|
|
.............. from the President's Desk.............. quelques mots du président |
Friends and colleagues:
CMOS spans fields of expertise from forecast meteorology to arctic ice and prairie drought. Our one thousand or so members, few in number compared to Canada's population, provide insight, warnings and forecasts in meteorology and oceanography for all Canadians. Members of CMOS dominate the science of climate change, by developing global climate models of the atmosphere and oceans, and by providing insight into the impacts of climate change on Canadians.
Just prior to the December 2009 Copenhagen climate conference, CMOS executive and council endorsed a press release and a letter to all Members of Parliament on the urgency of action on climate change. This letter notes the scientific evidence for human impacts on climate change and the need for Canada to lead efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Much of the evidence of warming and the role of greenhouse gases was developed by CMOS members. You can view this letter on the CMOS Web page at:
http://www.cmos.ca/ClimateChangeLetter_26Nov09.pdf
This letter was prepared in November 2009 mainly by CMOS members with contributions from the Canadian Geophysical Union. This letter was approved through a vote by members of CMOS Council and Scientific Committee. There are fifty positions in these two groups. Three-quarters of their members voted within a few days. All voted in favour. Four other Canadian scientific societies also endorsed this letter: Canadian Geophysical Union, Canadian Society of Soil Science, Canadian Association of Physicists and Canadian Society of Zoologists. Their councils or general members overwhelmingly approved the letter.
Ian Rutherford, our executive director, coordinated the press release and letter to Parliamentarians on 26 November. Past CMOS president Jacques Derome and I were interviewed in French and English respectively. The story was covered in several French newspapers in Québec and by many of the CanWest chain of English papers. The English headline noted these societies have over 3000 members. As you know by now, the Copenhagen Conference ended without a commitment by all nations to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the nations do indeed acknowledge the serious impacts of future climate change.
Our CMOS Webmaster keeps members up to date through the "Whats new" web site:
http://www.cmos.ca/whatsnew.html
Why not check this site regularly for updates of happenings? A recent one is the effort to develop national occupational standards for meteorologists. A 2005 review identified the need for meteorological certification, given a lack of properly qualified practitioners at entry-level positions and a rising number of retirees in the sector. A feasibility study in 2007 confirmed this recommendation and revealed strong industry support for the development of a certification program. I encourage meteorologists to visit this page on our "'Whats New"' web site and offer your insight.
With this first issue of 2010, I welcome all new CMOS members, and expect you find membership in CMOS rewarding. These are interesting times for meteorology and oceanography, and members of CMOS, although few in number, impact Canada and the world very strongly.
Bill Crawford President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO February / février 2010)
In late October I presented the CMOS Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance at its public hearing in Winnipeg. (The full text of this brief was published in our October Bulletin). Ron Stewart accompanied me in this presentation. He is a past president of CMOS and Head of the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of Manitoba. In the five minutes for our talk we presented three requests for the federal government to consider in its next budget:
1) Introduce measures to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
2) Invest funds in the provision of science-based climate information;
3) Renew financial support for research into meteorology, oceanography,
climate and ice science, especially in Canada's North, through independent,
peer-reviewed projects managed by agencies such as CFCAS and NSERC.
Questions were asked about scientists whose research funding has ended (Answer: moved or looking for work), and can scientists contribute to establishing sovereignty in the Arctic? (Answer: yes). During informal discussion after the panel hearings, Ron Stewart pointed out the two top science stories from the Winnipeg Free Press of that day, one quoting Prime Minister Brown of the UK as saying we had only 60 days to save the planet from climate change, and another noting unprecedented warming in the Canadian Arctic. We hope our messages have an impact on the next federal budget.
Only a few days later, CMOS member John Stone spoke on climate change to the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources. Professor Stone has been a participant in IPCC for many years. His 40-minute talk covered the cause and urgency of climate change. Senators asked questions long after his talk, and were clearly concerned, especially in the impact that climate change deniers have on the public. Thanks to Professor Stone for his lone role in this hearing.
I always list the CMOS Bulletin SCMO as a great benefit to CMOS membership. In this issue our editor Paul-André Bolduc presents articles across the CMOS fields. One of our biggest roles is weather forecasting. Claire Martin describes the future of a TV weather presenter, based on her experience with CBC weather news. She represents the public face of weather forecasts. For a view from behind the scenes you can read the account in last month's Bulletin by David Sills, who describes the changing roles of computers and meteorologists in future Canadian weather predictions. Pierre Dubreuil gives more insight on the topic in this month's Bulletin. Madhav Kandekar offers his insight into monsoon predictions in this month's issue, and for timely news, you can read all about weather predictions for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games. Don't miss in the call for entries to the CMOS annual Photo Contest and nominations for CMOS prizes and awards, as well as news of CMOS members and their activities.
I am taking this opportunity to wish everyone a peaceful and safe holiday and all the best for the New Year.
