Minutes of Committee Meeting in Dallas
January 13, 1999

Attendees: Buz Bernstein, Marie Colton (incoming Chair), Tracy Deliberty,Ralph Ferraro, George Frederick (AMS President Elect), Jeff Hawkins,Ron Issaacs, David Johnson,Tom Lee (ex-official), Jim Purdom (ex-official), Rick Rosen (STAC Commissioner), Eric Smith (ex-official), Chris Velden.

Gary Jedlovec welcomed everyone and introduced new members. He briefly discussed the agenda and then asked Jeff Hawkins to provide an update on the precipitation short course, which was held on the previous Sunday.

Old Business

1. Short Course on Precipitation - Hawkins

   Jeff Hawkins reported that the instructors did a wonderful job. Detail course notes were provided to the 25 participants. Many of the short course lectures were also made available on-line through the Satellite Committees homepage. Joanne Simpson provided a wonderful luncheon talk about the success of TRMM. The Chair thanked Jeff for his help in organizing the short course and that it was his Jeff's leadership that made it a success. The Chair urged the Committee to forego a short course for January of 2000 in Long Beach because of the activities associated with running our Satellite Conference. He also stated that he would take the lead on conducting an assessment of the four short courses run by the Committee over the last three years.

2. Satellite Committee Webpage - Jedlovec

   Gary Jedlovec discussed the status of the web page and the need for someone to take over its development. It was suggested that this duty stay with the Committee Chair, and in-coming Chair, Marie Colton, indicated that one of her staff could maintain it. The web page is a much used resource for information about the Committee's activities and weather satellites in general and is used by both the Committee members and the scientific community.

3. Current Operational and Research Weather Satellites News - Velden

   Chris Velden reported on a previous initiative to provide information and links to web sites that provide the status of current operational and research weather satellites. A new page has been developed and is linked to the Committees home page for this purpose. While this is a start, there may be a need for further refinement and maintenance of the page by someone closer to the operational community.

Scheduled New Business

1. Positive Feedback On "All-Poster" Format At 9th Satmet Conference In Paris Colton

   For those who could not attend the 9th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography this past summer in Paris, Marie Colton gave an overview of the conference with particular emphasis on the structure of the technical proceedings. The conference venue was changed to an "all poster" format which was very well received. Issues with respect to "no-shows" and use of poster space were discussed. George Frederick added that he had had also heard good things about the format.

2. Annual AMS Meeting News - Frederick/Rosen

   Rick Rosen and George Frederick provided some insight to Conferences and Annual Meetings from their respective positions. Rick Rosen indicated that the AMS was reviewing the effectiveness of their conferences and had asked Marie Colton to sit on a new committee to review this. He also said the AMS is learning from the Satellite Committee, which is taking a bold, cutting edge approach to recent conferences. George Frederick added that the AMS is reviewing the structure of its annual meetings as part of the AMS's 10-year vision study. He also reported that the Annual Meeting in Long Beach (2000) will be focused around environmental applications, which should fit it well with recent initiatives in satellite meteorology and remote sensing.

3. Miscellaneous - Jedlovec

   Numerous items were discussed under new business. Gray Jedlovec reported on several items from the STAC meeting (head of all the AMS technical committees) on Monday. The first was that the theme of the AMS Annual Meeting next year in Long Beach would be "environmental applications" and that the Second Symposium on Environmental Applications would be held during that time. Second, Jeff Kimball (AMS President Elect) said that the 2001 Annual Meeting would be held in Albuquerque on January 14-19th with a "societal impacts" theme. The Annual Meetings after that will be held in Orlando and then Long Beach again in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Thirdly, there was some discussion of the new AMS Student Fellowship Program to get students to attend the AMS Annual Meetings and the $1500 Committee discretionary fund to support students as well. Finally, Eric Wood brought up for the second year in a row the idea of an abstract submittal fee to be used to prevent "no-shows" at conferences. Although this concept is interesting, AMS is cool to the idea because it is logistical difficult to collect this fee.

