Minutes of the

Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Participants of the

International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP)

 

 

Hosted by
Polar Science Center,

Applied Physics Laboratory

University of Washington


Seattle, Washington, USA

6 – 8 June 2005

 

Click PDF  for Printer Friendly Version (Need Adobe Acrobat).

 

 

 

1.      Opening of the Meeting

 

The Fifteenth annual meeting of the Participants of the IABP opened at 9:00 on 6 June 2005 in Seattle, Washington, USA. The Chairman of the IABP, Timothy Goos (TG), called the meeting to order. Ignatius Rigor welcomed meeting attendees, and provided logistics information for the meeting.

 

There were 16 Attendees, representing 10 of the 23 Participants. The list of Attendees is shown in Attachment 1, and the list of Participants is shown in Attachment 2.

 

2.      Agenda Approval

 

The draft was reviewed, amended and approved (Attachment 3).

 

3.      Review Minutes and Action Items from Fourteenth Meeting

 

Participants reviewed the Action Items from the Fourteenth meeting.

 

Action Items (Actions taken are shown in italics):

 

3.1.           IABP Executive will finalize the minutes by 31 August 2004.

 

The minutes from the Fourteenth meeting were reviewed, and approved by the attendees, and will be posted on the IABP web server.

 

3.2.           IR will provide Metadata to DBCP (see Attachment 4 of the Minutes from the 14th Meeting for details).

 

Ongoing.

 

3.3.           IR will consult with Participants to determine satellite data communication requirements for the program (see Attachment 4 of the Minutes from the 14th Meeting for details).

 

Ongoing.

 

3.4.           IR will contact inactive Participants regarding their continued interest in participating in the IABP  (see section 6 of the Minutes from the 14th Meeting).

 

Ongoing.

 

Discussion

 

Pablo Clemente-Colon (PCC) asked “What are the benefits of joining the IABP?” It was noted that because of the strong collaboration and coordination between the Participants, many cost-efficiencies are realized. For example, through coordination, the overlap between observations is minimized, and a well space array is maintained. And by collaborating, our resources of logistics and equipment are better utilized.

 

IR reported that at the Arctic Science Summit Week Conference in Kunming, China there was some interest in the IABP from Chinese and Korean researchers. IR, PCC and Roger Colony (RC) offered to approach colleagues to cultivate the participation of these contacts in the IABP.

 

Christian Haas (CH) suggested that David Meldrum, in addition to Peter Wadhams, should be contacted to regarding the participation of the Scottish Association for Marine Sciences (SAMS) in the IABP.

 

Elizabeth Horton (EH) noted that Jon Turton (JT) is the new Drifting Buoy Coordinator for the UKMO. TG should contact JT regarding renewing the participation of the UKMO in the IABP.
 

3.5.           IR will prepare a draft Letter of Intent (LOI) concerning the IABP plans with respect to the IPY.  This will be circulated to Participants for their urgent review as it must be sent to the ICSU IPY Planning Group by late July with copy to Dr. Edward Sarukhanian, the special adviser to the WMO Secretary General on IPY (see section 9 of the Minutes from the 14th Meeting).

 

Done. Magda Hanna (MH), IR and other Participants of the IABP submitted LOI to ICSU. This will be discussed more during the meeting in section 9. 

 

3.6.           IR will lead the development by Participants of a document describing the vision/mission, plans, gaps and challenges of the IABP. This document will be used to inform possible collaborators, potential new participants and other agencies of the IABP (see section 9 of the Minutes from the 14th Meeting).

 

Ongoing.

 

3.7.           IR will investigate the spatial resolution required by the operational and research communities (see section 10 of the Minutes from the 14th Meeting).

 

After reviewing the requirements established by the WMO and NOAA for meteorological and oceanographic observations (e.g. von Storch and Zwiers, 2001; and http://ioc.unesco.org/goos/docs/act_pl/act_pla2.htm ), it was determined that the IABP will strive for a spatial resolution of 250 km for the IABP buoy network.