Bill Crawford
President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO December / décembre 2009)
During the summer the members of CMOS Council prepared a Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. The Call for Briefs from this committee asked for proposals to consider in the next federal budget. The writing was led by Sylvie Gravel (Chair of our Scientific Committee) and me, and you can read our final product on page 160 in English (163 en français) of this issue (or at the above link) of the CMOS Bulletin SCMO. This may have been a first ever Brief presented by CMOS. It is our opportunity to represent the interests of CMOS members to decision-makers in Canada.
This issue will arrive in your mailbox at about the time of our request for renewal of CMOS membership. Of course, I urge you to renew your membership. As well, why not recruit some of your colleagues into CMOS, to share the benefits and to further the vision of CMOS? Membership forms are on-line, along with a listing of all our classes of membership: http://www.cmos.ca/membershipform.html. As an incentive, we offer a prize of one hundred dollars to the local CMOS Centre that increases its membership by the greatest percentage this calendar year. Here is what your membership provides:
Reduced registration fees at our Annual Congress. These meetings attract about 400 to 500 participants to present new insight into all our sciences, from weather forecasting to arctic meltdown. It is also a chance to reconnect with friends across the country. We will share our next Congress in June 2010 with the Canadian Geophysical Union in Ottawa;
CMOS Bulletin: the official newsletter of the Society, published every two months. It offers information of professional interest to the Society's members and contains book reviews and a variety of technical, historical and general articles related to meteorology and oceanography;
Professional accreditation. We provide accreditation for CMOS Consultants and endorsement for CMOS weathercasters. In addition, we defend the right of CMOS Consultants to practise in their field of environmental science. Engineering societies are sometimes aggressive in defending their members' sole right to practise engineering, and CMOS successfully defends the right of our accredited consultants to consult in environmental sciences.
For students, reduced fees and free subscription to ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN. We subsidize the memberships of students and the on-line version of our research journal is free with this membership. In addition, many students receive travel subsidies to our annual congress.
Your chance to network with other meteorologists and oceanographers. Keep up with others through the CMOS Bulletin, or set up a CMOS Facebook page. A test version of CMOS on Facebook is now up and running for our Alberta Centre, called "Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society-Alberta Chapter", managed by Steph Watson, a student member of CMOS.
A chance to promote oceanography and meteorology in Canada. CMOS promotes the views of the membership in scientific fora, lobbies government bodies on behalf of meteorology and oceanography, issues policy statements, and provides opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with colleagues. One example is the Brief we submitted this summer to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. (Look for it on page 160, page 163 en français).
Bill Crawford
President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO October / octobre 2009)
1) Carbon offset funding
While flying into Halifax for our 2009 Congress in late May, I reflected on the CO2 emissions I was sending into the atmosphere. I have tried over the past year to cut my greenhouse gas imprint, but my increasing air travel undid this effort. For example, my travel to Halifax sent another ton or two of CO2 into the atmosphere. I shared my concerns with John Falkingham and Dick Stoddart, hosts of our 2010 Ottawa Congress. They want to encourage carbon offsets but suspect that most of us need to know more of how to offset these emissions before we voluntarily put our money into a specific program. It is a new market with genuine gold standard buyers and also fakes who make easy money.
Few conferences ask us to set aside money to offset greenhouse gas emissions for travel. One exception is MOCA 09 that met in Montreal in July. This international meeting hosted meteorologists, oceanographers and cryosphere scientists. Organizers asked for a voluntary contribution of $20 to offset travel emissions. Is its plan simple? Yes. Effective? I scanned the MOCA 09 web site to find out details. It assured me the money was well spent, but why the same rate for all? Some registrants walked to the meeting and others flew in from Montreal's near-antipode in Perth Australia. Should CMOS ask its members to contribute such to such a fixed-price solution? At the other end of the complexity scale is the province of British Columbia, which offsets all travel by its civil servants. Distance travelled, car-pooling, taxi distance, ferry routes and other details are all fed into a database and the province purchases offsets annually for the total emissions.
I was surprised at the variety of rating standards for offset programs. The international "Gold Standard", generally considered the most stringent, recommends specific programs in developing countries and does not include tree-planting. British Columbia mostly keeps projects within the province and does support effective tree-planting ventures. Even the cost per tonne of CO2 varies among programs, and for air travel the greenhouse impact per tonne of fuel burnt can be a factor of two or more higher, due to jet contrails that trap heat in the atmosphere.
