The annual meeting of the international Steering Committee (SC) for NDACC was held from October 17 to 21 in Bremen, Germany at the University of Bremen Guesthouse 'Teerhof'. Justus Notholt of the University of Bremen hosted the meeting.
The meeting began with a detailed report from the NDACC Data Host Facility (DHF) on the status of data archiving and on data utilization. This was followed by reports from the NDACC Instrument Working Groups (IWGs). As in the past, these reports highlighted IWG activities and/or meetings during the past year, summarized NDACC measurement and analysis activities and recent accomplishments, reviewed the status of proposals (received and pending) seeking NDACC measurement affiliation, and outlined possible new sites for consideration. While there are some cases where data archiving is not up to date, these are becoming smaller in number due to the proactive involvement of the various IWG Co-Chairs and the DHF Manager in contacting the people responsible for data submission from the various sites and assisting them in resolving any issues associated with such submission. The IWG Co-Chairs will continue to work with the DHF representative to reduce even further the number of cases of delinquent data archiving.
The Satellite Working Group updated the current international satellite inventory for atmospheric observations and their current and future validation needs, and indicated how NDACC data could be made more valuable for such activities, especially in the light of upcoming geostationary satellites. The Theory and Analysis WG presentation included a summary of the data files recently generated using chemistry transport models and their use for bridging the irregular space and time sampling of ground-based measurements and the global perspective. In addition this WG described how NDACC column measurements could be used to assess the credibility of residual circulation trends in reanalysis products. The NDACC Cooperating Network (CN) presentations focused on new CN activities and initiatives pertinent to NDACC interests and to possible future inter-network collaborations. The Water Vapor Measurement Strategy Theme Group provided an update on the strategy document, which includes lidar, microwave, and FTIR measurement capabilities as well as frost point sondes. The strategy document will be augmented with an appendix referring to results on past intercomparisons between measurement techniques. In particular the presentation stressed the importance of establishing realistic uncertainties in frost point data, data from the other NDACC water vapor instruments, and water vapor data from other networks. The Theme Group for Combining Trace Gas Data from NDACC and its Cooperating Networks presented a status report on Group’s activity (its near term priorities and the scientists who will be participating).
Other presentations at the meeting included:
- A summary of the article “the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change: 25 Years Old and Going Strong”, which was the feature article in the September-October 2016 issue of NASA’s Earth Observer Newsletter (see the associated Hot News item on this site),
- A report from the International Ozone Commission highlighting its objectives with an emphasis on the use of NDACC data in support of ozone science,
- An update on the Ozone Profile Trends activity under the Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) project of the World Climate Research Programme,
- A report about the Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR),
- A summary of the findings from the SPARC Report (No. 7) on the “Mystery of Carbon Tetrachloride” and suggestions regarding the associated need for continuing atmospheric observations,
- A status update for the SPARC activity on Stratospheric Sulfur and Its Role in Climate (SSiRC), and
- Ongoing and upcoming projects funded by the EU or ESA that are supporting NDACC, like GAIA-CLIM, QA4ECV, FRM4DOAS, FRM4GHG, CINDI-2, … Involvement of NDACC in the Year Of Polar Prediction (YOPP).
The SC was also treated to a number of excellent presentations on the research being conducted by local scientists and by SC members themselves. A complete list of these presentations can be accessed via the “Agenda” link provided above.
A number of miscellaneous discussions followed covering such items as changes and improvements to the NDACC web site, NDACC involvement in and data availability for various international projects, including ACTRIS and the Copernicus Services, and NDACC communications (including an introductory paper for the inter-journal Special Issue commemorating NDACC’s 25th year anniversary), future strategies and implementation, and updates to the various operational protocols for the network.
Possible venues for the 2017 and 2018 SC meetings were discussed and the decision was made to hold the 2017 meeting in Buenos Ares, Argentina coupled with a site visit to Rio Gallegos and the 2018 meeting in Boulder, CO. Consideration is being given to holding the 2019 meeting in Asia (possibly in China). Following the close of the meeting, many SC members visited the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven where they were given an overview of polar research and sea exploration activities and a tour of the ice laboratory. While in Bremerhaven they also had the opportunity to visit the Klimahaus (Climate House) and German Maritime Museums.