The Training Bulletin

Joint newsletter related to new activities and resources
in international meteorological training

// Issue VII - June 2016

Activities & events
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The EUMeTrain Course on Synoptic and Mesoscale Analysis of Satellite Image

4 Oct - 2 Dec 2016 / Online; 28 Nov - 2 Dec 2016 / Langen

This is a blended course — nine topics during the online phase (asynchronous self study); live presentations and a one week classroom phase.

The classroom phase will take place from 28 November to 2 December 2016 at the training centre of the DWD in Langen.

There are two ways you can join this course: as an only online participant or as a participant in both the online phase and the classroom phase. This way we hope to enable more people to join the course.

Seven trainers will contribute to the online part. Fve will attend the classroom phase in Langen, in order to teach the students, and to guide them through the exercises and group work.

During previous courses many students were very active in the forum, yielding an intense exchange of experiences and ideas. We hope to achieve this positive result again this year. To see how much the students have learned during the lessons, students will have to do their homework and quizzes, and at the end of the classroom phase take a final test.

Application deadline is June 22nd. More information and a course application form can be found on EUMeTrain and Eumetacall webpage.

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Join CALMet Online 2016

May - October 2016 / Online

In the context of the CALMet Online 2016 workshop, hydro-meteorological trainers from around the world get together to share news and practices with experts in their field.

The event, held throughout the year, started in May with a set of bilingual webinars (English and Spanish) on the topic of making training sessions more active, followed by a second session in June on ‘Gamification’. In this session, experts Brad Snyder (EC/Meteorological Service of Canada) and Tsvetomir Ross-Lazarov (COMET, USA) discussed the effectiveness of using games as learning tools and ways of improving learner retention.

Future sessions will further explore the use of different existing and emerging tools for supporting the training of meteorologists.

To join, go to the EUMETSAT Training Zone and create an account. You can then join future CALmet sessions, plus access recordings and other materials from past sessions.

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Eumetcal Workshop 2016

10 - 13 Oct 2016 / Langen

The XI Eumetcal Workshop is an appointment trainers and learners in meteorology cannot miss. This year it will be held in Langen, Germany, from 10-13 October 2016, and kindly hosted by Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD).

The title of the workshop is Developing communication capabilities for meteorological and climate services.

As the title suggests, this year we will be focusing on a largely unexplored topic within the meteorological community: how communication capabilities of weather and climate services are changing and how to make sure the training we provide meets the changing requirements.

The choice of this topic was motivated by the fact that national weather and climate services across Europe are moving towards providing impact-based weather and climate services. This requires a change in emphasis in the way services are implemented and in customer/meteorological service communication. In addition, the operational competencies adopted at the last WMO Congress all address communication.

The deadline for registration is 2 September. The deadline for submission of abstracts/proposals is 25 August. Links to registration and proposal submission forms, additional details and information are available on the workshop site.

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Join the Expert Exchange on EUMETSAT's Copernicus Marine Data Stream

31 Oct - 11 Nov / Online; 29 - 30 Nov / Oostende, Belgium

The Expert Exchange workshop will provide information on the products and data formats of the Copernicus Marine Data Stream (CMDS), to enable researchers and others to quickly adopt these data. It will also discuss outreach priorities.

The main focus of the workshop will be on Ocean Colour, Sea Surface Temperature, Sea Surface Height, Wind and Waves. Participants will be able to talk to product development experts and provide feedback on the products provided in the data stream.

Main objectives:

• Promote the CMDS, focusing on Ocean Colour, SST and Altimetry Products.
• Encourage experts to use the products from the CMDS.
• Provide first-hand information on the CMDS.
• Identify/discuss potential applications.
• Identify potential users.
• Identify (differing) training needs of the user groups.
• Meet and exchange with other experts in the field to strengthen and widen personal networks.

Costs: No workshop fees. EUMETSAT will pay for accommodation and onsite catering. Limited travel funds are available upon request.

Attendance: By invitation. If you're interested in attending, please send an email to Copernicus.Training@eumetsat.int.

Deadline for registration: 5 September 2016.

 

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EUMETSAT will run its first MOOC

24 Oct – 25 Nov 2016 / Online

This autumn, EUMETSAT will run its first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the theme of monitoring the oceans from space.

The MOOC is aimed at a general audience and will give an introduction to the benefits and potential uses of satellite-based ocean observations collected in the framework of the EU Copernicus Programme. It will explain how to access and use marine Earth observation data and information from Copernicus/EUMETSAT missions, and also the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS).

The course will be run entirely online, over five weeks, with three hours of study a week involving an interactive mix of videos, written information and exercises. It will be hosted on the FutureLearn platform.

Follow a MOOC

You can find out more about MOOCs on the following websites: FutureLearn, Coursera or MOOC List.

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Agrometeorological workshop

9 – 10 November 2016 / LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA

The workshop is aimed at agrometeorologists from Central and Southern European countries, where agrometeorology plays a significant role in providing guidance for farming and agriculture. It is organised by the National Meteorological Service of Slovenia, part of the Slovenian Environment Agency, through the budget of the Tromp foundation. The workshop program is still open to suggestions, giving interested parties the chance to provide points of view, influence the content, and possibly take part in it.

