Announcement

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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All,

As most of you know, Axel Von Engeln resigned as IROWG Co-Chair during IROWG-4 in Melbourne in April.  Axel served IROWG and did much of the heavy lifting for us for many years.  His support in establishing and determining the direction of this group was appreciated by all of us, and helped put us on the map with CGMS and WMO as well as RO scientists worldwide, and we will miss his leadership.  The news I have is that I have also decided to resign.  The result is, we need to identify 2 new co-chairs for IROWG.  After conferring with chairs from the other CGMS groups and discussing this with management who appointed me to this position, we have decided to follow the method that International TOVS Working Group (ITOVS) has been using for many years – democratic process via email.  The requirements for this position are:

1.  Reasonable knowledge and experience in the field of GNSS Radio Occultation
2.  Time and funding to devote to performing duties as a IROWG co-chair – including some minimal travel
3.  Willing to serve for up to 5 years
4.  Backing of a member country/agency for some minimal support for the IROWG Working Group Meetings (desired)

Tony Mannucci and I are going to request that if you would like to be considered for IROWG co-chair, that you send your request to be nominated to Tony (email: anthony.j.mannucci at jpl.nasa.gov) by August 31, 2015.  The list of self nominees will then be vetted to assure nominees meet above requirements.  Pending a sufficient number of nominees, we plan to request that IROWG members vote for the 2 nominees of their choice via email.

Best Regards

Dave Ector, Chair, IROWG with

Tony Mannucci, Rapporteur