SynObs Kick-Off and OS-Eval/CP-TT workshop, Nov 2022

Invitation to attend special discussion at the workshop

We expect significant contribution from OceanPredict Steering Team Members to the workshop and SynObs plan discussion

On the evening of the 17 Nov, 12:20 – 13:50 UTC (3rd day) we specifically like to invite you to join the discussion.

Please check here for current agenda details.

 

The meeting agenda details have been organised so that they best fit a workshop attended by a global audience.

The agenda is available from here.

A schematic overview is provided below. Please note that the times are given in UTC.

The main goal of the Observing System Evaluation Task Team (OS-Eval TT) under OceanPredict is the provision of ongoing demonstrations of the impacts of observations on global and regional ocean forecast and analysis systems.

The Coupled Prediction Task Team (CP-TT) wants to draw together the international scientific and technical expertise in ocean, sea-ice and wave prediction and to seek collaboration with equivalent expert groups in atmospheric-land surface-hydrology prediction to accelerate the scientific and technical development of fully coupled systems for short- to medium-range prediction. The CP-TT is planning to complement efforts of the atmospheric and seasonal communities in their exploration of coupled prediction, and to actively support exchanges between these communities.

• To emphasize the importance of ocean observing co-design/evaluation and data assimilation development for more effective use of ocean observation data.
• To promote developments for increasing oceanic impacts in earth system predictions.
• To share the objectives/goals of SynObs and to set up SynObs activities.

Please find here the workshop summary for your information

Registration is now only possible by directly contacting the meeting organisers in Japan.

Please contact [email protected] with information of your:

• Name
• Affiliation
• Country
• E-mail address
• In-person or remotely attendance

The policy of the host (JMA/MRI and JAMSTEC/RIGC) will be respected with regard to  acceptance of participation.

Deadlines have been updated. Registration and abstract submission are still open. Please check details:

• Abstract submission for oral presentations is now only open for invited speakers (only after agreement with organisers)
• 9 Sep 2022: Deadline for abstract submission of poster presentations
• 11 Nov 2022: Deadline for online registrations (domestic and foreign)

From 11 October 2022, foreign visitors to Japan can again use the visa waiver system (eligible countries) which was suspended due to Covid. For those travellers it will no longer be required to obtain a visa. Please find more information on the Japan travel website. However, you are still required to provide either a valid COVID-19 vaccination certificate (3 doses) of vaccines on the Emergency Use List of World Health Organization (WHO) or a certificate of negative result of pre-departure COVID-19 test conducted within 72 hours prior to departing from the original country/region.

For more information please go to: Travel and accommodation

If you wish to attend in person but need time to confirm availability of funding for travel cost, please email [email protected].

Attendance

We very much encourage participation from

• Members of the two OP task teams (OS-Eval TT and CP-TT)
• Everyone who intends to participate in or to contribute to SynObs.
• Attendees/guests of previous meetings of either task teams
• OPST and OPAS members.
• Researchers who work in earth system predictions based on ocean data assimilation or evaluation/design of observation networks

The workshop will cover four sessions featuring science presentations and posters with discussions. We are seeking submissions of abstracts for all sessions (oral and poster).

The objectives of the workshop include:

• To emphasize the importance of ocean observing co-design/evaluation and data assimilation development for more effective use of ocean observation data.
• To promote developments for increasing oceanic impacts in earth system predictions.
• To share the objectives/goals of SynObs and to set up SynObs activities.

1.  Co-design and evaluation of ocean observing systems: their needs and achievements

1A. Expectation of co-design/evaluation from observational communities

• What observing systems need co-design/evaluation
• What are the benefits from co-design/evaluation

1B. Observing System Evaluation showcase

• Evaluation of large swath sea level anomaly data (SWOT, COMPIRA, …)
• Evaluation of the global Argo Array and its evolution (Including Core Argo,  BGC Argo, Deep Argo, etc.)
• Evaluation of tropical buoys (TPOS2020 design etc. )
• Other ocean observing systems and platforms

1C. Methodology

• Strategy for Multi-System OSE/OSSE and Nature Run
• New methods for designing and evaluating the observation network
• Evaluation of societal and economical impacts
• Best practices for observing system evaluation

2.  Data assimilation development for better use of observation data

2A. Observation operators

• For new-type observations (Lagrangian trajectories, Ocean current velocities, etc.)
• For coupled data assimilation systems (Radiance, Scatterometer, etc.)