The purpose of this workshop is to:

• enhance networking among agrometeorologists;
• share examples of good practice in providing agrometeorological services;
• define gaps in knowledge and existing practices;
• collect recommendations for future research, development and networking.

More detailed information will soon follow; in the meantime we invite interested people to get in touch now. Contact Tanja Cegnar, email: tanja.cegnar@gov.si

 

// Issue VII - June 2016
Resources & Tools
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Conceptual model of Bora in SatManu

Online Manual

In the wind section of the satellite manual SatManu, there is a new conceptual model on Bora. Bora, or bura, is a gusty, northeasterly, downslope wind that often occurs along the eastern Adriatic coast, at the leeward side of the Dinaric Alps.

Bora blows from the north east quadrant over the coastal mountains, which are approximately 1000 m high, usually bringing colder and relatively drier air to the Adriatic. In strong Bora episodes hourly mean wind speeds often surpass 20 m/s, with gusts reaching up to 50, or even 65 m/s. Severe Bora with maximum gusts exceeding 40 m/s may appear along the entire Adriatic coast, but its duration and frequency generally decrease from north to south.

Bora significantly affects the dynamics of currents in the Adriatic Sea. It causes difficulties with aviation as well as land and marine traffic: in most cases it has an unfavourable impact on agriculture.

To get more information and an in depth view of Bora, please visit EUMeTrain’s SatManu page.

 

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MET-LEARNING.EU

Moodle platform

The Eumetcal Moodle on the site http://www.eumetcal.org/courses will be closed at end of June. All past courses and working areas are now available on the new Moodle platform named Met Learning.

The new platform is fully operational and enables self-registration. User accounts have been transferred to it.

The Eumetcal learning platform has been outsourced to a commercial host with a very solid and long experience in e-learning technologies and methodologies. This means Eumetcal will benefit from a very reliable platform and, more importantly, a series of additional plugins and features which enhance the quality of the service. The new Moodle uses a theme called ‘SNAP’, designed to also work well on tablets and mobile devices.

The Eumetcal technical infrastructure upgrade, that started in 2016, currently includes The Training Portal and the Moodle learning area (Met Learning).

You might be interested in the Met Learning description

 

// Issue VII - June 2016
Stories & Achievements
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Environment Event Week 2016

11 - 15 Apr 2016 / Online

An event week on topics related to environmental meteorology was organized by EUMeTrain in April.

The series of lectures started with a presentation from Oleg Dubovik on the GRASP algorithm which was developed to retrieve the properties of atmospheric aerosols from various satellite instruments. Tommi Bergman (FMI) complemented this topic with a talk about aerosol climate models. Rüdiger Lang from EUMETSAT focused on the pollution aspect of atmospheric aerosols and trace gases.

Dust and fires was another focal point of the environment week, with presentations on African dust by Kerstin Schepanski (TROPOS) and on Asian dust, by Yonho Park from South Korea. Mike Willmott and Lee-Ann Simpson reported on the challenges forecasters are facing when they have to predict the risks for extended wildfires in Australia and South Africa.

Volcanic ash clouds, PyroCumulonimbus, and soil moisture measurements from satellites were additional topics covered during the event week.

Each session was recorded and can be downloaded here.

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Advanced SEEMET Training Course on Flash floods and Floods

19 - 21 Apr 2016 / Slovenia, Ljubljana

The first advanced SEEMET (South-Eastern Europe Meteorological Training) workshop was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 19–21,April. It was organised by the Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO), with support from EUMETSAT and Eumetcal. Thirty meteorological and hydrological forecasters participated. They came from Albania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

There was a broad selection of topics — from satellite products and hydrological models to issuing warnings and media interaction.

However, the most important part of the workshop was the interaction between students of international services. By presenting their own ways of working, participants got fresh ideas on how to improve the functionalities of national services.

The next advanced course will be held in Croatia in Spring 2018. The main topic is still to be decided.

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International Summer School on Applications with Newest Multispectral Environmental Satellites

6 - 15 June 2016 / Bracciano, Italy

The Bracciano satellite summer school has become a tradition. As well as some of the best teachers, Jochen Kerkmann and Ralph Benartz, but wonderful scenery.

There is a lot of ground to cover so the pace of the training is quite intense and some pre-knowledge is required. Students at the 2016 summer school were from many different backgrounds: forecasters in general and aviation meteorology, model programmers, climatologists and even physicists. Therefore, pre-reading material was provided.

Each day two classes were held, one in the morning, another in the afternoon. To get a better understanding of the lectures, after each session students did McIDAS labs in pairs and after the labs were finished, everyone went through the results together.

Another good part were lab helpers — students of previous summer schools. This way if you had technical problem or a scientific question, there was always a friendly face to help out.

This is a great way to learn, meet new people in similar scientific fields, and have fun doing it.