Both Dick Stoddart and John Falkingham suggested that we publish information in the CMOS Bulletin SCMO to explain why these programs work and how we could contribute. So watch for this topic in future issues of this Bulletin. Many of you already offset your own emissions, so why not let us know how you do it? You can write to me at:
2) Membership 2009
CMOS members are almost a thousand in number and hold great clout in providing insight, forecasts and advice on meteorology and oceanography. Our credibility derives from the insight of members, and from our numbers too. Many have belonged for more than 25 years and many are student members. However, some meteorologists and oceanographers are missing from this list and we need their input and presence. The executive believe we can grow and need to grow so we can bring the community together and carry more weight with our national decision-makers. Through the summer and autumn we will approach you through your Local Centres to sign up these missing members, but in the meantime you can do this yourself. We offer strong value for your members' dues, and even reduced rates for students and retired members. Why not ask your colleagues if they really are members, and if not, sign them up. CMOS offers a cash bonus of $100 to the local centre that increases its membership the greatest percentage by the end of December. This funding sponsors members' meetings, luncheons and also local student awards.
Membership forms are available on our CMOS Web page:
http://www.cmos.ca/membershipform.html
Although I wrote this in early July, it will be August before this issue of the Bulletin reaches you. I hope your summer is relaxing and safe. What better time could there be to recruit your colleagues to join CMOS?
Bill Crawford
President / Président CMOS / SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO August / août 2009)
Bill Crawford, CMOS Incoming President / Nouveau président de la SCMO
My first wish in this message is to acknowledge the achievements and efforts of Andy Bush who led CMOS as president for the past year. The president always handles new and unforeseen issues, and I have watched (actually I listened during our conference calls) as Andy has stayed ahead of all topics and guided our Society. It takes lots of time and wisdom. I will need his insight in the next year.
Three other national executive have completed their three-year terms and have passed on their duties to new executives. Ron Hopkinson is our outgoing treasurer, Bob Kochtubajda the corresponding secretary and Bill Hume the recording secretary. Although the president gets the recognition, these three really keep the Society running and I thank them for their mostly unsung efforts. We welcome Richard Pawlowicz, Jane Eert and Sophia Johannessen into these positions for the next three years.
A transition is a good time to remind members of others who run our Society. We rely on several key persons for our operations. Three are retired oceanographers and meteorologists who now fill CMOS positions for small honoraria. Our Executive Director is Ian Rutherford, who manages more than just day-to-day operations. He provides the corporate memory and advice and even updates the computer code of our software that handles our memberships and conferences. Ian served as President of CMOS in 1999, so his advice is especially valuable. Richard Asselin is Director of Publications and recently managed the transition of ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN to a new printing company and printing technique. Paul-André Bolduc oversees the Bulletin, including translations and publishing. His main concern is high-quality contributions, for which he is constantly soliciting. Our office manager is Qing Liao, who handles our membership applications, renewals, address changes, subscription enquiries and keeps our office running smoothly.
As noted always in the Bulletin, CMOS exists for "the advancement of meteorology and oceanography in Canada". Our biggest activity is the Annual Congress which normally attracts 400 to 500 attendees, a project usually run by one of our members. This year we thank John Parker for success of the Halifax Congress in June. Next year we will meet in Ottawa for a joint congress with the Canadian Geophysical Society (CGU). Congress committees are already working on this event. The Local Arrangements Committee is led by John Falkingham while the Scientific Program Committee is co-chaired by Dick Stoddart and Rod Blais.
Of course, members of CMOS provide the greatest efforts to advance meteorology and oceanography in Canada. I hope to serve you well in the next year.
Bill Crawford
Incoming CMOS President
Nouveau président de la SCMO
Friends and colleagues:
The past few months have seen some exciting times for us.
In conjunction with the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU) we wish to invite the Canadian Society of Soil Science (CSSS) under the umbrella of the Canadian Societies for Geophysical Sciences. The CGU and CSSS regularly have joint meetings, and I know that many CMOS members have an active interest in the CSSS. So this seems like a natural fit that CMOS has already approved and the CGU will almost certainly approve (since it was their idea) at their next executive meeting in May. Building up the number of societies and unions under the CSGS umbrella will give each one greater national exposure and will focus Canadian geophysical research into a spearhead body that can, for example, lobby with the federal government in a coordinated fashion.
After a positive meeting with Environment Minister Jim Prentice late last year, Gordon McBean and Dawn Conway were encouraged to submit a proposal for $50 million to the federal government for funding to keep CFCAS afloat. That proposal has now been sent and is in the government's hands. Given that the Minister encouraged the submission we at least have some hope that the Foundation will survive beyond March 2011.
As this report is a joint one between myself and Bill Crawford, I won't take up all Bill's space so will end things here. Over the last year I've certainly learned a lot about how things work and know that CMOS's success is due to the hardworking group of volunteers in Ottawa, as well as everybody across the country who has taken their time to serve on the Executive and the Council. The organizers of all of our annual congresses also deserve a special nod for their years of planning and execution of a very difficult task.
It's been an honour and a privilege to be President of CMOS and to have
worked with all of you. I'll leave you now in the
very capable hands of our incoming President, Bill Crawford.
Andy Bush, Outgoing President / Président sortant
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO June / juin 2009)
With the back of winter broken (at least in the west) I'm sure many of us are looking forward to putting away the shovel and breaking out the lawnmower.
