The "climate" for a season is commonly defined by the average and other statistics related to temperature or precipitation over a region for a prescribed three-month period. Despite the fact that the skill of scientifically based seasonal climate prediction has improved substantially over the past two decades, seasonal climate prediction still remains a scientific challenge. This is due to the complex nature of the problem and ever increasing demand of climate information from society. Routine seasonal climate prediction is now being attempted at a small number of forecast centers around the world. In 1998 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) proposed to establish Regional Climate Centers (RCCs），focusing on providing products of seasonal to interannual climate prediction for the national Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) of its members. The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has long recognized the need to build the capacity of the climate prediction. Building on the existing infrastructure and expertise of the National Climate Center in China, the CMA established the Beijing Climate Center (BCC) in 2003, in order to make the tailored climate forecast products that can contribute to the regional sustainable development in Asia.

 

The objective of this meeting is twofold. The first is to offer a review of the limitations and prospects of seasonal to interannual climate forecasting methodologies and systems. The second is to provide a platform to share the experience and forecasting products for Asia from the climate prediction centers around the world.

 

A two-day training course (April 7-8) and a one day workshop (April 9) will be organized. The three-day training course is intended for participants with strong skills in climate science and who are or will be in a position to work with climate predictions at their home institution. For this course, several internationally well known experts will be invited to give lectures. In addition, the participants will be given the opportunity to interact with the experts and to have discussions among themselves. Visit to the forecasting facilities at the CMA will be organized. For the workshop, the focus will be on presentation and discussion of the climate forecasting products for Asia (atmospheric circulation, temperature, precipitation and ENSO etc.). Both oral and poster presentations can be made at the workshop. An abstract should be submitted independent of the presentation form.

A updated program of the training course and workshop will be available at the BCC’s home page (http://bcc.cma.gov.cn/en/) soon. 

 

 

The workshop is organized and co-sponsored by the Beijing Climate Center of China Meteorological Administration, in collaboration with the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The sponsors cover meals and hotel costs for all participants during the training course and the workshop. Travel funds may be made available for some of the participants. There is no registration fee.

 

 

·        February 10, 2005: Issue first circular

·        March 10, 2005: Deadline for receipt of registration form

·        March 15, 2005: Issue second circular

·        March 30, 2005: Deadline for receipt of abstract

·        April 6, 2005: Registration in Beijing

 

The training course and the workshop will be held in Beijing, China at the Beijing Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration (BCC/CMA) from Thursday, April 7 through Saturday, April 9, 2005.

 

Beijing has a continental climate with clearly defined seasons. The weather in Beijing during the conference will be fairly pleasant, but it is generally dry and can be occasional windy. The average temperature is about 14.2℃. The mean maximum is 20℃ and minimum 7℃. The average precipitation during April is 21.4 mm with 4.6 days of rain.

 

Visas are required to enter to China. An official invitation letter for this application will be sent to those who have returned the Pre Registration Form.

 

Ms. Ying Jiang orMs. Yan Zhang

Division of Research and Services

National Climate Center

China Meteorological Administration     
46 South Zhongguancun Avenue
Haidian, Beijing 100081, China

Telephone : +86-010-68407166; +86-010-68400072

Fax : +86-010-68407166; +86-010-62176804

Email : jiangy@cma.gov.cn; zhangy@cma.gov.cn

 

Enclosure

 

April 7-9, 2005,  Beijing, China

 

Name:                                               

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Telephone Number (Office or Home):                  

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Title of Presentation: