First annual PCAPS Steering Group Meeting held in Hobart
The first annual Steering Group (SG) meeting for the Polar Coupled Analysis and Prediction for Services (PCAPS) Project was held at the Bureau of Meteorology’s Office in Hobart, Australia from 15 to 19 March 2024. The SG reviewed and significantly updated the draft version of the PCAPS Project Plan, which serves as the guiding framework for the PCAPS project. The SG also meet with a number of stakeholders to discuss their needs and uses for polar environmental services.
Group photo of the PCAPS-SG in Hobart. Photo: Phil Reid. From left to right: Nico Caltabiano, David Bromwich, Daniela Liggett, Jørn Kristiansen, Vicki Heinrich, Jelmer Jeuring, Paola Rodriguez Imazio, Linus Magnusson, Maciel Lamers, Jeff Wilson, Clare Eyres, Gunilla Svensson. On-screen, from left to right: Chris Davis, Barbara Casati, Gita Ljubicic, Dina Abdel-Fattah.
The first PCAPS-SG annual meeting was kindly hosted by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) in Hobart, Australia, from 15 to 19 March 2024. This meeting was preceded by a three-day Antarctic Numerical Weather Predication (NWP) Coupled Modelling and Process Workshop, which informed some of the discussions at the PCAPS-SG meeting.
The first day of the PCAPS-SG meeting included an interactive face-to-face and online stakeholder meeting with breakout sessions to explore stakeholder perspectives on legal, operational, and environmental challenges in planning for, and decision-making during, human activities in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean.
One of the main focuses of the first PCAPS-SG meeting was to refine the draft PCAPS Project Plan, which had been circulated to participants prior to the meeting. The SG were supported during the meeting by Chris Davis, Chair of the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) World Weather Research Programme’s Scientific Steering Committee (WWRP-SSC), Linus Magnusson, the SSC liaison for the PCAPS-SG, and Nico Caltabiano, from the WWRP Secretariat. This meeting also included online participation from several members who were unable to attend in person.
Drawing on the research questions and recommendations that had arisen from the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) Final Summit in Montreal, Canada in September 2022, ensuing developments, as well as via extensive discussion amongst the PCAPS-SG, the PCAPS high-level objectives were agreed upon as follows:
PCAPS PREDICT: Provide more accurate and reliable analyses and predictions.
PCAPS SERVICES: Enhance environmental services.
PCAPS SUSTAINABILITY: Enable informed decision-making to enhance human safety and mitigate environmental risk.
PCAPS PARTNERSHIPS: Strengthen partnerships through transdisciplinary coordination and cooperation.
PCAPS INCLUSIVITY: Facilitate inclusivity and capacity development.
These objectives are detailed in further detail in the PCAPS Project Plan, which will be available soon. It is important to note the PCAPS objectives apply across different temporal and spatial scales and are set in the context of climate change, to meet the evolving needs and capabilities of users and service providers globally. Reaching these objectives will require significant engagement within and across various Earth System monitoring efforts as well as with user, provider, and research communities.
The PCAPS-SG also reviewed and refined the draft sections of the Project Plan on stakeholders, outcomes and outputs, actions for the next twelve months, in addition to commencing the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning discussions. The PCAPS-SG agreed that, to achieve the project outcomes, it will be necessary to develop strong partnerships with academia, operational centers, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, and user groups and communities, in addition to liaising with the wider stakeholder community. The PCAPS-SG also agreed that it will be necessary to take a pragmatic and problem-based approach to the underlying research questions and be flexible in responding to emerging requirements and opportunities. Partnerships, sustainability, and inclusivity therefore need to be incorporated into prediction and services activities and be a priority of these objectives.
The PCAPS Project Plan will be finalized and submitted for approval to the WWRP SSC at their meeting in September 2024. Once approved, it will be made available publicly on the PCAPS website. The project plan is intended to be a living document and will be reviewed and updated accordingly over the PCAPS project's lifetime.