The American Geophysical Union is actively pursuing the idea of creating an international umbrella for all geophysical science unions and societies. At their fall meeting in San Francisco, CMOS was represented by myself and Patrick Cummins. The AGU is proposing a second such meeting in Vienna, coincident with the EGU congress. If that does occur and if some of you are going to the EGU meeting and are interested in participating, please let me know. I will continue to liaise with this international group through the next year along with John Pomeroy, president of the Canadian Geophysical Union, with whom we have formed the Canadian Societies for the Geophysical Sciences (CSGS). We are still trying to find the best method to make CSGS the first point of contact for both CMOS and CGU. What sounds so simple is actually not.
The announcement of the federal budget was disconcerting, to say the least. The dire news surrounding funding for the geosciences sparked a flurry of post-budget letters to the government from a variety of organizations across the country. CMOS did not send a letter after the budget was announced, but we did send one beforehand. There was no reply. With CFCAS scheduled to end in March 2011, and with what effectively amount to cuts to NSERC, we expect to see a funding crisis looming for our community. This will negatively impact not only research but also our training of highly qualified personnel. It is difficult to take on new students when the funding situation is so unclear. John Pomeroy and I feel we should meet with NSERC under our CSGS umbrella sometime before our respective congresses in May.
One could view the situation from a different angle, however, and simply say that these are exciting times to be doing climate research! I know we are all doing our part to improve the situation and hopefully our work will pay off in the end (but sooner rather than later).
Andy Bush, President / Président CMOS / SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO April / avril 2009)
I trust that everybody had a good and restful holiday season. For many of us, classes are now back in action so it's the usual start of term chaos.
The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences hosted a symposium on Arctic climate entitled "The Lowdown on the Meltdown" on November 25th in Ottawa. The event was well attended with four MPs and many scientists from across the country. Our new Minister of the Environment, Jim Prentice, met with Gordon McBean before the symposium and we have some reason to hope that he is sympathetic to the looming crisis in terms of funding for climate science in Canada. However, the rather unstable situation with the federal government means we will have to wait and see what happens over the next month or two.
Many of you attended the AGU meeting in San Francisco this December. Patrick Cummins and I attended a meeting that had as many international geophysical societies/unions represented as possible. Russia, Mexico, Europe, Finland, Canada, the USA (amongst others) were all represented. The idea was to design and establish a "one-stop shopping" website for everything related to geophysical science being done around the world. This way, scientists, students, politicians, etc. can go to this website to see what is being done globally by the various societies/unions. The AGU volunteered to maintain it (with no advertisement anywhere about the AGU). Ian Rutherford will be attending something similar in January during the AMS congress, and I'm happy that CMOS is a participant in this initiative.
Our Vice-President, Bill Crawford, has done an excellent job in securing the executive committee for the coming year; thank you Bill. And as always many thanks to Paul-André Bolduc and Dorothy Neale for keeping the CMOS Bulletin SCMO maintained consistently at its extremely high quality.
Andy Bush
President / Président CMOS / SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO February / février 2009)
I'm sure this fall has been a busy one for everybody, and I hope that it has been a productive one. North of the border, our federal election created some excitement, I'm sure, though the end result didn't change things much. One more recent development, however, is the introduction of Jim Prentice as our new Minister of the Environment.
The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences hosted an "Arctic Symposium" on November 25th in Ottawa at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. I hope many of you were able to attend. It is my understanding that Jim Prentice may attend and hopefully participate.
South of the border we will see whether the election of Barack Obama will provide a more "hospitable" environment for climate research both south and north of the border. Hopefully this will be the case!
International communication among various meteorological societies will take place at the January meeting of the American Meteorological Society, and our Executive Director, Ian Rutherford, has graciously taken on the duty of representing CMOS at this important meeting. In addition, I have been in contact with the presidents of both the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society in order to better coordinate our operations and our meetings.
Our vice-president, Bill Crawford, has been busy filling vacancies in next year's executive. Only the vice-president position for next year remains outstanding though there are many excellent candidates.
I will take this opportunity to wish everybody a peaceful and safe holiday season and all the best for the New Year.
Andy Bush President / Président CMOS / SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO December / décembre 2008)
I hope that everyone had an enjoyable and productive summer. For many of us, with term about to begin and teaching duties looming, this is a very busy time of the year. And, as Paul Myers has warned me, this is also the time when presidential duties escalate.
Over the summer I have been in contact with the presidents of both the American Meteorological Society (Walter Dabberdt) and the American Geophysical Union (Michael McPhaden). The AMS is seeking our participation at their congress in Phoenix, Arizona in January, 2009. They are trying to develop coordination and communication amongst the ~65 meteorological societies around the world in order to promote a united front on issues such as public statements, education and outreach, and publication practices. I think this is a great initiative and am a strong proponent of CMOS participation.
