The ECMWF annual seminar took place from 1 to 4 September. The title of this year's seminar was: "Parametrization of sub-grid physical processes".
The ECMWF annual seminar took place from 1 to 4 September. The title of this year's seminar was: "Parametrization of sub-grid physical processes".
It is generally recognized that parametrized processes play a key role in atmospheric models on all time and space scales. However, great uncertainty still exists about how to represent these processes in large scale models. An overview of the research area was given by 15 external and 4 internal speakers.
The seminar was very well attended by 80 scientists, mainly from Member States. A number of speakers noted that it was an exciting time for young scientists to start working in this area of research, given the new tools and observations that have become available recently. High resolution models now exist that can explicitly resolve cloud motion and can be used to study convection and its organization in large domains. Data from many field campaigns are available or becoming available to support verification and process studies. For instance, the Centre will make one year's operational data available for diagnostics during the Year of Tropical Convection. Observational techniques, such as space born and surface based radar and lidar, have unprecedented capabilities for verification of large scale models and for process studies.
More information can be found on the web, where also all presentations are posted.