NATO Advanced Study Institute Data Assimilation for the Earth System 19th May - 1st June 2002 Hotel Villa del Mare, Acquafredda, Maratea, Italy

This NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Data Assimilation for the Earth System is a high-level teaching activity where the subject of Data Assimilation is treated in depth by lecturers of international standing.

Data Assimilation is the key technique used to derive the maximum benefit from measurements of the Earth System. This technique is central to the production of operational weather forecasts, and is becoming increasingly important in a range of other Earth Science disciplines.

The first half of the ASI gave the students a thorough grounding in the theoretical basis of data analysis, together with the basics of meteorology and oceanography, how observations are made, and how numerical models are used to simulate various aspects of the earth system. In the second half, the students were taught how these concepts are applied in various disciplines, for example: operational weather forecasting, oceanography, atmospheric chemistry and other earth sciences. The students were given a sense of the cutting edge of the applications of data assimilation, together with some more advanced theory.

The lectures were complemented by a set of computer-based practical sessions, to help the students explore the concepts taught in the lectures. Software used during the computer practicals is now available here, for ASI students and others who wish to explore simple data assimilation systems.

Proceedings of the ASI are being published by Kluwer academic publishers as a book Data Assimilation for the Earth System, edited by R. Swinbank, V. Shutyaev and W. Lahoz. Publication is expected in September 2003.

Steve Cohn, Data Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD, USA

Pierre Gauthier, Environment Canada, Dorval, Canada

Keith Haines, Environmental Systems Science Centre, Reading University, UK

Paul Houser, Hydrological Services Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD, USA

Boris Khattatov, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder CO, USA

William Lahoz, Data Assimilation Research Centre, University of Reading, UK

Peter Lynch, Met Eireann (Irish Meteorological Service), Dublin, Ireland

Nancy Nichols, University of Reading, UK

Alan O'Neill, Data Assimilation Research Centre, University of Reading, UK

Oleg Pokrovsky, Main Geophysical Institute, St Petersburg, Russia

Ricky Rood, Earth and Space Data Computing Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD, USA

Victor Shutyaev, Institute of Numerical Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Richard Swinbank, NWP Division, Met Office, Bracknell, UK

Olivier Talagrand, Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France

Jean-Noel Thepaut, European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, Reading, UK

The ASI has now taken place, and was attended by 60 students and 3 teaching assistants, as well as the 15 lecturers listed above.

The NATO science web-site can be found at http://www.nato.int/science.

Dr Richard Swinbank, Met Office, UK, co-Director

Prof Victor Shutyaev, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia, co-Director

Dr Olivier Talagrand, LMD, France

Prof Alan O'Neill, DARC, UK

Dr Boris Khattatov, NCAR, USA

Dr William Lahoz, DARC, UK

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation)

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

DARC (NERC Data Assimilation Research Centre)

CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales)

Additional support from ACD, NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research)