The AGU is also eager to coordinate future congresses with CMOS, and we are in contact with their meeting organizer. Although this initiative is long-term (since meetings are typically already in the planning stage two years in advance) I believe that building stronger ties with the AGU and coordinating with them either joint congresses or, if not possible, then preventing any scheduling conflicts between respective meetings will prove to be beneficial.
Our journal, ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN, continues to produce high quality articles and we have a number of excellent special issues lined up over the next couple of years.
Finally, I'd like to wish everybody a productive fall and extend my thanks to everybody serving on the CMOS executive.
Andy Bush
President / Président
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Société canadienne de météorologie et d'océanographie
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO October / octobre 2008)
We all enjoyed a fantastic congress in Kelowna. Many thanks are given to the Chair of the Local Arrangements Committee, Kent Johnson, and the chairs of the Scientific Program Committee, Peter Jackson and Diane Masson.
Probably the most interesting recent development was the approval by council of CMOS becoming a part of the Canadian Societies for the Geophysical Sciences (CSGS). This exciting new development will allow more interaction between CMOS and CGU, and perhaps other earth science unions or societies who also wish to join. This organisation, which CGU Council also voted to join, will be able to coordinate congresses in such a way as to eliminate overlap, and hopefully bring CMOS and CGU together in one meeting as was done in St. John's in 2007 and will be done again in Ottawa in 2010.
Our meeting with the CFCAS Board of Trustees indicated the timeline
for the Foundation, which appears to end the fiscal year
2010-2011. Nothing beyond that is in the works. NSERC will be restructuring
the way their Discovery Grants are managed and reviewed, but not for another
couple of years. So the funding future looks challenging indeed for climate
science.
I look forward to the next year with CMOS and hope that we will be able to make some progress in advancing climate science both professionally and publicly.
I'd like to thank Paul Myers for his efforts over the past year and wish him a very relaxing sabbatical.
Andy Bush
President / Président Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society / Société canadienne de météorologie et d'océanographie
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO August / août 2008)
Friends and colleagues:
Now that June has arrived, I am amazed at how fast the past year has gone by and then my time as CMOS President has come to an end. In some ways this is a relief in that I can go back to focussing on some interesting research questions that I'd like to look at. Yet, I am also disappointed that this year is over so fast because of how much I have learned about aspects of science, especially on the governmental and management side, and how much more I'd like to learn and be involved in different things that I only got a chance to touch on during the past year.
And I do think this last issue is important. As scientists/forecasters, most of us want to spend their time focussing on what we all love, our favourite aspects of meteorology and oceanography. Yet, addressing the issues that impact our field, as well as communicating our science to the general public are issues of great importance. And it is something that I suspect almost all of us can do better - I sure learnt that during this year as CMOS President. And one way for this to occur is to become more involved with CMOS, as the society continues to represent and promote meteorology and oceanography in Canada. And thus, echoing all previous CMOS presidents in their final words, I highly recommend members to get involved as CMOS volunteers in your Centres, and on national committees or Council.
Finally, I would like to thank those in the national office in Ottawa, especially our executive director Ian Rutherford, without whom I would not have survived this year, and without which the society would not function. And so to conclude I wish the best for our new incoming president Andy Bush as I prepare to pass off the position to him.
Paul Myers
Outgoing President / Président sortant
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Société canadienne de météorologie et d'océanographie
Andy Bush, CMOS Incoming President / Nouveau président
de la SCMO
Being literally next door to Paul Myers, I can attest to the amount of effort he has put in as President of CMOS. I think we owe Paul a huge collective thanks for his efforts over the past year and, Paul, have one fantastic and well-earned sabbatical! I would also like to thank and pay my respects to Ian Rutherford, for steering things in the right way, at the right time.
The next few years will be challenging indeed. With the potential end of funding through the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) it is not clear what avenue researchers in Atmospheric, Oceanic, or Cryospheric Sciences might pursue given NSERC's woeful history for Environmental Sciences reallocations. One hopeful pursuit will be continuing our link with the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU) and I am optimistic that we can form a unified front for geophysics, atmospheric physics, oceanography and cryospheric dynamics. Our joint meeting last year in St. John's, NF, was in my opinion an enormous success and I wish to pursue this link with the current president of CGU, John Pomeroy.
The collective public appears to be concerned about climate change and impacts on Canada. We are the natural organization to speak to this issue, to educate the public, to educate the political parties, and to educate industry. The latter two are difficult, of course. With Arctic climate becoming such an ironically hot topic we need to be at the forefront of educating those people who will be relevant players in the future of our North. This is not an easy task but I'll try, in the coming year, to do my best.
