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Auckland Branch held a metting on Wednesday 11 October on
Curious Cloud Patterns Seen from Low Earth Orbit given by
Prof. Roger Davies, the Buckley-Glavish Professor of Climate Physics
from the University of Auckland Physics Department.
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. A number of very interesting cloud
formations in this imagery were shown and described.
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.
Auckland Branch held a meeting on Wednesday 13th December at which
Jim Hessell gave a hypothetical explanation of unusual atmospheric pressure oscillations
seen on barograph traces in April 1975.
Jim Hessell was the Auckland Manager for the New Zealand Meteorological Service
in the 80s and early 90s and is particularly known for his technical knowledge and
thorough understanding of Auckland and Wellington marine weather. He has written
three books on the marine weather for the Inner and Outer Hauraki Gulf and for Cook Strait.
From the Wairarapa Weather Watchers (Alex Neale)
Our last meeting for 2006 was held early in December. There was a brief survey of some
of the things affecting the amount of radiation arriving from the sun: e.g. the Malankovich cycles,
sun spots. That was followed by some of the atmospheric cycles, or oscillations, that affect
the weather: e.g. ENSO, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Antarctic Oscillation, and the
Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation. The evening ended with a light-hearted review of two
farcical attempts by the French (in the late 1700s) to invade first Ireland and then, almost
immediately afterwards, Wales. The weather was peripheral to both events, but the topic
provided a mirthful end to proceedings.
The hydrology summer school went well but with only three (3!) students. There
are tentative plans to hold it in the North Island next time. The students
very much enjoyed learning how to read a weather map. My personal highlight
was seeing a gushing well on our field trip, many metres tall.
Katrina
2. Minutes of the
27th Annual General Meeting of the
Meteorological Society of
Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
The meeting opened at 5:30 PM
1. Attendance (Bob)
Kim Dirks Bob McDavitt Jim Renwick David Wratt
John Sansom Andrew Tait Alan Porteous Sam Dean
Jim Salinger Andrew Laing Richard Turner Brett Mullan
Sylvia Nichol Hayward Osborne Geoff Austin Shane Bilish
Sally Garrett Errol Lewthwaite Katrina Richards Stacey Dravitzki
Andy Sturman Mikhail Titov Roger Davies Peyman Zawar-Reza
Joe Kidston Tim Appelhaus Mark Pascoe Grant Pearce
2. Apologies (Kim)
Brian Giles Simon Kjellberg Helen Power Cliff Revell
John Maunder Charles Pearson Neil Gordon John Lumsden
Motion that “the apologies be accepted”. Kim Dirks/Bob McDavitt - carried.
3. Confirmation of minutes of previous AGM (Kim)
Subject to a minor change (number of the meeting) “The minutes of the previous AGM held at the Brentwood Hotel in Kilbirnie,
4. Matters arising from the Last AGM (Kim)
Electronic Publishing
Kim talked briefly about this subject and then discussion on the subject was deferred to Other Matters to ensure we had time to get through the other items on the agenda.
Electronic publishing has been debated extensively over the last couple of years, both at committee meetings and at the last AGM. It is primarily motivated by the potential for considerable savings on printing and postage costs. At some stage, the society needs to deal with its current loss-making position if subscription rates are to remain at the current levels. We will probably either need to move to electronic publishing or increase the membership fees. The discussions have been about exactly how this move to electronic publishing could take place to suit the needs of the membership.
The main problem with moving towards electronic versions is that of subscriber access. We still don't have email addresses for a considerable number of our members and it is probable that some members do not have access to any computer media. We're also concerned about the size of transmitted files containing images. In order to overcome the problem of email, internet access and file size, we have considered the possibility of burning onto CD and posting these. We may need to charge a small fee for this service.
Another consideration is the issue of copyright transfer from contributing authors to the society upon publication of articles in the journal. This may affect our ability to publish the journal electronically. We are concerned about security of access. The password for website access to the newsletter is in a printed issue of the newsletter and is therefore accessible to non-members who read that issue in a subscribing library. Suggested options include individual passwords, associated with member ID (name/number), and individualised hyperlinks to protected web-pages.
The printed newsletter currently contains clippings from many national publications, each with there own copyrights. The advise that has been given to us is that acknowledgement of each source may not be satisfactory, with concern focused on the graphics. Fortunately many of the sources have electronic editions, to which we can provide hyper-links. Printed copies of these links obviously won't be as helpful.
Electronic publishing of the newsletter and journal affect the society differently but the typical annual total costs, associated with the printing and postage each, have been similar. We assume all members wish to continue receiving some form of the newsletter but that many may be willing to forgo delivery of the journal in any form, especially if issues were to be permanently available on a website or able to be requested on a CD. We also expect that institutional members would want printed copies of both the newsletter and the journal, where this is still an option. We note that over time, a growing number of journals and newsletters are moving to electronic publication.
