General

Dear IROWG community,

We are very happy to report that Hui Shao (NOAA/Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation) will be our next IROWG co-chair.

The official inauguration will take place at the OPAC-IROWG workshop in September.

Thank you to all who participated in the voting process.

And a very big THANK YOU to Sean Healy for his many years of service for the IROWG community!

Sean will still be heavily involved in the preparation of the OPAC-IROWG and CGMS workshops and
then gradually hand over to Hui.

Tony Mannucci
IROWG Rapporteur

Uli Foelsche
IROWG Co-chair

The DRAFT of the Full Minutes and Summary of the IROWG-7 Workshop
is available on IROWG-7 .

Thank you very much to all who contributed!

Please provide comments by May 3 latest, since this document (in particular
the first three pages) will be the basis for the IROWG report to CGMS.

We have also uploaded some CGMS documents under irowg.org/documents/
like the Vision for WIGOS in 2040 or a very recent CGMS Risk Assesment Review.
The RO-relevant part is here:
CGMS-48-WGIII risk assessment review – RO part   with some important
information highlighted in red.

You will notice that RO is a focus area, and that CGMS sees a
“Continuity risk for the number and geographic distribution of radio occultations; especially in the low- to mid- latitudes”     and a
“High risk of not meeting the commitment from low inclination orbits in the later part of the decade as there are no plans for a follow-on to COSMIC-2”   with
“Inconsistent coverage from polar and high inclination orbits throughout the period”

“An HLPP (High Level Priority Plan) objective already exists to advance the atmospheric Radio Occultation constellation, with the long-term goal of providing 20000 occultations per day on a sustained basis”

It seems that some of our recommendations have been heard …

IROWG

They are available here:

EUMETSAT ROM SAF – IROWG 2019 Konventum, Helsingør (Elsinore), Denmark

19 – 25 September 2019

http://www.romsaf.org/romsaf-irowg-2019/en/

Full Minutes and Summary of the IROWG-6 Workshop and Working paper for CGMS-46

are available on IROWG-6 .

Thank you very much to all who contributed!

IROWG

https://cpaess.ucar.edu/cosmic-10th-data-users-workshop-irowg-6-about

Please note that the deadline for the online booking (reserved block of rooms) is June 30, 2016.

Please proceed to online-booking, change to “English” (if needed) – and use the promotion code wegenercenter2016

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We are pleased to announce:

OPAC-IROWG 2016 International Workshop on Occultations for Probing Atmosphere and Climate
Joint OPAC-6 & IROWG-5 Workshop
September 8-14, 2016, Seggau Castle,
Leibnitz near Graz, Austria
http://wegcwww.uni-graz.at/opacirowg2016
https://irowg.org/workshops/irowg-5/

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An attractive forum for everybody interested in atmospheric remote sensing by occultation methods and/or the use of occultation data in atmospheric physics, chemistry, meteorology, and climate.
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The Joint OPAC-6 & IROWG-5 Workshop
will follow the objectives and the successful format of the OPAC series (see previous one at http://wegcwww.uni-graz.at/opacirowg2013).

The integrated 5th Workshop of the International Radio Occultation Working Group
(IROWG) will include working meetings. The permanent Working Group of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) focuses on the exchange of experiences in the exploitation of RO data for operational and research use.

Topical areas include:
+ Occultation methodology (generic aspects, math-phys basis, iono.
+ influences) Use of occultation data in atmospheric physics,
+ meteorology, and NWP Use of occultation data in climate monitoring and
+ research Specific occultation methods and related techniques (LEO,
+ stellar, solar/lunar, reflectometry) Occultations in ionosphere and
+ planetary science Future occultation missions

With growing impact and applications of radio occultation data and many exciting recent results from our community in different fields such as meteorology and climate science, it is just the right time to gather again.

You are cordially invited to join OPAC-IROWG 2016, the Joint OPAC-6 & IROWG-5 Workshop in Seggau Castle, Leibnitz near Graz, Austria, in September 2016.
Welcome!

U. Foelsche, A.K. Steiner, G. Kirchengast, (WEGC & IGAM UniGraz, AT), OPAC Chairs

S. Healy (ECMWF, Reading, UK), IROWG Co-Chair

A.J. Mannucci (JPL, Pasadena, USA), IROWG-CGMS Rapporteur

B. Kuo (UCAR, Boulder, USA), Co-Chair N. Yen (NSPO, Taipei, TW), Co-Chair

J. Wickert (GFZ Potsdam, DE), Co-Chair

A. von Engeln (EUMETSAT, DE), Co-Chair

The *2nd Announcement and Call for Papers* will follow by March 18, 2016, together with opening of our website http://wegcwww.uni-graz.at/opacirowg2016/.
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– Ulrich Foelsche

– Institute for Geophysics, Astrophysics, and Meteorology (IGAM)
– Institute of Physics, University of Graz
– Universitaetsplatz 5, 8010 Graz, Austria
– and
– Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change (WEGC)
– University of Graz
– Brandhofgasse 5, 8010 Graz, Austria

– Tel: +43-316-380-8590 or -8433
– Fax: +43-316-380-9825 or -9830
– E-mail: ulrich.foelsche@uni-graz.at

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