Andy Bush
Incoming President / Nouveau président
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Société canadienne de météorologie et d'océanographie
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO June / juin 2008)
As all of us in CMOS rightly know, weather has a huge impact on the day to day lives of Canadians, as well as the economic wellbeing of the country. That could not have been made more clear with the impacts of the severe storms that have struck central and eastern Canada over the past few weeks. From cities having spent their annual snow clearing budgets well before the end of winter, to the effects on transportation industries, to those stuck for hours and/or days in airports (of which I was one of those who spent the better part of 24 hours at/around Toronto airport), this all shows the importance of accurate short and long (seasonal) term predictions. We must continue to push governments to ensure that sufficient funding is in place to support a strong operational forecast service in Canada as well as continuing research at improving forecasts and forecast techniques. And we must continue to educate Canadians about the true nature of our science so that people understand what our field is about, why it is important to be well supported and why talented young people should consider it for a career.
The deadlines for nominations for CMOS awards was February 15th. This deadline had to be extended because of a paucity of nominations. I know this can't be because of a shortage of candidates, since Canada has many outstanding individuals who have devoted their lives to meteorology and oceanography. Additionally, CMOS manages the competition for a number of student prizes and scholarships, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. These range from those with an interest in atmospheric sciences to supplements for NSERC winners in both meteorology and oceanography. Despite the fact that I am sure there are many deserving students who could use the extra funding, we often get very few applications.
So, if you are a student and reading this, consider applying to everything you are eligible for. If you are a faculty member at a university, make sure information about these awards gets out to your student population. The deadline for application is 15 April.
Finally, the congress is fast approaching. Look into making your plans for travel as soon as possible as hotels are filling up, as I am sure are flights into Kelowna.
Et sur un tout autre sujet, toutes les présentations au Congrès de Kelowna peuvent être faites dans une ou l'autre des deux langues officielles - l'anglais ou le français. Je sais que, pour le plupart d'entre vous qui suivrez le Congrès, l'anglais sera votre premier choix, mais c'est important que tout le monde sache que la SCMO est une société bilingue.
Paul Myers
CMOS President / Président de la SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO April / avril 2008)
Happy New Year to everyone. Hopefully, you all had a restful holiday to put one in a good frame of mind for 2008! I would like to remind everyone that our Annual Congress is in Kelowna from May 25 to May 29. The theme this year is Water, Weather, Climate: Science Informing Decisions. Hopefully, I will see many of you there presenting (or taking in presentations) of the many exciting research projects being carried out in Canada. For those of you planning to attend our Congresses beyond this year, 2009 will be in Halifax and 2010 will be in Ottawa jointly with the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU).
As many of you know, various CMOS awards are presented at our annual congress. And it is at this time of year that nominations are sought for these awards. Despite the fact that there are many top-notch Canadian meteorologists and oceanographers who are worthy nominees for such awards, the Society often receives a derth of nominations. Thus, I encourage you all, if you know worthy individuals, to nominate them for relevent awards. You can find details of the CMOS awards at http://www.cmos.ca/awards.html. I would also like to point out that CMOS awards (or helps administer) a number of scholarships and bursaries for students - again, I call on people to make sure the word gets out to eligible and suitable students.
Paul Myers, CMOS President Président de la SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO February / février 2008)
As 2007 slowly draws to a close, we can look back at an interesting year for CMOS and our associated science. Climate has remained a major focus, with much discussion and publicity. One thing I found quite surprising very positive was the recent awarding of a Nobel Prize to the IPCC for its work on reporting on the state of the climate through its analysis of the relevant scientific literature. Although not directly involved with this process, I know many Canadian scientists (and CMOS members) who were heavily involved, and heartily congratulate all of them for their efforts as part of this process.
In terms of CMOS matters, I remind people that the time is approaching when you should renew your membership for the upcoming 2008 year. Besides giving you access to CMOS publications and events, membership renewals help support the Society so that we can carry on our efforts to support and promote meteorology and oceanography in Canada, at all levels. I know I have heard people privately complain about CMOS fees, claiming they are significantly higher than those of equivalent American organizations (like AGU) - unfortunately this is purely a matter of scale, a significantly larger population base to support the Society while basic expenses for running even our minimal national office do not decrease with a smaller membership base. Furthermore, I would argue that CMOS provides a tremendous service to Canadian meteorologists and oceanographers completely out of proportion to its budget because of the tremendous amount of 'free' volunteer support that the Society receives. And for all of you who have done something for the Society (whether nationally or locally in your centre), a very strong thank you for your support.
