9th COSS-TT – International Coordination Meeting (ICM9)

Local hosts: (contacts for practical meeting organization questions)

• Gregory Smith, [email protected]
• Jean-Philippe Paquin, [email protected]

COSS-TT co-chairs: (contacts for scientific/agenda-related questions)

• Pierre De Mey, [email protected]
• Villy Kourafalou, [email protected]

OceanPredict Programme office : (contact for website-related questions)

• Kirsten Wilmer-Becker, [email protected]

The main goal of the Coastal Ocean and Shelf Seas Task Team (COSS-TT) is to work in coordination with GOVST and GOOS towards the provision of a sound scientific basis for sustainable multidisciplinary downscaling and forecasting activities in the world coastal oceans. The strategic goal of the TT is to help achieve a truly seamless framework from the global to the coastal/littoral scale.

Important community links:

The COSS-TT has established strong links with the Coastal Altimetry Community to open up opportunities to facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas and to pave the way for routine assimilation of improved coastal altimetry data in coastal models.

• All COSS-TT members or substitutes
• Representatives from the OceanPredict Science Team and Patrons’ Group
• Attendees of previous COSS-TT events and local researcher and scientist
• Members of the broader COSS community, especially those interested in science and methods related to regional/coastal ocean monitoring and forecasting
• ARCOM community members

Venue – UQAM, Cœur de Sciences, Montréal, Canada

The COSS-TT meeting 2022 will take place at the University of Québec and Montréal, Cœur de Sciences, which is located in downtown Montréal.

The meeting will be hosted by ECCC (Environment and Climate Change Canada). ECCC is a Canadian government department responsible for coordinating environmental policies and programs as well as preserving and enhancing the natural environment and renewable resources.

COVID-19 advice

Entry into Canada and, from 30 October, exit from Canada depends on your vaccination status and whether you have the right to do so e.g. as a Canadian national. Use the online tool, ‘Find out if you can travel to Canada’ to find out if you are eligible to enter Canada.

Montreal

Montreal is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-most populous municipality in Canada. It is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. It has a distinct four-season continental climate with warm to hot summers and cold, snowy winters.

French is the city’s official language and is the language spoken at home by almost 50% of the city population, followed by English at 22.8% and 18.3% other languages. This makes Montreal one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with over 59% of the population able to speak both English and French.

Our meeting venue is very close to Old Montreal, a historic area southeast of downtown containing many attractions such as the Old Port of Montreal, Place Jacques-Cartier, Montreal City Hall, the Bonsecours Market, Place d’Armes, Pointe-à-Callière Museum, the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, and the Montreal Science Centre.

Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored and are frequented by horse-drawn buggies carrying tourists. Old Montreal is accessible from the downtown core via the underground city and is served by several STM bus routes and Metro stations, ferries to the South Shore and a network of bicycle paths.

The riverside area adjacent to Old Montreal is known as the Old Port. The Old Port was the site of the Port of Montreal, but its shipping operations have been moved to a larger site downstream, leaving the former location as a recreational and historical area maintained by Parks Canada. The new Port of Montreal is Canada’s largest container port and the largest inland port on Earth.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Hotels

There are many hotels near the meeting venue. Prices are reasonable considering we are in one of the second largest city in Canada.

The map (right) shows the location of our venue and a 1km perimeter of where hotels can be found in walking distance.  Please check this link to view some of the hotels available nearby.

To book these hotels please make your own arrangements, by using the associated website and booking portals.

Social events

We are planning to take attendees to a special meeting dinner. The location is still to be decided. It could be a Sugar Shack, a nice traditional spot in the country in a wood cabin with live music and lots of maple syrup (!), a dinner cruise on the St. Lawrence river, or one of the nice urban restaurants in the area. We will let you know asap……

Transport

The Montreal International Airport (Pierre Elliott Trudeau – YUL) is conveniently located to the Southwest of Montreal in close proximity to the city centre. The shuttle bus line “747” runs a 24/7 dedicated service to get you from the airport to downtown Montreal. Detailed information about the route and timetable can be found on the STM 747 website.Tickets for the bus are 10$, and can be purchased at airport ticket machines, from metro stations, kiosk and also from the driver, but only if you have exact change (coins only).

Alternative transport is available by taxi, Uber, etc. Information about routes and costs can be found here.

Flight connections to Montreal are very good, with many destinations being direct. Please check here if your airport directly connects to Pierre Trudeau airport (YUL).