1NOTES FROM THE FIRST FORMAL COORDINATED ENERGY AND WATER-CYCLE OBSERVATIONSPROJECT (CEOP) TELECONFERENCE ON EUROPE-NEESPI-AFRICA REGIONAL HYDROCLIMATEPROJECTS AND REFERENCE SITE ISSUES HELD ON
26 FEBRUARY 2009
Final DRAFT, 27 April 20091.

INTRODUCTION

The 1st Europe-NEESPI-Africa RHP and Reference Sites Teleconference related to the Coordinated Energy
and Water-Cycle Observations Project (CEOP) took place on Thursday 26 February 2009 at 14:00 UTC.
The issues that were discussed on the subject conference call included:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)

CEOP Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) and reference site data requirements related to the CEOP
Science Strategy;
CEOP and CEOP Data element coordination strategy – conference call scheme;
Outcomes of the Second CEOP Annual Meeting in Geneva and the planning of the Third Annual
Meeting in Melbourne, Australia, 19 – 21 August 2009;
Current status of the CEOP Reference Site Data Archive with focus on the sites located in Europe
and Africa;
BALTEX RHP status and issues;
Europe Reference Sites status and issues: Phase 1 missing data and current phase submission
plans;

Participants
The participants were:
Toshio Koike
Sam Benedict
Petra Koudelova
Steve Williams
Fred Bosveld
Frank Beyrich
Charles Wrench
Marcus Reckermann
Esko Kyrö
Beng Tammelin
Rigel Kivi

Tokyo, Japan, CEOP Co-Chair & representing JMA
San Diego, California, USA; CEOP International Coordination Function
Tokyo, Japan; CEOP International Coordination Function
Boulder, Colorado, USA; Representing CEOP Data Management
The Netherlands, BALTEX Cabauw site representative
Lindenberg, Germany, BALTEX Lindenberg site representative
UK, Chilbolton site representative
Geesthacht, Germany, BALTEX RHP representative
Finland; FMI representative
Helsinky, Finland; FMI representative
Sodankylä, Finland ; Sodankylä site manager

Drs Hans-Joerg Isemer (Representing BALTEX RHP and CEOP Data Management), Pasha Groisman(Representing NEESPI RHP), and Gaye Amadou (Representing AMMA RHP) responded to theannouncement but were not available for the call.
2.

NEXT CONFERENCE CALL

The next, 2nd CEOP Europe-NEESPI-Africa RHP and Reference Sites Teleconference is
proposed to take place on Tuesday 16 June 2009, at 13:00 UTC. Koudelova/Benedict have the action(A1) to inform the group of the details of the next call nearer to the time of the call and to coordinate theorigination of the call (action A1a).
3.

CEOP AND CEOP DATA GROUP GENERAL ISSUES

3.1 Opening(3.1a) Benedict welcomed everyone on the call and introduced the agenda, reference material that wascirculated prior to the call, and background comments meant to setup the framework for reinitializing thisseries of important calls. Most of those on the call had already known about the merger of the CoordinatedEnhanced Observing Period with the GEWEX Hydrometeorology Panel (GHP) that resulted in the formationof the Coordinated Energy and Water-cycle Observations Project (CEOP). However, for those who still had
questions about that matter it was noted that they could bring up any thoughts or issues related to the2merger at any time during the call. In this context, participants were asked in advance of the call, toreference the latest version of the CEOP Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) available through the
CEOP Home Page at:
http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/implementationplan.html. It was pointed out that the current
version was an updated one dated on 1 December 2008 that reflected and responded to the commentsfrom GEWEX SSG earlier this year.
(3.1b) As part of the initial discussion item the Co-Chair of the new CEOP initiative Koike reiterated thatagreement had been reached to designate 1 January 2007 as the start date for the resumption of the
CEOP Reference Site Data generation process. The five-year period from 1 January 2007 to 31
January 2011 was the formal investigative element of the Project. Backfilling for 2005-2006 data isdesirable if technical, financial and manpower resources of respective providers allow executing of thisextension of the formal commitment.
(3.1c) In addition it was pointed out that it was highly desirable to submit missing data for Phase 1(September 2002 – December 2004) and the site representatives were asked for their kind attention to thismatter.
3.2 CEOP and CEOP Data Element Coordination(3.2a) The former GEWEX Continental Scale Experiments (CSEs) and associated reference site groupwas very active and well coordinated during CEOP Phase 1 but some momentum was lost during thetransition period in 2007. In addition, number of CEOP elements and also reference sites increased andthus effective ways of coordination were sought. A new, expanded scheme of conference calls was
proposed that reflects the wide range of CEOP activities. Currently, the scheme includes Model Output calls,
Satellite Data Calls and RHP + reference site calls. Regarding the RHP and reference site groups, it wassuggested that the calls be organized in a regional manner. This means that three parallel series of suchcalls will be implemented and each series would include representatives from certain region. The regions
were proposed as follows:
1. Americas
2. Europe + Africa + NEESPI
3. Asia + Australia + Pacific region
The main reason for this distributed approach is that a number of CEOP Phase 2 reference sites
are not associated with any of the GEWEX/CEOP RHP and thus individual reference site representatives
need to participate in addition to the RHP representatives. This approach assures that issues related to thereference sites and data provision are communicated directly with respective reference site representatives,
which will expedite the whole process. Accordingly, a too large group for these calls would be formed if allof the CEOP sites and RHPs were involved. The regional division makes the calls "smaller" and thus better
manageable. In order to assure coordination on the "global" level, the outputs of the individual calls will be
communicated through the call Notes within the broader CEOP group and possible ad hoc calls among all
RHP representatives and other element leaders may be scheduled if necessary.
(3.2b) The RHP and reference site data calls will mainly discuss RHP activities progress, reference sitedata submission and issues, and will inform of the CEOP general issues including updates from otherelements. The calls will be held on a regular 3-monthly basis.
nd

