HEPEX Splinter Meeting at EGU 2013

What was discussed during the HEPEX Splinter Meeting at EGU in Vienna (11/04/2013)?

For several years now, a HEPEX meeting is held in Vienna during the EGU Assembly. It is a public meeting where ongoing issues on HEPEX and future directions are discussed. 25 people attended the meeting this year.

The main issues discussed were:

• HEPEX website: the new format for the HEPEX website was presented (the one you’re reading now!)

→ The website is now a place where people can be informed about HEPEX activities, ‘meet’ and discuss HEPEX topics through blog posts and comments.

•  HEPEX Experiments and test-beds: these activities aim to facilitate data and methods exchanges. The difference between experiments and test-beds (if differences exist!) is however still not clear. More information on what is going on (or what has been done) is needed.

→ People are encouraged to post blog entries on test-beds that were studied in the past (e.g., the verification test-bed including the development of the EVS, the Great-Lakes test-bed, etc.), as well as on new activities planned and ongoing experiments (see, for instance, the post on the current HEPEX Experiment on the intercomparison of streamflow post-processors).

•  Webinars: the aim of this new activity is to disseminate and communicate in-between meetings. The first webinars were given by J. Schaake on February and J. Verkade on March. W. Pozzi spoke on April and new speakers are programmed for May (M. Borga), June (D. Lavers), August (N. Voisin) and September (M. Zappa). ECMWF is hosting this activity.

→ The idea of webinars was very much appreciated. New speakers are always welcome! The contact person at ECMWF is Fredrik Wetterhall and updated information can be found here: webinars.

•  Science and Implementation Plan (SIP): how to plan HEPEX next decade?

→ Everybody is invited to contribute with summaries on HEPEX topics and new ideas for future directions. A HEPEX-SIP webpage is available here with specific information for those who want to participate. Everybody is welcome!

•  Handbook of Hydrometeorological Ensemble Forecasting: the proposal of an online (virtual) book has been submitted to Springer. Check here for more details and an outline of the preliminary content table.

→ It was suggested that a toolkit with softwares should be included. If you have any ideas, leave a comment here or contact the organizers!

•  New HEPEX activities: should we organize a HEPEX award and a HEPEX Summer School?

→ Participants of the meeting were not unanimously in favour of the establishment of a HEPEX award. More thought should be given to this issue.

→ However, the importance of a summer school was acknowledged. Femke Davids from Deltares kindly proposed to investigate the possibilities for funding and organizing a summer school in 2014. We hope to hear more about it soon!

• Other issues discussed:

→ Contribution of HEPEX to GEWEX activities: it was emphasized that HEPEX has two parts: short-term forecasting (out to 2 weeks) and seasonal forecasting. It would be interesting to have people from HEPEX contributing to GEWEX activities. Specifically, to have someone from HEPEX taking part of the GHP (Gewex Hydroclimatology Panel). E. Wood proposed to inform the community about GEWEX and its potential interactions with HEPEX to foster collaborations. We look forward to hearing more about it!

→ HEPEX and land-surface modelling topics should be more present in meteorological meetings (for instance, it was absent in the International Workshop on Seasonal to Decadal Prediction, held in Toulouse, France, 13–16 May 2013). Volunteers to look for upcoming meetings of that type, attend and organize sessions on land surface and hydrological prediction are welcome. Inform and involve the HEPEX community through this website!

• Future meetings of interest to HEPEX:

→ EMS Meeting 2013: High Impact Weather: Working in Partnerships to Reduce Risk, 09-13 Sep. 2013, Reading, UK.

→ 10 years of HEPEX 2004-2014: coming soon…

End of the meeting!