Annual Report 2002
The period covered is January 1 to December 31, 2002.
AMS Committee on Tropical Meteorology and Tropical Cyclones
Prepared by Chris Landsea, January 2003.
1. Committee Meetings
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The committee met at the 25th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical
Meteorology (see attached photo) - from left to
right: Prof. Johnny
Chan, Dr. Noel Davidson, Prof. Liz Ritchie, Dr. Dominique Moeller, Prof.
Dave Raymond, Dr. Mark Lander, Mr. Yale Schiffman [AMS], Dr. Chris
Landsea, Dr. Rick Rosen [AMS], Dr. Harry Hendon, Dr. Lixion Avila,
Ms. Claudia Gorski [AMS] and Ms. Marjorie Huntington [AMS]). Committee
business was also accomplished through email and telephone conferencing.
2. AMS Scientific/Technical Meetings Arranged Or Sponsored
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The 25th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology took
place from 29 April to 3 May, 2002 in San Diego, California. The
conference was attended by about 400 people. Highlights of the
Conference included:
- oral presentations by over 350 people in 57 plenary and parallel
sessions over four and a half days
- plenary talks at the opening session by Prof. Bill Gray, Dr. Gerry
Bell, Prof. Peter Webster and Prof. Kerry Emanuel
- a poster session with around 60 presenters
- at the conference's opening we announced the l5th Banner Miller Award
for "an outstanding contribution to the science of hurricane and
tropical weather forecasting":
Dr. Mark DeMaria and Mr. John Kaplan for the first ever model-
based skillful operational intensity forecasts of tropical
cyclones documented in their two papers - "An updated statistical
hurricane intensity prediction scheme (SHIPS) for the Atlantic
and Eastern North Pacific basins (WAF, Vol. 14)" and "On the
decay of tropical cyclone winds after landfall in the New
England area (JAM, Vol. 40)"
- the conference banquet was held on a ship that toured around
beautiful San Diego Bay for the evening
- a panel discussion on the Subtropical/Hybrid Cyclones, organized by
Mr. Gary Padgett. Speakers at this event were Mr. David Roth,
Dr. Jack Beven, Mr. Jeff Callaghan and Dr. Mark Lander
- the conference concluded with the announcement of the Max Eaton Prize
for the best student presentation: Mr. Matt Eastin of Colorado State
University for his paper "Observational analysis of buoyancy in
intense hurricane eyewalls". Dr. Jim Kossin coordinated the judging
of the Max Eaton Prize candidates.
- the conference committee were Dr. Harry Hendon - Chair, Dr. Lixion
Avila, Prof. Dave Raymond, Prof. Liz Ritchie.
Dr. Harry Hendon will be summarizing comments from the conference attendees and making recommendations for future conferences and chairs.
The Committee also hleped to arrange and run the Hurricane Forecasting short course at the AMS Broadcast Meteorology Conference in Williamsburg, VA. Stacy Stewart of the National Hurricane Center and Chris Lansea of the Hurricane Research Division taught the course for several dozen attendees on June 24th, 2002.
3. Proposed Future Scientific/Technical Meetings
------------------------------------------------
Our committee proposed and organized the "Simpsons Symposium", a
two-day review and celebration of the careers of Drs. Joanne and Bob
Simpson. This will take place at the AMS Annual Meeting in Long
Beach, California on February 12-13, 2003. Prof. Liz Ritchie and
Dr. Joe Golden are the chairs and organizing committee for this
event.
The next AMS Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology Conference (the 26th)
will be in Miami Beach at the Radisson Deauville Hotel on April 26-30,
2004. Dr. Lixion Avila is the chair of the meeting.
Drs. Harry Hendon and Chris Landsea surveyed the attendees of the
2002 conference to determine possible major changes to the format of
the conference. After soliciting email comments and taking a vote
of the community, two opinions dominated: 1) no major change in the
conference format (i.e. keep the format of oral presentation by most of
the attendees), and 2) split the conference into a "Hurricanes
Conference" (every even year) and a "Tropical Meteorology, Climate
and
Oceanography" (every odd year). After a second round of voting, the
tropical community was nearly evenly split on the issue. This
committee made the decision to keep the status quo currently and to
continue the primarily oral presentation format every two years
keeping all tropical topics in the same conference.
4. Changes In Committee Membership
-----------------------------------
Dr. Lixion Avila has been nominated to get an additional term on the
committee as he will be chair of the next AMS Hurricanes and Tropical
Meteorology Conference. Dr. Noel Davidson, Prof. Liz Ritchie and
Dr. Chris Landsea are stepping down from the committee after completing
their terms. They are being replaced by Dr. Sim Aberson, Prof. Sytske
Kimball and Dr. Yukari Takayabu. Dr. Harry Hendon will be chair of the
committee. Dr. Chris Landsea will serve as an Ex Officio member during
2003.
5. AMS Statements
-----------------
The committee did not revise or provide any new AMS Statements. The
AMS Statement on Hurricane Research and Forecasting, which was adopted
by the Council 14 February 2000, is still relatively current.
6. Communication
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This committee communicates with the community via emails to the
attendees of the San Diego conference. The committee also maintains
a website at:
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/AMSHomepage.htm