3.3 2

CEOP Annual Meeting in Geneva, 15 – 17 September 2008

(3.3a) Benedict reported on the outcomes of the 2nd CEOP Annual Meeting that took place in Geneva in
September 2008. The meeting was planned and undertaken to move ahead with the implementation of
CEOP in accordance with the strategy outlined in the Strategic Implementation Plan. All of the presentationmaterial provided by the participants at the meeting, including abstracts of talks and posters is available on
the Internet through the CEOP Home Page at: http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/meetings.html. A briefsummary report on the meeting has been published in the November issue of the GEWEX News
(http://gewex.org/Nov2008.pdf) and subsequently the full meeting report has also been completed andposted on the said CEOP Meetings page.
(3.3b) It was also pointed out that the next, 3rd CEOP Annual Meeting would be held in Melbourne,
Australia, 19 – 21 August 2009, i.e. the event will precede the GEWEX and iLEAPS science conferences.
The venue for the CEOP meeting will be the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). Further details and the meeting3
website will be released in due course. The participants on the call were asked to consider their
participation in this important event and also possible contribution to the ensuing GEWEX/iLEAPS
conferences that will take place in Melbourne, Australia, 24 – 28 August 2009. The conference website isavailable at: http://www.gewex.org/2009gewex_ileaps_conf.html. Abstracts for all sessions are currently
being
acceptedandcanbesubmitted
on-linethroughthemeeting
website(http://www.gewex.org/2009gewex_ileaps_conf_abstracts.html). The deadline for abstract submission is 31
March 2009.
It was highlighted that the CEOP meeting would focus on the CEOP strategic planning issues andthe scientific and technical contributions were expected to be submitted to the ensuing GEWEX/iLEAPS
science conferences.
(3.3c) In this context, the group was advised that a special poster session on High Elevations would beorganized as a part of the GEWEX science conference in Melbourne and the participants were invited toconsider their contribution to this session. More information is available through the High Elevation element
website at: http://www.ceop-he.org/cms/. The due date for submission abstracts to the special HighElevations poster session is also 31 March 2009 and should be done through the GEWEX on-line
submission site:
http://www.gewex.org/2009gewex_ileaps_conf_abstracts.html.
3.4 GEWEX Legacy Document and SSG Meeting outcomes(3.4a) The group was also informed that the GEWEX Legacy document had been prepared to which
CEOP provided a contribution. The Legacy Document is also perceived as part of preparation for thetransition of the WCRP projects in 2013 and thus includes (1) GEWEX accomplishments of Phase 2 and (2)the legacy for future based on what has been done and what is felt to be important to be continued.
(3.4b) Benedict reported that the CEOP summary presentations at the GEWEX SSG meeting in Irvine,
January 2009, were well received. The participants were asked to reference the SSG rapporteurs reportthat had been circulated before the call. The report emphasizes the importance of CEOP Reference Sitedata and other observation and modeling data and anticipates continuous effort of CEOP in this area.
(3.4c) In this context Koike pointed out that the satellite data and model output groups had been making
efforts and progressing the work on producing and processing data they had committed to provide to CEOP.
Both these groups have been very active and utilized similar conference calls to coordinate their activities
and report on their progress. Also, both groups are much interested in the reference site data to validate
their products.
3.5 Japan Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS)
Koike introduced Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) that was launched in 2006 as partof the Earth Observation and Ocean Exploration System, which is one of five National Key Technologiesrddefined by the 3 Basic Program for Science and Technology of Japan. This system has been build up
based on experiences gained through the CEOP Phase 1 Data Management and is designed to enablearchiving, disseminating, integration and analyzing multidisciplinary earth observation data. The system
includes components supporting data and metadata provision and data quality control procedure. These
components that were used by the CEOP Asian reference site providers during Phase 1 have been
upgraded and are now also opened to other interested data providers. Persons interested in these services
should contact Mr. Katsunori Tamagawa (tamagawa@hydra.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp) at the University of Tokyo.

