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Met Society Newsletter
For a printable download of this see http://metsoc.rsnz.org/Newsletter/agm.pdf
President's report (Mike Revell)
- 29th since founding of Society in 1979
First let me apologise for the late arrival of this report. What with completion of some last minute commercial work and preparing my talk for the conference I completely forgot that I also had to provide a presidents report at the AGM.
Summary of activities
Committee meetings
There were five of these roughly every two months as in previous years. There have been no major initiatives but we have made progress towards becoming a charitable organisation. The issue of falling numbers in the society has been raised at every meeting and several suggestions made to try and improve things. It appears many university students do not know about our society or what it offers. This was discussed further at the AGM and will be reported on in the AGM minutes.
This year's conference joint with the Hydrological society
Charles Pearson pretty much single-handedly managed the MetSoc contribution for which I am very grateful. We were able to subsidise several students' attendance at the conference and provided two prizes worth $500 for best student and open papers presented by a MetSoc member. I thought it was an excellent meeting with many papers of a high standard including many student presentations. The convenient rear access to the 3 meeting rooms at
Branch meetings
Looking back through the minutes it seems there is a regular series of talks in
Retiring of some long standing committee members
Rowena Moss (circulation) to be replaced by Sylvia Nichol, Simon Kjellberg (secretary) by Sam Dean, and Cliff Revell (treasurer) would like to step down but we need to find a replacement. I'm sure you all agree with me that Simon, Rowena and Cliff have all done an excellent job over the last several years and join with me in thanking them very much for their valuable contribution to the society.
Newsletter/Website
Bob McDavitt continues to do an excellent job here. This is one of the main ways we communicate with members. Thanks to Peter Knudsen also for maintaining the web site. I believe this will become the key way people access information about our society so it is important that we keep it up to date.
Journal
Another issue has appeared - thanks Brian. Brian is always looking for more papers and feels the new A4 format could handle an extra paper per year. Any of the papers presented at the 2008 MetSoc conference could become journal papers. I encourage you to consider this.
Upcoming conferences
SHEM Meteorology conference in
2009 MetSoc conference joint with the Marine Sciences Soc in
Photo competition
Bob McDavitt presented the entries and announced the winners at the MetSoc conference.
Relationship with RSNZ
There was a meeting in November in
General discussion covered: Feedback from Constituent Organisations (COs), some very negative
There was discussion on the current status of communication between RSNZ and
The 2008 AGM
The minutes follow. I would specially like to thank Kim Dirks for organising the election of officers for the coming year and Bob McDavitt for managing the procedural aspects of the meeting.
The future
It has been said "People talk about the weather but no one ever does anything about it!" Is the same true for the falling number of members of the MetSoc? It was disappointing to hear at the AGM that there were many university students doing earth science degrees that didn't know about the MetSoc and what it offers. Several suggestions were made at the AGM to rectify this and we will endeavour to follow these up in the coming year.
Hope you have all had a good break over the Christmas New Year period.
Best Wishes for the coming year.
Mike Revell
Minutes of the
29th Annual General Meeting of the
Meteorological Society of
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Shantytown, Greymouth
The meeting opened at 5:30pm
The meeting was chaired by Mike Revell (President) and the minutes have been written by Sam Dean (Committee member).
1. Attendance
Kim Dirks Roger Davies Andrew Tait Bob McDavitt
Blair Fitzharris Charles Pearson Richard McKenzie Mike Revell
Sam Dean Warren Gray
Ross Martin Sally Garrett Stacy Dravitzky Neil Gordon
Agate Ponder-Sutton Trevor Carey-Smith Richard Gorman Charles Pearson
Richard McKenzie
2. Apologies
Rupert Wood Alex Neale Geoff Austin Simon Kjelberg
James Renwick Jim Salinger Mikhail Titov Katrina Richards
Rowena Moss Gareth Renowden Richard Turner
3. Confirmation of the minutes of the previous AGM (Mike)
Motion that "the minutes of the previous AGM, held at NIWA
Bob McDavitt / Stacy Dravitzky -carried
4. Matters arising from the last AGM (Mike)
Carbon Neutrality
The aim of carbon neutrality for Metsoc conferences raised at the previous AGM was considered. Murray Poulter suggested that this would be a difficult objective for an organisation such as the Metsoc to achieve. He suggested divulging this responsibility to the attendees own organisations. Neil Gordon suggested that "minimizing the carbon footprint" would be a more realistic aim compared to carbon neutrality. The question of how to achieve carbon neutrality was referred on to the incoming committee.
Media awards
Bob McDavitt explained that the 2008 committee reviewed the issue of whether to undertake a media award and decided against it for 2008. The issue was raised as to whether the AGM considered this a worthwhile activity for 2009. The purpose such an award was raised and Bob described the two key objectives of the awards as:
1) To improve the presentation of weather by the media
2) To raise the profile of the meteorological society
Warren Gray suggested a media release in advance of any announcement. The award is usually presented at the conference dinner. Blair Fitzharris noted that in the past the Metsoc had been to TVNZ at their invitation to discuss the awards and that the Otago Daily Times had changed the way weather was presented after coming last one year. Kim Dirks asked what kind of media would be considered. General agreement suggested it be noted in the minutes that "the incoming committee should consider organising media awards for television weather broadcasts due to the positive impact on the profile of the society and the impact on providers".
5. President's Report (Mike)
"It was a quiet year meteorologically". Mike Revell presented a brief verbal report. His final report precedes these minutes.
