Annual Report 2000
The period covered is January 1 to December 31, 2000

AMS Committee on Tropical Meteorology and Tropical Cyclones
Prepared by Chris Landsea, December 2000

1. Committee Meetings
---------------------
The committee met at the 24th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical
Meteorology. Committee business was also accomplished through email and
telephone conferencing.

2. AMS Scientific/Technical Meetings Arranged Or Sponsored
----------------------------------------------------------
The 24th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology took place
from 29 May to 2 June 2000 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The conference -
attended by nearly 400 people - was held in conjunction with the 10th
AMS Conference on Interaction of the Sea and Atmosphere and several joint
sessions were held between the two meetings. Highlights of the Conference
included:

----- oral presentations by over 300 people in 26 individual and 6 joint sessions
----- a debate on the topic: "What Limits the Intensity of Individual
Hurricanes: Thermodynamics or Dynamics?" featuring Kerry Emanuel and
Bill Gray with Mark DeMaria moderating (Picture)
----- a luncheon poster session with around 70 presenters
----- a second debate in conjunction with the AMS Interaction of the Sea and
Atmosphere Conference on the topic: "Is There Skill in Forecasting El
Nino and La Nina Events?" featuring Bob Livezey and John Knaff with
Dave Enfield moderating (Picture)
----- at the conference banquet we announced the l4th Banner Miller Award for
"an outstanding contribution to the science of hurricane and tropical
weather forecasting":
Chris Velden, Tim Olander, Steve Wanzong (University of Wisconsin-
Madison, NOAA/Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite
Studies) and Ray Zehr (NOAA/Cooperative Institute for Research in the
Atmosphere) (Picture) "for two outstanding contributions on satellite techniques
that address tropical cyclone intensity and track prediction problems
published during the years 1996-1999: 'The impact of multispectral
GOES-8 wind information on Atlantic tropical cyclone track forecast in
1995 (Part I: Dataset methodology, description and case analysis)'
(MWR, Vol. 126) and 'Development of an objective scheme to estimate
tropical cyclone intensity from digital geostationary infrared imagery'
(WF, Vol. 13)."
----- the conference banquet speaker was Pete Davies, author of the book
_Inside the Hurricane_ on the impacts of Hurricane Mitch and his
perspective on current hurricane research and forecasting and the people
involved in this work (Picture1) (Picture2)
----- a panel discussion on the topic: "How can we improve forecasting
rainfall amounts for U.S. landfalling tropical cyclones and
communicating this information to the public?" with participants
Gary Barnes (moderator), Ed Rappaport, Frank Marks, Steve Lyons,
Bob Tuleya, Neil Stuart, Bill Frank, Kent Frantz and Kevin Mccarthy (Picture)
----- the conference concluded with the announcement of the Max Eaton Prize
for the best student presentation: James P. Kossin of Colorado State
University for his paper "Observational evidence for horizontal mixing
in the hurricane near-core" (Picture)
----- the conference committee were Chris Landsea-chair, Steve Feuer,
Jim Goerss, Harry Hendon, Arlene Laing and Richard Pasch (Picture)

Recommendations for improvements for the next AMS Hurricanes and Tropical
Meteorology Conference are forthcoming.

3. Proposed Future Scientific/Technical Meetings
------------------------------------------------
It has been proposed to have the next AMS Hurricanes and Tropical
Meteorology Conference in Mexico/Central America sometime in late
April/early May 2002. The exact location and date have yet to be
determined. Harry Hendon is the conference chair.

4a. Notes On Other Committee Activities: AMS Statements
--------------------------------------------------------
The committee completed a revision of the AMS Statement on Hurricane
Research and Forecasting, (Adopted by the Council 14 February 2000) and
published in the _Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society_, 2000,
volume 81, pages 1341-1346. Chris Landsea was the committee liaison.

4b. Notes On Other Committee Activities: Changes In Committee Membership
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Raymond and T.N. Krishnamurti will be completing their three year
term of committee membership at the end of January 2001. T.N. Krishnamurti
will be stepping down and Johnny Chan is being nominated to take his
place for a three year term. David Raymond is being nominated for a second
three year term to facilitate his involvement on the conference committee
for the meeting in 2002. Jenni Evans will be completing her ex-officio
role at the end of January 2001.

5. Recommendations, problems, issues
------------------------------------
Recommendations for improvements for the next AMS Hurricanes and Tropical
Meteorology Conference are forthcoming.