 

3.8.           Coordinator will add a deployment log to the IABP web pages (see section 4.0).

 

Ongoing. IR noted that the logs are available, but they have not been put on the web yet.

 

3.9.           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.

 

Resolved. The MSC will participate 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.

 

The Coordinator’s  report is given in Attachment 4, and is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-15/Reports/Coord.ppt.

 

Discussion

 

IR noted that since Argos is now providing Multi-satellite data processing at no-cost, this may effectively double the amount of data collected by each Participant and thus increase Argos Automatic Distribution Service (ADS) costs.

 

Action Items:

  1. IR recommends that the Participants evaluate their need for Multi-satellite data processing.
  2. Etienne Charpentier (EC) suggested that the Coordinator write a letter to the DBCP and JTA recommending a reduction ADS charges due to the increase in data transmission associated with Multi-satellite service.

 

5.      Report from Data Buoy Co-operation Panel (DBCP) (E. Charpentier)

 

EC reported on the activities of the DBCP since the IABP-14 meeting. A status of global buoy programmes was presented. Details regarding current DBCP activities can be found at http://www.jcommops.org/.

 

This report is given in Attachment 5.

 

Discussion

 

Regarding the calibration procedures for buoys, it was noted that:

  1. Calibration of the buoy observation is difficult given the short time-lines between funding, building and deployment of the buoys.
  2. Instruments are rated by the manufacturers, are these ratings good enough?
  3. Knut Bjørheim (KB): Observations errors may be more related to buoy design (i.e. lack of thermistor shielding), than instrument accuracy.

 

 

The DBCP is working on establishing a metadata collection scheme that can be used by the buoy operators and the action groups. The scheme facilitates the work both for the manufacturers and those in charge of the deployments. The DBCP is inviting the IABP to participate in the scheme or to work out the details of regularly submitting IABP metadata to JCOMMOPS.

 

ACTION: It was decided that the IABP will rely on the buoy manufacturers to provide the metadata for each buoy to the DBCP, and that the Coordinator will facilitate this process.

 

EC invited the IABP to consider posting IABP news on the JCOMMOPS web-site including deployment updates, opportunities etc.

 

EC reported that NOAA/NESDIS invited buoy operators and the DBCP action groups to provide information on satellite data communication requirements through a simple requirements matrix that they are invited to fill in.

 

ACTION: IR will consult with Participants to fill out the matrix regarding IABP needs and provide the results to EC.

  

6.      Status Report on Membership and Letters of Intent (I. Rigor)

 

IR reported that Metocean has sent a LOI to TG and has been officially accepted as a Participant of the Programme. We officially list 23 Participants from 10 different countries, and one international organization, the WCRP.

 

The list of Participants is shown in Attachment 2 and updated on the web site.

 

7.      Status Reports from each Participant

 

7.1.     Alfred Wegener Institute – C. Haas

This report is given as Attachment 6 and the PowerPoint presentation is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-15/Reports/AWI.ppt.

 

7.2.     Environment Canada – E.T. Hudson

This report is given as Attachment 7 and the PowerPoint presentation is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-15/Reports/MSC.ppt.

 

7.3.     Marine Environmental Data Service – C. Schock (presented by E.T. Hudson)

This report is given as Attachment 8 and the PowerPoint presentation is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-15/Reports/MSC.ppt.

 

7.4.     Naval Oceanographic Office – E. Horton

 

NAVOCEANO, on behalf of CNMOC, deployed 7 IABP ICEX-AIR buoys in the Arctic in August 2004.  There were no equipment failures during the deployment.  The aircraft coordinator reported that the ice was in worse condition than the prior year.  The CNMOC agreement for aircraft support was renewed for another five years starting in February 2005.  Consequently, an aircraft has been secured for this year’s WHITE TRIDENT 05 and planning is well underway.     

 

 

7.5.     National Ice Center – M. Hanna

 

In 2004-2005 intercessional period, the U.S. Interagency Arctic Buoy Programme received fiscal support, manpower resources, and other services from six U.S. Government agencies.  