New Business from the floor

1. 10th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography- Ferraro

   The Committee Chair then turned the floor over to Ralph Ferraro for a discussion of the current plans for the 10th Conference on Satellite Meteorology to be held with the Annual Meeting in Long Beach in 2000. Ralph had previously volunteered to be the Program Chair for this conference supported by Tracy Deliberty, Ron Issaacs, Buz Bernstein, Gary Jedlovec, Marie Colton, and David Johnson who will serve on the program committee. He indicated that a preliminary "Call for Papers" had been given to AMS with 5 general topical headings and that the call could be modified in the coming issues to include details on the structure of the program. After much discussion on the format of the conference, the Committee decided to go with a venue similar to that at the Ninth Conference in Paris. In preliminary discussions with the AMS, Gary Jedlovec had been assured that the AMS would accommodate our requirements for the meeting. George Frederick assure all in attendance of his support as well. Ralph was to attend a meeting on Thursday with AMS to discussion planning for 2000 in Long Beach. Ralph would update the program committee in a future email or conference call.

2. 2000 And Beyond - Jedlovec

   Gary Jedlovec led a discussion on planning for conferences beyond 2000. Numerous members of other Committees with interest in a joint conference with Satellite had approached him. Bob Rauber, representing the Cloud Physics Committee spoke of the synergy between current focuses in the cloud physic community and that of satellite remote sensing. He suggested a joint conference around 2002. Chris Velden made the offer to bring the 11th Satellite Conference to the new Conference Center in Madison, Wisconsin in summer or fall of 2001. After much discussion and motivated by a desire to keep an approximate 18 month interval between our Conferences, the Committee voted to go ahead with preliminary plans to look at holding the 11th Conference in October of 2001 in Madison, Wisconsin. Chris Velden and Marie Colton would work with AMS for this advanced planning. Tom Lee added that the Education Committee had approached him for a joint Conference as well. The Satellite Committee Chair, Gary Jedlovec, said that with the new conference format, which may continue beyond 2000, it might be difficult to have joint conferences unless the group that joints the Satellite Conference conforms to our venue. He also suggested that it might be easier for the Satellite Committee to sponsor a joint day with another conference and encourage participation from the satellite community and to participate in the planning for that day. This concept is currently being discussed with the Coastal Meteorology Committee.

3. Other News - Jedlovec

   The Chair reported that the AMS's interest in a second statement has been put on hold. It seems that the access to data issue, which were of concern, transcends the satellite community and the AMS is unsure how to proceed at the present time.

   Jim Purdom before leaving his ex-official status on the Committee wanted to share several items with the current Committee. He encouraged Committee balance in representation of the satellite community and was pleased with the success of the short courses conducted over the last few years. He also encouraged the Committee to develop and support a 40th anniversary celebration of operational satellites at the AMS and Satellite Meeting in Long Beach.

   Gary Jedlovec indicated that the Committee's nomination for the Remote Sensing Lecturer lost out in the running, but that the Committee was encouraged to try again next year since the nominee had received sufficient votes in this years balloting.

   The Chair then open the floor to anyone who wanted to address the committee. Buz Bernstein indicated that he enjoyed being on the Committee and would still provide local support for the Conference in Long Beach. He also encouraged the Committee to invite more oceanographers to be part of the Satellite group. David Johnson talked about the refinement of terms and acronyms for the revised Glossary of Meteorology and about a desire to put the information on the Committee's home page.

   The Chair indicated that at the end of the month the terms of five current Committee members would expire. The terms of two of those members (Marie Colton and Ralph Ferraro) will be renewed for another 3 years. Dan Berkenheuer of CIRA/FSL in Boulder, Larry Di Girolamo of the University of Illinois, and Ken Holmlund of EUMETSAT will replace the terms of Gary Jedlovec, Buz Bernstein, and Joe Schmetz. The Chair was confident that these new members would make significant contributions during their 3-year terms. Gary Jedlovec will remain on the Committee in an ex-official status and Marie Colton will assume oversight duties as the new Chair.