Minutes of the
Thirteenth Annual Meeting of
the Participants of the
International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP)
Hosted
by
Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI)
and the
Arctic Climate System Study / Climate and Cryosphere
(ACSYS / CliC)
4 – 6 June 2003
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1.
Opening of the Meeting
The
thirteenth annual meeting of the Participants of the IABP opened at 8:00 on 4
June 2003 in Tromsø, Norway. The Chairman of the IABP,
Timothy Goos (TG), called the meeting to order. Geir Wing
Gabrielsen, Acting Research Director of the Norwegian Polar
Institute welcomed meeting attendees, and Terje Løyning (TL) provided
logistical information for the meeting.
There
were 14 Attendees, representing 9 of the 23 Participants. The list of Attendees
is shown in Attachment 1.
2. Agenda Approval
The
draft was reviewed, amended and approved (Attachment
2).
3. Review Minutes and Action Items from
Twelfth Meeting
Action
Items (Actions taken are shown in italics):
3.1.
IABP Executive will
finalize the minutes by 31 August 2002.
Done. Minutes
for Twelfth meeting were finalized in September.
3.2.
Coordinator will add a
deployment log to the IABP web pages (see section 4.0).
Incomplete.
3.3.
Coordinator will contact
inactive Participants regarding their participation in the IABP (see section
6.0 and 10.1).
Ongoing.
Ignatius Rigor (IR) contacted the Participants who have been inactive
Participants in the IABP for a number of years. Most Participants contacted
wished to remain Participants and are working to contribute to the IABP. The
only Participant that we were not
able to get a response from was Manfred Lange of the Arctic Centre. IR will
contact the Arctic Centre for a new Participant.
3.4.
Coordinator will ensure
that all IABP data is posted on the GTS.
3.4.1.
Resolve discrepancy between
the list of buoys that are on the monthly table and what is received at various
met. centers.
Incomplete. IR
reported that most of the IABP data is posted onto the GTS, but not all met.
centers were receiving all of the data. IR will investigate why.
3.4.2.
Post other geophysical
variables on GTS in addition to SLP, and SAT (see item 8.2 from the Minutes of
IABP-12).
Done. This task
is included in the Operating Principles of the IABP (item 9 of the Terms of
Reference for the Coordinator of the IABP).
3.5.
MSC will investigate the
cause of positioning errors from the Edmonton LUT, and use a location flag to
indicate the accuracy of the positions of the buoys (see section 5.0).
Done. October
2002.
3.6.
ETH and IR will make a
standardized IABP PowerPoint presentation for use at various meetings. (see
section 6.0).
Done. ETH and IR
provided presentations for the DBCP and WMO meetings, and will update these presentations
as required.
3.7.
CO will investigate the
cost of Irridium, and other satellite data collection options (see item 10.2).
Done.
Conclusions: Irridium would be more
expensive than Argos for the basic operational requirements of the IABP, but
may be very cost effective for high bandwidth research applications. This
conclusion was based on the fact that Argos data collection costs about $12
US/day for as many hits as can be collected (The number of hits/day depends on
satellite availability. At the current time, buoys report an average of 24
times per day). Irridium costs over $1/minute, and each connection to transfer
data takes at least 3 minutes. To get the required amount of data for
operational needs of say 8 connections/day, Irridium would cost at least $24
US/day.
Data collected by Irridium can be posted
on to the GTS through a NOAA server. IR
is investigating this capability for the IABP.
Other satellite.
3.8.
IR will make web pages for:
3.8.1.
Buoy History
Done.
Discussion
Roger Colony
(RC) recommended that historical data from DARMS, Manned Stations, etc. also be
included in the historical data bases of the IABP.
3.8.2.
Buoy Specs
Done.
3.8.3.
IABP Citations
Done.
3.9.
Review ongoing / incomplete
action items from twelfth meeting.
3.9.1.
Participants were requested
to review the IABP web site to:
3.9.1.1.
Identify errors, omissions,
etc.
3.9.1.2.
Provide advice and comments
on recommended improvements.
Done.
3.9.2.
Participants were requested
to review the IABP CD and send comments to E. Couture.
Done.
3.9.3. The Coordinator will contact the owners of buoys with incorrect
GTS headers and suggest corrections.
Done.
3.9.4. The Coordinator will provide information on deployment
opportunities in the Arctic to the DBCP Technical Coordinator for inclusion in
the JCOMMOPS deployment opportunities web page. The Coordinator will also add a
link on the IABP web pages to this web page.
Done.
3.9.5. The Coordinator will request that the owners of position only buoy
observations to post their data on the GTS.
Done.
3.9.6. The Coordinator will contact the buoy manufacturers and owners to
investigate the use of the Argos frequency outside of the central bandwidth to
take advantage of the 10% discount and better data reception.
Ongoing. Although this discount has been
withdrawn, users are encouraged to use this bandwidth to avoid data dropouts.
3.9.7. Meteorological Service of Canada
(MSC) will investigate the feasibility of participating in the DBCP QC
guidelines as a center responsible for the quality control of GTS buoy data in
the Arctic.
Ongoing. The MSC agreed to investigate their
participation in the DBCP QC guidelines to assure the quality of data for the
IABP buoys.
4. Coordinator's Report
Ignatius
Rigor reported on: 1.) the status of the buoy array, 2.) deployment plans and
opportunities, and 3.) the progress of data management and publications related
to the IABP.
IR reported that the operating budget of the US-IABP
could decrease by as much as $80,000/year. The US-IABP will still be able to
support the Coordination and Data Management of the IABP, but will not be able
to purchase as many buoys during the next few years. This has immediate
implications for the WHITE TRIDENT deployments, which deploys most of the IABP
buoys, and requires a minimum of 7 buoys per deployment. Since the US-IABP has
contributed an average of 3 buoys to this deployment each year, the viability
of this deployment is in jeopardy, and we need to find alternative resources to
purchase buoys for this deployment.
The Coordinator’s report is given in Attachment 3, and is available on the web at