From analysis of the society's financial records, it appears that a switch from the current subscription rates of $25 p.a. for ordinary members and $75 p.a. for institutional members, to $20 p.a. for ordinary members not receiving the newsletter in the post, $40 p.a. for those that do and $90 p.a. for institutional members, would improve our revenue sufficiently to cover our current annual expenditure, should we decide to move to electronic publishing. Moreover increasing the institutional rate to $100 p.a. would more satisfactorily future-proof our financial position. Note that our constitution currently allows for two rates with the institutional rate set at thrice the ordinary member rate. A change to this would require a change to the constitution.
RSNZ Matters
At the last AGM, Frank Drost (then Secretary) informed the members of several outcomes of the RSNZ Constituent Societies meeting he attended in 2005. One issue was that there was a clear interest from regions and schools in having more events and speakers from the National Societies. In line with this, though not necessarily because of this discussion, from the initiative of the Hydrological Society (and Paul White in particular), it was decided that the Hydrological Society and the Meteorological Society would host a Hydrological Society Summer School intended for 6-7th formers that would run for about a week and would be an annual event. This year, about 12 people of various interests and areas of expertise have agreed to be involved. Contributors from the Meteorological Society include Katrina Richards (from our committee) and Alistair McKerchar. Thanks to these people, the Meteorological Society is now doing its bit to reach out to schools in an attempt to raise awareness and interest in young people on topics of Hydrology and Meteorology in
Future Conferences
At the last AGM there was also some discussion in ‘Other Matters’ about future themes for Meteorological Conferences. In 2007, we will be holding our conference independently, so we have the opportunity to come up with a theme without constraints. At the last AGM it was suggested that the 2007 conference could be on the topic of Climate Change and Variability. It has been a while since this has been the theme and would be timely. Another suggestion was that the Meteorological Society should do something for the International Polar Year and that we could try to invite a keynote speaker for this. It was noted at the 2006 RSNZ Constituents’ Societies meeting held last week that the RSNZ provides partial support for organisations keen to have an overseas invited speaker for National Conferences so if we decided to have such a person we should take advantage of this opportunity for financial support. There hasn’t been much discussion about the 2007 conferences at the committee meetings since the last AGM but will be high on the list of priorities for the incoming committee and both of these suggestions will be given serious consideration.
No other matters were raised at the last AGM.
5. President’s Report (Kim)
It is my pleasure to present the 2006 annual report of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand, the 27th report since the founding of the society in 1979.
The committee has held five bi-monthly meetings, the same as in the last four years, and held ten regional meetings with
Newsletter
Throughout the year, Bob McDavitt has been working hard on putting our newsletters together. Since the last AGM, the Society has introduced News-emails in addition to the printed copies so that the distribution of information is more prompt than it is via the printed version. Bob has now been Newsletter Editor for quite a few years now. Having done the job myself for a short stint, I can say that it is quite a big commitment. Thank you Bob for persevering in this role and for continuing to improve the quality of the publication over the years.
Journal
Over the last year, our journal Weather and Climate has been kept up to date thanks to Brian Giles, our Journal Editor. Thank you very much to all of the authors for submitting to our journal and also to all of the anonymous reviewers who have given up their time to do this work and ensure the journal remains at a high standard. The only real issue for the journal has been that of copyright. This issue arose out of a letter received from Copyright Licensing Limited who gave money to the Society for material from Weather and Climate that was reproduced for teaching purposes by universities within
Annual Conferences
We are now in the process of holding our annual conference this year being held jointly with the New Zealand Hydrological Society and the New Zealand Association of Resource Management. Charles Pearson, Adrian McDonald and Peyman Zawar-Reza have represented us on the organizing committee and have helped to put together what promises to be a very good conference. Next year the conference will most likely be held in
Electronic Publishing
The issue of electronic publishing arose at the 2004 RSNZ Constituent Societies Day and has been debated quite extensively among the committee members since then. Our current Secretary Simon Kjellberg has been leading the discussion on this topic. The advantage of electronic publishing versus printed copies lies mainly in the savings in the printing and mailing costs and the ability to provide hyper-links without the copyright issues of reproducing newspaper articles and images. Some of the problems that have been raised include the members of the society who do not have access to email, the large size of the files required to transmit some of the material electronically as well as well as the lack of permanency associated with file copies versus electronic. The issue of Electronic Publishing will continue to be on the Agenda of committee meetings throughout 2007.