Finally, in an issue that is potentially very important to university members of the Society - CMOS has been asked by NSERC several times to comment on different aspects of its survey of the Discovery Grant program. As part of this process, the Society has been approached with the idea of aligning research in the Earth Sciences in Canada following the international structure - where the geological earth sciences fall under IUGS while our science would fall under the 'geophysical' banner of IUGG (International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics). I could note that 7 of the 8 associations of IUGG are represented by CMOS, or CGU (Canadian Geophysical Union) and such a breakdown is consistent with the interaction between CMOS and CGU in terms of a "Canadian Societies for the Geophysical Sciences" (CSGS) that was first discussed at the past St. John's Congress. I find this a very seductive idea as it brings together many branches of our science linked by similar underlying dynamics and supports broad areas of interdisciplinary research. Additionally if one defines geophysics as does the American Geophysical Union as including biogeosciences (which I personally think is the way to go), I see such a framework as supporting closer links between many diverse areas of marine sciences. Thus I personally think that such an approach might be a very positive thing for the Society to support. Yet I also know I am a fairly junior scientist in this area, and haven't been through all the NSERC re-allocation exercises that many others in our field went through. Thus I would really like as much feedback and thoughts on this issue as possible so that the CMOS Executive can make a truely informed decision on whether or not to strongly support this initiative, with the backing of its members. So, if you have any comments on this issue, whether for/against/ambivalent, please contact me, whether by email (president@cmos.ca or pmyers@ualberta) or phone (780-492-6706).
Paul Myers, CMOS President / Président de la SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO December / décembre 2007)
I hope everyone had a good summer, whether they are presently catching up on work that may have built up over the summer or started to teach/take courses with the beginning of the academic year. For those who like to plan ahead, the 2008 Congress will be in Kelowna. Preliminary information on this meeting is already available through the CMOS web page. The 2009 meeting will be in Halifax. And the executive is presently thinking about the 2010 congress - so if your Centre has not hosted a congress in a while, we would be open to offers from anywhere within the country. I should also mention that I am the second president as part of the Alberta executive and will be followed by Andy Bush. Since normally the executive moves every 3 years, we are also starting to seek out centres which are interested in hosting the executive beginning in 2009 and for members who are interested in getting involved in the executive in the future. A few things of note that maybe not all members know. The Society has a small fund which contains money that can be used to support small scientific meetings in CMOS-related areas, especially if they involve students. Funds can be requested with a brief submission to the executive of the amount needed and the reason for the funds. We also can provide matching funds to support Centre donations to citywide, regional and/or provincial science fairs. Again, a brief submission to the executive on the amount needed is all that is required. Since to broaden CMOS membership and keep it current we need a continual infusion of new people and blood, any other approach that would potentially increase CMOS’ exposure, especially to students, would be something that the executive would be willing to consider supporting. Approach us and we’ll see what we can do. Additionally, since most Centres run seminar series (at the very least involving the Tour Speaker), I would call on people to make sure these events are advertised in the local universities and colleges that have programs involving atmospheric or oceanic sciences (as well as more ‘fundamental’ disciplines such as physics and math that can provide a pool of people who might be interested in the application of their background to our field).
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO October / octobre 2007)
I hope everyone is enjoying a good summer, whether they are doing field work, catching up on research that could not be carried out during the school term or just carrying on their day to day work in atmospheric or oceanic sciences. I hope everyone who went to the recent St. John's Congress found it as good a meeting as I did. To my mind it was one of the best congresses I had ever attended, with many interesting talks in a wide variety of sessions. Although there are issues in planning for joint congresses (as well as financial implications), the breadth of scientific interaction makes them quite attractive. CMOS thus has begun tentative discussions with CGU for holding a joint meeting again in the future, possibly in 2010. If any member has thoughts on this issue, please let me (or one of the other members of the executive) know about them. Also, while we are on the subject of congresses, I should remind all members that our 2008 Congress will be in Kelowna – preparation is well under way for what should be another top-notch meeting – so plan on attending.
Although it may not seem so long ago that the executive moved to Edmonton from Halifax, we are now well into the second year. As the executive normally remains in a location for three years, to provide some continuity and ability to have face-to-face meetings (beyond the usual monthly executive teleconference), we now have to start thinking of finding a home for the executive. Since, to help provide continuity, a potential president sits on the executive as the vice-president for the year before their term, we need to have a tentative new home for the executive in place by the end of this year (2007). Therefore, I ask all members to discuss this issue within their local Centres to see if your Centre might be interested in hosting the executive. If you need more information on the work (and number of people involved), do not hesitate to contact me or any other member of the present executive. Also, for those of you in smaller Centres, one can still get involved – for example, the present treasurer, Ron Hopkinson, is actually based in Saskatchewan rather than Alberta.
One issue that has been discussed a lot over this past year is how to get more students (being the future generation of our profession) involved with the Society. Our previous president, Geoff Strong, speared-headed the creation of an ad-hoc Student Committee reporting directly to CMOS Council. But I am not sure how many students know about it, so I call on students who read this to think about getting more involved so the Society can do more things that can help you with the development of your careers. I think one sign that the Society is not doing enough to involve students is the fact that there are a number of prizes, bursaries or scholarship supplements that are awarded each year that get very few (if any) applications each year. As some of these are quite significant (i. e. up to $5,000 per year for two years), it is important that they become more widely advertised. Although the Society keeps a list of atmospheric and oceanic sciences programs in Canada, it is nowhere near complete, especially with respect to smaller research groups working in other than obvious atmospheric or oceanic sciences departments. So, related to this, I ask any members associated with a university (whether students, post-docs or faculty) to contact the CMOS office and provide contact details for your group (and maybe graduate secretary) so that important information is as widely disseminated as possible.
