters
While the themes listed above are the particular emphasis of this conference, the organisers are happy to consider papers and contributions on any of the normal themes covered at the conferences of the respective organisations.
The deadline for submission is 31 August, 2006.
Authors will be notified of acceptance or otherwise by 22 September.
CONTACT
The Conference Office
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand
Tel: +64 3 364 2534
Fax: +64 3 364 2057
Email: rmuss@...
Website: www.conference.canterbury.ac.nz/rmuss
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