RSNZ Constituencies Meeting
On the 15th of November, on behalf of the Society, I attended the annual RNSZ Constituencies Meeting held in
In 2006, our Wellington Vice-President Jim Renwick was elected to the Royal Society of New Zealand Council as Electoral College Representative for the Earth Sciences and
I would like to finish by thanking the 2005/2006 committee members for their efforts this year. I am particularly appreciative of the efforts people made during the times of the year when I was unable to pull my weight because of serious family issues. Thank you for filling in the gaps as required in order to maintain the smooth-running of the Society. In particular, Richard Turner, our Immediate Past-President, has always been there to keep me on track with Society business.
All the best to the incoming committee for 2006.
Kim Dirks
President of the Meteorological Society of
Jim Salinger noted that RSNZ communication with constituent societies has always been an issue.
6. Annual Report from the Treasurer (Richard)
Richard turner presented the Annual Report from the Treasurer on behalf of Cliff Revell who has put in his apologies.
Richard noted that the society's net funds have been reduced by $1820 since last year but that the society has partly used up reserves by catching up on Journal publications. The contingent liabilities, estimated in note four above to be $7500, has come to $8000. Teleconferences have added a further $600 to these liabilities, brining the total adjustment to $1100. With about $34,000 in available funds, the society is still in reasonable financial shape but we need to look at an adjustment in the subscriptions to address the ongoing shortfall.
Bob pointed out that the most recent newsletter contains a budget analysis and projection, written by Cliff, that makes the case for an eventual change in subscription rates.
It was moved and passed “that the audited balance sheet and the income and expenditure accounts for the preceding financial year be accepted” Kim Dirks / Jim Renwick
It was moved and passed “that A. I. Tomlinson be invited to continue in his role as auditor of the Society.” Kim Dirks / Jim Renwick
7. Subscription Rate (Kim)
Given the uncertainly associated with the possibility of electronic publishing and the implications this would have for the financial state of the Society, it is proposed that the subscription rate remain at the current level.
However Bob presented Cliff's motion that the subscription rates for the next financial year be raised to $30 for ordinary members and $90 for institutional members.
In response to a question about achieving savings by electronic publication, Bob pointed out that this needs further work, especially as we still only have e-mail addresses for about half the membership.
Motion “that the subscription rates for the next financial year be raised to $30 for ordinary members and $90 for institutional members.”
Cliff Revell / Hayward Osborne – carried unanimously.
8. Election of Officers (Richard)
I now pass the floor over to Richard Turner as Immediate Past President to carry out the Election of Officers
The following have been nominated as Officers of the Society for 2006/2007
President Kim Dirks
Secretary Simon Kjellberg
Treasurer Cliff Revell
Circulation Manager Rowena Moss
Journal Editor Brian Giles
Newsletter Editor Bob McDavitt
Webmaster Peter Knudsen
HydroSoc Liaison Charles Pearson
General Committee Katrina Richards, Stacey Dravitzki, Sam Dean
There being no other nominations, it was moved that nominations be closed.
Jim Salinger / Alan Porteous
Richard declared the above nominees duly elected.
Richard also expressed his thanks to those committee members who have stepped down:
Frank Drost and Peyman Zawar-Reza.
9. Other matters (Kim)
Carbon Neutrality for 2007 Conference
Richard Turner proposed that, in deference to concerns about climate change, the 2007 MetSoc conference committee look at the possibility of making it carbon neutral.
John Hickman's historical books
Jim Renwick noted that, as librarian to this collection, he has dedicated a bookcase to the collection and has arranged for Peter Knudsen to place a HTML version of the catalogue on the Society's website. Hayward Osborne of Christchurch may soon be adding to this material.
Electronic Publishing
Errol Lewthwaite mentioned that he has had problems using the password to gain access to electronic publications on the society's website but thinks it's a great idea. (The newsletter section of the website was down for a while, earlier this year.) David Wratt pointed out that links to newspaper articles only last about three months. The permanency of printed versions is lost in this case.
Bob McDavitt said that we only have e-mails for about half the membership and suggested that we should try and get that up to about 80% before going for any next step. Bob suggested that we will also investigate reducing the resolution of PDF copies of our Journal articles for possible presentation on CD or on our website. Before Journal articles can go on our web site we need to check our host (The Royal Society) for any size restrictions and also any general copyright restrictions.
In response to a question about printed copies, Bob said we will always have to produce some hard copies for archiving and the expectations of some, especially institutional members.
About another question on newspaper clippings, Bob said he has been in touch with Owen Watson of the Royal Society, the society who host our website, about the use of their links and limitations to bandwidth (numbers accessing at any one time) and total storage, which we may be close to exhausting. Bob expressed the hope that, in five years time, members will receive newsletters straight from The Meteorological Society, like all the other societies.
With no other business put forward, the meeting was declared closed at 6:10PM.
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