4.

RHP and Reference Site Reports

4.1 BALTEX RHP report by Marcus Reckermann(4.1a) Reckermann introduced the latest developments of the BALTEX RHP that included:(i) A 10-year precipitation BALTEX Radar Network (BALTRAD) dataset is available at the BATEX Radar
Data Center (BRDC) (http://produkter.smhi.se/brdc/).
(ii) New EU project within BALTRAD has been launched to support radar infrastructure development ineastern European countries.
(iii) A new project is being developed to bring together regional climate modeling and ecosystemcommunities.

4th(iv) The 6 Study Conference on BALTEX will be held in Poland, June 2010 and the preparations for thisevent have just begun.
(4.1b) A question was raised if BALTRAD also provided solid precipitation observation. Marcus accepted
the action A2 to clarify this point and advise the group. The solid precipitation information is important for
CliC activities.
4.2 Summary status of the reference site archive at NCAR/EOL(4.2a) Williams introduced the current status of the CEOP reference site data archive referring to the
document summarizing the status of the sites located in the Europe-NEESPI-Africa region that was
distributed prior to the call (see Attachment 1). Benedict pointed out three main issues that need to beconsidered including (i) missing data for the Phase 1 period (October 2002 – December 2004) – this applies
for sites that participated in Phase 1; (ii) submissions for the transition period January 2005 – December
2006; and (iii) submissions for the current phase of CEOP, i.e. January 2007 – December 2011. It was
mentioned that it would be highly desirable to complete data submissions for all three periods in order toobtain a long data series that are critical for many CEOP and other energy and water cycle related studies
and the site representatives were asked to consider such commitment. Nevertheless, extension of theformal commitment to provide data for the transition period 2005 – 2006 depend on technical, financial andmanpower resources of respective providers as mentioned in Section 3.1 above.
(4.2b) It was also pointed out that in addition to the measurements collected during Phase 1, data related
to clouds, carbon, and other scientific issues would be welcomed and appreciated if such observations
exist at the sites. These items would not be included in the current common format files but additional files
would be created. Based on the availability of such data, the Data Management group will propose anadequate format.
(4.2c) Williams advised the group that a questionnaire on aerosol observation would be sent to the CEOP
reference site representatives in the near future.
4.3 BALTEX: Cabauw by Frank Bosveld
Bosveld voiced that he would investigate the SFC/TWR data issue that was reported by the DataManagement team (see the summary report in Attachment 1) and re-send the corrected data. The issue isperhaps associated with sensor problems and the data need to be properly flagged. Further data including
the 2007 year dataset will be prepared and sent to the NCAR center in the near future.
4.4 BALTEX: Lindenberg by Frank Beyrich(4.4a) Beyrich informed the group that they will resubmit PAR and longwave radiation data for 2005-2006
because of a certain calibration issue. Also tower wind direction data have been found questionable and will
be resubmitted within a month. The data for 2007 are being processed and will be submitted by the end of
March 2009.
(4.4b) Beyrich further voiced that the Norunda site would not participate in the new CEOP phase due tolimited resources for data processing.
4.5 BALTEX: Sodankylä by Bengt Tammelin, Esko Kyro, and Rigel Kivi
(4.5a) Tammelin and Kyro informed the group that the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) was willingto continue cooperation with CEOP. The Sodankylä observatory has been working well and would continue
the observations. A new project is being established on cooperation with CEOP that would assure the data
are properly and timely formatted, quality checked and sent to the NCAR center. A new person responsible
for this process at the Sodankylä observatory will be nominated by May 2009 and then will begin the workon 2005-2006 data and further.
(4.5b) Tammelin further voiced that there was another observation station close to the Sodankylä
observatory and asked if CEOP would also be interested in these data. Williams mentioned that if the othersite had some specifics compare to the main Sodankylä tower site and thus the data is scientificallyinteresting, it would be worth to include data from this site in the CEOP database. Kyro accepted action A3
to send this additional site description to Williams.