6. Annual Report from the Treasurer (Cliff)
Meteorological Society of
A message from Cliff was read out by Mike Revel stating that the financial accounts were in good shape and that it was his recommendation that there was no need for a change in the subscription rate. It was also Cliff's intention to step down from the treasurer role when a suitable replacement could be found.
Motion "that the MetSoc thanks Cliff for his outstanding contribution to the society"
Warren Gray / Neil Gordon -carried
Murry Poulter suggested that given the current financial crisis that the new treasurer should consider the issue of diversification of funds across different banks.
Motion "that the incoming secretary should invite a suitable replacement for the auditor".
Mike Revell / Warren Gray -carried
It was moved and passed "that the statement of accounts be accepted"
Bob McDavitt / Warren Gray
7. Subscription Rate (Mike)
Motion "that the subscription rates for the next financial year remain the same at $35 for ordinary members and $105 for institutional members."
Sam Dean / Warren Gray
8. Election of Officers (Kim)
The floor was then passed to Kim Dirks as Immediate Past President to carry out the Election of Officers.
The following nominations for Officers of the Society for 2007/2008 were made:
President Michael Revell
Christchurch VP Mikhail Titov
Dunedin VP vacant
Secretary Sam Dean
Treasurer Cliff Revell
Journal Editor Brian Giles
Newsletter Editor Bob McDavitt
Circulation Manager Sylvia Nichol
Webmaster Peter Knudsen
Hydrosoc Liasison Charles Pearson
General Commitee Jim Salinger
Stacey Dravitzki
Katrina Richards
Sally Garrett
Kim Dirks (as Immediate Past President)
There being no other nominations, it was moved that the nominations be closed.
Kim Dirks / Sam Dean -carried
After a vote, Kim declared the above nominees duly elected.
It was noted that the incoming committee should invite Gareth Renowden to continue as a committee member. His nomination was inadvertently left off the list.
9. Other Matters
Recruiting new members
There was considerable general discussion from the floor about how to best recruit more members. Roger Davies suggested creating a one pager, or poster, which highlighted the benefits of being a member. It was pointed out that a poster had been created in the past. He expressed his concern that students showed no knowledge of the society. There was discussion around updating the webpage with an emphasis on recruitment. Sam suggested that committee members be appointed as recruitment officers with the responsibility of recruiting within their organisations. It was noted that members should be encouraged to email new recruits in their organisations about joining the Metsoc. It was suggested that the MetSoc should attempt to broaden its appeal by placing more emphasis on the sciences of the atmosphere and climate. Blair Fitzharris suggested that the Metsoc adopt a "second liner"i.e. something that could be included with the logo and emphasised the multidisciplinary nature of the Society.
Suggestions which were well received by the floor were:
"MetSoc of
"MetSoc, The society for Weather, Atmosphere and Climate"
With no other business put forward the meeting was declared closed at 6:29pm.
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REGIONAL MEETINGS
Apart from the conference in Shanty Town, no reports have been received of any Met Society meetings held in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch during spring or summer.
Wairarapa Weather Watchers Meeting:
On Monday evening 20 October 2008 Wairarapa Weather Watchers held the first of their four meetings scheduled to occur during Daylight Time. Fifteen members enjoyed a lively meeting discussing the pros and cons of "Are humans in part responsible for the global warming that is taking place? As can well be imagined, there were some who were for the pros while others favored the cons. Nobody had enough expert knowledge of the subject to give a definitive answer. We will just have to await future developments.
Alex Neale.
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Met Society Conference November 2008
This was held late in November at Shanty town, outside Greymouth, as part of the annual NZ Hydrological Society Conference.
The venue added a memorable setting to underline the theme of "EXTREMES", even if it was far enough away to result in a smaller than normal turn out of Met Soc members. Bus and train trips to and from Westland at the start and end of the conference were turned into Fieldtrips across the Southern Alps and the Murchison mountains. The list of participants numbered 234, mostly hydrologists working with Regional Councils or Physicists and Geologists from Universities. There were 42 from NIWA and 2 from MetService.
Sam Dean (new Met Soc secretary) presented the opening plenary session on "a changing climate of extremes" and this was followed over two days by 116 papers divided into four streams -- Surface water- Meteorology, Groundwater,-and a joint stream. There were 29 papers in the Meteorological stream and around 12 papers on topics such as snow and flood to draw metsoc members into the other streams.
The refreshments offered by the conference committee during the AGMs at the end of the first day of talks were much appreciated. The annual dinner was a lavish affair with many dressing up in wild-wild-west attire. Society medals were awarded throughout. A debate on the moot that "my science studies the most important pat of the water cycle" proved to be a popular dinner talk with earnest and entertaining philosophy given by MetSoc's newsletter editor Bob McDavitt for atmospheric water, Greg Barkle, of Aqualinc Research, for ground water, and Jack McConchie (judged the winner), Associate professor in Physical Geography from Victoria University, for surface water.
On Thursday an upper ridge crossed the South Island, providing excellent weather for the fieldtrips to Lake Brunner, Fox Glacier, Stockton Plateau (Coal), and Cropp River. Here are some photos from the fieldtrip to Cropp River's rain gauge at the waterfall, slightly higher than the hut gauge which is at altitude of 860m and around 20 km inland. This rain gauge is the wettest in New Zealand. Just after the conference, from 22 to 25 Nov, the gauge measured 991 mm in three days.
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