2B. Modeling of the background errors across multi-physics/domains

• Across the atmosphere-ocean boundary
• Across the open ocean-coastal sea boundary
• Across physical and biogeochemical parameters

2C. Methods for dealing with correlated observation errors

• Data Thinning and modeling of observation errors

3.  Ocean modeling and initialization in earth system predictions

3A. Modeling, and data assimilation of the ocean-atmosphere boundary layers

• Impact of Wind waves
• Vertical mixing process at the boundary
• Variation of Skin-SST
• Exchange of momentum, heat, and fresh-water flux

3B. Best practices for earth system predictions

• Coupled data assimilation for earth system predictions
• Initialization technique to reduce the coupled shock
• Oceanic perturbation for ensemble member generation
• Operational design for earth system predictions
• Metrics to assess the oceanic impacts

3C. Roles of ocean observation data in earth system predictions

• Ocean Observation impacts
• Ocean observation timeliness requirements

4.  Discussion on the future activities of OS-Eval TT, CP-TT, and SynObs

• Setup of SynObs activities
• CP-TT contribution to UN Decade of Ocean Science (ForeSea and SynObs)
• Enhancing communication across ocean and coupled predictions and observational communities for more effective use of the ocean observation data

All workshop presentations and poster (where permissions was given) are available as pdfs in the table below.

Recordings of the presentations for Kick-off can be found here:

SynObs Kick-off / Workshop Recordings

A joint Workshop of the Observing System Evaluation Task Team (OS-Eval TT) and the Coupled Prediction Task Team (CP-TT) of OceanPredict

The workshop will be held as a hybrid event (in-person at the Tsukuba Center for Institutes or JMA/MRI Building and online). We will have on-site and online oral presentations, including invited talks, and poster presentations. The hosts will provide meeting facilities (meeting rooms, web meeting application, etc.) More details about on-site lunches and breaks, and information about Covid measures will be provided in time to all those who plan to attend in person. Being on-site might include requests of hand sanitisation and mask protocols. The meeting will also use a web meeting application to allow remote participation.

If the pandemic gets worse to a serious level again, the onsite event will be cancelled, and the meeting will be held fully virtual. More information will be provided in a later announcement.

Organising committee

• Santha Akella, NASA (CP-TT co-chair)
• Yosuke Fujii, JMA/MRI (OS-Eval TT co-chair)
• Chris Harris, Met Office (CP-TT co-chair)
• Arun Kumar, NCEP (TPOS2020)
• Shuhei Masuda, JAMSTEC (OS-Eval TT member)
• Kristian Mogensen, ECMWF (CP-TT co-chair)
• Elisabeth Remy, Mercator Ocean International (OS-Eval TT co-chair)
• Yuhei Takaya, JMA/MRI (CP-TT member）
• Kirsten Wilmer-Becker, Met Office (OceanPredict programme office coordinator)

The workshop will be hosted by MRI/JMA & JAMSTEC at the Tsukuba Center for Institutes, Tuskuba, Japan

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)/ Meteorological Research Institute (MRI)

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) /Research

Institute for Global Change (RIGC)

NEW INFORMATION ABOUT TRAVEL TO JAPAN (update 29 Sep 2022).

From 11 October 2022, foreign visitors to Japan can again use the visa waiver system (eligible countries) which was suspended due to Covid. For those travellers it will no longer be required to obtain a visa. Please find more information on the Japan travel website. However, you are still required to provide either a valid COVID-19 vaccination certificate (3 doses) of vaccines on the Emergency Use List of World Health Organization (WHO) or a certificate of negative result of pre-departure COVID-19 test conducted within 72 hours prior to departing from the original country/region.

Although travel has become easier, we still recommend that foreign participants should attend the meeting remotely, but if you want to visit Japan and attend the meeting in person this is still possible. In that case we will still need you fill in the form (previously provided – see below) for a security reason. If you intend to now intend to attend in person, please contact Yosuke Fujii ([email protected]) asap.

If you are from a country that is not eligible to the visa waiver scheme you will still need to apply for a visa. We will provide on-site participants from foreign countries with an invitation letter, which is necessary for the visa application. Please contact [email protected]) to submit information on your air carrier, trip dates, etc. which is required for issuing the invitation letter. We will send the invitation to the Slack workspace in early October 2022.

Japan – entry requirements

The Workshop Organising Committee would like to advise attendees from abroad to still consider remote participation. If, however, attendees are interested to take part in person they are welcome to do so and should read the information below:

Please download, read and follow the instructions of the “Procedures required for entry into Japan” document if you are planning to travel to Japan for the workshop.

• Passport validity: Please make sure that your passport satisfies the Japan entry requirement on validity. The passport should be valid for the duration of your stay. No additional period of validity beyond this is required.
• Visa requirements: From 11 October 2022, all foreign visitors (check eligible countries) to Japan can again use the visa waiver system which was suspended due to Covid. It will no longer be required to obtain a visa.
• Invitation letter: to be provided by the meeting host where required
• Airport quarantine procedures: Preparation is required for Covid-19 checks at the airport on entering Japan
• Documents required to support case for entering Japan
• Application form (Invited Researcher)
• Written Oath

If you have any questions please get in touch with the workshop organisers by emailing [email protected].