President’s Report for September Newsletter

Bob has reminded me that this is my last President’s Report for the Newsletter.  I should therefore take a bit of time to reflect over the last two years since I started in this role. 

Much of our effort has been put into just keeping general society business going.  This has included the organisation of branch meetings (thanks to the VPs), the production of our newsletter (thanks largely to Bob McDavitt) as well as the production of the society journal which is now up to date (thanks to the efforts of Brian Giles).  The organisation of our annual conferences is also an important task that gets rotated amongst the committee depending on interest and where people are based.  You will all know that this year’s conference is being held in Christchurch and jointly with the Hydrological Society and the Association of Resource Management.  It is now only six weeks away.  Charles Pearson has been working with the organising team and is sorting out the finishing touches.  I hope you have had the chance to check out the conference web site http://www.conference.canterbury.ac.nz/rmuss/.  Over the last two years we have also developed a society poster (mostly as a result of the efforts of Warren Gray and the graphics team at NIWA), and awarded our second Kidson Medal.  We have also revamped the Web site (thanks to Peter Knudson) and run a very successful photo completion.  This year, the Society (through the efforts of Katrina Richards) will also be contributing to the Hydrology Summer School, a week-long course for high school students interested in things hydrological and meteorological.          

I have enjoyed my time as President but the pressures of a full-time academic position and being a mother of two mean that it is time to move on.  The election of officers is carried out during the Annual General Meeting held during the conference.  The Meteorological Society is always looking for new faces to join the team so if you would like to become more involved in the running of the society, please consider putting yourself forward for a committee position.  We would love to hear from you! 

I look forward to catching up with everyone soon in Christchurch.

Kim Dirks

President

Conference web site http://www.conference.canterbury.ac.nz/rmuss/

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Regional Reports.

AUCKLAND  (Kim Dirks, President)

Wednesday, October 11th, 6:00 pm
Curious Cloud Patterns Seen from Low Earth Orbit
by Prof. Roger Davies, Buckley-Glavish Professor of Climate Physics Department, The University of Auckland (worked at the NZ Meteorological Service back in the 70s and has recently returned to NZ).
The Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on the Terra satellite measures reflected solar radiation from the Earth's surface, atmosphere, and clouds at high spatial resolution (275 m) with nine fixed cameras looking at different directions fore and aft along the orbital track. The orbital swath is about 350 km wide, from pole to pole. We have seen a number of very interesting cloud formations in this imagery. We described some of these (Actinoform clouds) in the October 2004 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, and there are many other interesting examples in the cloud gallery that are unpublished.
Because of the multiangle views, it is possible to create stereo imagery that brings out the three-dimensional structure of some of the deeper clouds.

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WELLINGTON (Jim Renwick, Vice President)

Prof. Roger Davies also presented a seminar at NIWA Greata Point on  Tuesday 5 September which was advertised to Wellington Met Soc members.

Wellington members were also invited two talks at NIWA, Greta Point given by Alex Pezza: One on Wednesday 30 August 2006 about CATARINA: THE FIRST SOUTH ATLANTIC HURRICANE AND LARGE SCALE LINKS.

And another, a VUW Research School of Earth Sciences Seminar  on Friday 1st September about SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE CYCLONES AND ANTICYCLONES: RECENT TRENDS AND LINKS WITH DECADAL VARIABILITY IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Wairarapa Weather Watchers: (Alex Neale)

 We're back in meeting mode for the summer. There were 17 members of Wairarapa Weather Watchers at a meeting on Monday evening, 16 October 2006. A simplified explanation was given of the way the climate system works. What happens to the incoming shortwave radiation, and the subsequent outgoing shortwave radiation. The main constituents of the atmosphere that are responsible for the absorption of the long wave radiation. Finally, a summary of recent estimates of the rate of melting of the glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, and their estimated contribution to rising sea levels.

WEATHER AND CLIMATE update (Brian Giles)

Volume 26 was sent out in early September (along with our last newsletter).  Work will now start on Volume 27 (2007) for which copy is needed.  We would like another one or two articles before Christmas.  This should enable publication by the scheduled date of February '07.

Hydrological Society Summer School (Katrina)

See:  http://www.hydrologynz.org.nz/summerschool.html

The NZ Hydrological Society, with the assistance of Meteorological Society of New Zealand, is running a summer school for secondary school students in Christchurch in early December.  Met Soc Committee member Katrina Richards has been in contact with Hydrological Society President Paul White about this Hydrological Society Summer School intended for 6-7^th formers and to run from the 4 - 8 December at Environment Canterbury in Christchurch.  About 12 people of various interests and areas of expertise have agreed to be involved.  Katrina will be involved in Day 1: NZ weather and climate, along with Paul White and Alistair McKerchar.  On the other days, topics such as rain, rivers, drought, water biota, will be discussed and a field trip is planned.  Katrina may also be involved as a "MetSoc helper" for those days too. 

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