 

Accomplishments:

 

  1. Received three ICEX buoy contribution from NOAA Office of Global Programs.
  2. Received one IMB buoy contribution from NOAA NESDIS.
  3. NOAA Climate Transitions Program (NCTP) accepted joint proposal to support improvement of seasonal ice forecasting and improved ice thickness modeling using in situ observational data from IABP buoys.
  4. NSF proposal submitted for data coordination and management of IABP.

 

Challenges:

 

1.      ONR funding reduced by one half and then eliminated.  Need to seek out ways to fill this gap.

2.       Uncertainty with NASA continued funding.

 

Planned future activities:

  

1.      Offer buoy data on the web in GIS compatible shapefile format.

Maintain U.S. contribution of 3 ICEX and 1 IMB buoy for 2006.

 

the PowerPoint presentation is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-15/Reports/NIC.ppt.

 

 

7.6.     International Arctic Research Center – J. Hutchings

This report is given as Attachment 9 and the PowerPoint presentation is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-15/Reports/MSC.ppt.

 

 

7.7.   Christian Michelsen Research – A. Hageberg (presented by I. Rigor)

 

Research is currently celebrating their 75th Anniversary, and has built 7 buoys for this years WHITE TRIDENT deployments.

 

7.8.  Other Participant Reports – I. Rigor

 

7.8.1.     Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory has been working with PMEL and PSC to build and deploy IMB buoys. Five  IMB buoys were deployed last year. Nine more will be deployed this year.

 

7.8.2.     Institute of Ocean Sciences is working with WHOI, CRREL and PSC to deploy collocated ocean and IMB buoys from the CCG Louis St. Laurent.

 

7.8.3.     JAMSTEC currently has 1 JCAD buoys in the IABP array all of which are collocated with IMB buoys.  One JCAD was deployed last year at the NPEO. A JCAD and POPS buoy will be deployed from the Healy in the summer of 2005 as part of the large ADS site with a PSC/CRREL IMB buoy, and some GPS buoys from IARC.

 

The PowerPoint presentation is available on the web at http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/IABP-15/Reports/JAMSTEC.ppt.

 

 

7.8.4.     Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center – IR has been working with Stein Sandven to deploy SITHOS buoys, possibly co-locating a SITHOS buoy with an IMB.

 

7.8.5.     Norwegian Polar Institute currently has 1 ICEXAIR buoy in the IABP array, and funded the refurbishing of ICEXAIR 2415 (1905).

 

7.8.6.     Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory has been collaborating with the PSC to deploy weather stations, radiometer and IMB buoys at the NPEO, and to enhance the IABP through NOAA’s contributions to SEARCH.

 

7.8.7.     United Kingdom METOFFICE currently has 1 buoy reporting.

 

 

8.      New Business

 

8.1.              DBCP Meetings

 

DBCP-21 will be held on October 2005 in Buenos Aires. EH will represent the IABP at the meeting. ETH will prepare the report and updated brochures.

 

Thanks were given to ETH and EH for preparing and presenting last years report. The full text of this report is given in Attachment 10.

 

8.2.           Summary of Participant contributions

 

Contributions further the objectives of the IABP and are defined in the Operating Principles of the IABP, section 6.5.

 

The Participant contributions table is given in Attachment 11.

 

8.3.           Location of 16th meeting

 

The Participants were invited by CH to Bremerhaven, and IR will discuss the possibility of Toulouse, France with Christian Ortega. CH also invited the Participants to consider scheduling the meeting in conjunction with the DAMOCLES meeting in Paris, and will investigate this option.

 

PCC offered to host the 17th meeting at the National Ice Center.

 

The Coordinator will provide the options to all Participants to gain their perspectives on the preferred option.  The Executive and Coordinator will discuss the options and make a decision in the fall of 2005 and communicate to all Participants.

 

9.            New Directions

 

9.1.              Arctic Observing Systems [M. Hanna]

9.2.              International Polar Year [I. Rigor]

9.3.              GIS Shapefiles [M. Hanna]

9.4.              Development of Seasonal Ice Buoys [I. Rigor]