5
4.6 Others: Chilbolton by Charles Wrench(4.6a) Wrench reported that a long record of the Chilbolton site observation was available in the NetCDF
format and the CEOP community could be given an access to their archive. Nevertheless, the sitemanagement group has a limited budget and the data format conversion for CEOP may not be viable.
Williams voiced that the NCAR Data Management group could assist with this task if a data format
conversion tool is available. Wrench have action A4 to provide a sample of the Chilbolton data in the
NetCDF format to Williams, who will investigate the possibilities of the format conversion (action A4a).
(4.6b) In addition, Wrench was asked to undertake action A4b to provide Williams the site description
and metadata.
4.7 AMMA: discussion
Koike informed the group that the main issue with the AMMA sites data provision was due to the different
AMMA and CEOP data policy. At present, AMMA cannot not provide their data to the CEOP archive forfurther distribution. Koike will attend the Third AMMA Conference in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in July2009 (see paragraph 5.1d below) and will discuss possible future cooperation between AMMA and CEOP interms of reference site data with the AMMA representatives.

5.

OTHER ISSUES

5.1 Meetings(5.1a) The next 3rd CEOP Annual Meeting will be held in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 through 21
August 2009 in conjunction with the GEWEX/iLEAPS science conferences that will take place in Melbourne,
24 – 28 August 2009 (http://www.gewex.org/2009gewex_ileaps_conf.html). Participants were asked toconsider their participation in this important event. Further details of the CEOP meeting will be provided indue course.
nd(5.1b) The 2 Lund Regional-scale Climate Modeling Workshop will be held in Lund, Sweden from 4 – 8
May 2009 (see the GEWEX calendar page: http://www.gewex.org/gewex_meetings.html for more
information).
(5.1c) The International Conference "Mountains: energy, water and food for life. The SHARE project:understanding the impacts of climate change" will be held in Milan, Italy, from 27 – 28 May 2009 (seethe CEOP website for further information: http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/meetings.html).
rd(5.1d) The 3 International AMMA Conference will be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 20 –24 July 2009 (conference webpage: http://www.amma-international.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=1).

5.2 CEOP Home Page and Satellite Data Gateway(5.2a) It was reiterated that the CEOP Home Page had been released and was available at:
http://www.ceop.net or directly at http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/.
(5.2b) It was also mentioned that the CEOP Satellite Data Gateway had been opened for public. It isavailable at: http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/satellite/. Williams voiced that the link to the Gateway
was posted on the Data Management website.
6.

CLOSING

Koike acknowledged the participants for attending the call and providing their valuable contributions,comments and suggestions. The call was adjourned at 15:25 UTC.

6
ATTACHMENT 1

CEOP Europe-NEESPI-Africa Region Reference Site Data Status Report(updated through 23 February 2009)

BALTEX
Cabauw – STM, FLX and SONDE complete through 2006. SFC and TWR complete through 2004. 20052006 SFC and TWR data were submitted September 2008.
SFC/TWR Issue – High RH values (up to 123%) flagged good starting in the latter half of 2005 at someheights.
Lindenberg – All data complete through 2006.
SFC Issue – In November 2008 Frank notified us that the PAR data have significant issues. Replacement
PAR data for 2003-2004 to be submitted. 2005-2006 PAR data to be removed from data set.
Norunda – Data set completed. No longer a reference site.
Sodankyla – All data complete through 2004. No data submitted for later periods.
AMMA
Hourly precipitation data for 55 stations in the Upper Valley of Oueme for 2001-2003.
Hourly streamflow data for 3 stations in the Upper Valley of Oueme for 2001-2002.
NEESPI
No data yet.