Pour ceux d'entre vous qui avez eu l'occasion d'entendre mon premier
discours en tant que président lors du banquet de la SCMO
(see page 125 in this issue of the CMOS Bulletin SCMO), vous savez
que j'ai mentionné que la Société a l'obligation de
représenter tous ses membres, dans les domaines de la météorologie
et de l'océanographie, partout au Canada. Une conséquence
de cette obligation est que toutes les communications aux membres doivent
être faites dans les deux langues officielles du pays. Présentement,
quoique toutes les communications officielles doivent être disponibles
en français et en anglais, il n'existe pas de telle exigence pour
les soumissions individuelles. Quoique je ne pense pas que toutes les communications
scientifiques doivent être traduites, je pense que les communications
semi-officielles, telles que le Mot du président, doivent être
faites dans les deux langues. Présentement, la politique en vigueur
est que le président peut présenter ses communications dans
la langue de son choix. Cette politique est très bien mais complique
sérieusement la vie à ceux qui ne sont pas à l'aise
en français. Évidemment, une traduction supplémentaire
implique des coûts additionnels à la Société.
Paul Myers, CMOS President / Président de la SCMO
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO August / août 2007)
I will start this address from the incoming President with a strong statement of thanks to our outgoing President Geoff Strong for all the hard work and effort he has put into the position over the past year. As someone in a position to observe the workings of the CMOS executive, I want to acknowledge this and his continual desire to do whatever he can for CMOS, even in potentially trying times. Which, of course, makes me apprehensive of the effort I will need to put in this up-coming year so that CMOS can continue to play an important role in representing meteorology and oceanography in Canada.
As probably the first CMOS President who has been an oceanographer from a Prairie province, one issue that I would like to see come to the forefront during my upcoming year as CMOS President is the involvement of the oceanographic and marine sciences communities in CMOS. Unlike the atmospheric sciences, where CMOS is widely regarded as the main professional society for practitioners (except for maybe hydrologists who are split between CMOS and CGU), there is no such general view for marine scientists. Many physical oceanographers are indeed involved with CMOS, but fewer chemical, biological or fisheries oceanographers. Yet, in many respects, it would be beneficial for the community to have greater linkages within one society. More generally, the issue of membership is an important one, as it affects many issues from whether CMOS can truly represent our fields of science in Canada to more mundane issues like Society costs and the breadth of membership to support those costs. Consistent with the statement above with respect to marine sciences, I view CMOS as an all-encompassing organization that should be able to represent any area of atmospheric or marine sciences – thus I think it is important for the Society to work to bring in members from all related areas – forecasting, aviation meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, the cryosphere, etc.
Another issue that will continue to be important is how best for our Society to represent the views of our members and our sciences to the public, especially with all the debate presently occurring over climate change. But beyond that, I think this public debate has revealed that most Canadians don't really have an understanding of our sciences (whether atmospheric or oceanic). So I think this is something the Society needs to work on, from getting people to understand what is actually presented in a weather forecast, to the fact ours is a quantitative science with a large body of physics and mathematics behind it, to the difference between weather and climate. And as part of this, I think one area where we need to significantly work is at the school (K-13) level, as for the most part, despite the day-to-day impact the atmosphere and the oceans have on most Canadians, little of it is taught at a junior level. We instead need to develop a situation whereby good students come out of school wanting to study and learn about our fields, instead of the present situation when few of them know of our existence. This poor perception of our sciences may also help to explain the growing funding crisis that many in our fields are presently grappling with - and which CMOS as a Society must find a way to help.
Paul Myers, incoming President, 2007-08
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO June / juin 2007)
Friends and colleagues:
I can hardly believe that it has already been one year since I took over as president of CMOS from Susan Woodbury. I believe my time-warp is simply a reflection of the busyness of what is supposed to be a part-time volunteer position, which at times just swamps your life.
I have little or nothing to claim for this year on my own, but with the Executive team, we did accomplish a few things – for example: getting the new Strategic Planning and Student Committees, initiated by the previous executive, up and running; extending our cooperation with CGU and starting the ball moving on what should become an important national collaborative committee involving CGU, CMOS, and other related scientific societies; keeping climate change in the forefront with updated scientific statements (see this issue of the Bulletin); setting the wheels in motion to hire a much-needed Communications Officer for CMOS; and recommending a new fee structure for CMOS through our Finance and Investment Committee (this won't get us many kudos among the general membership, but it is very necessary for us to survive). I won't bore our readers reviewing the details of these initiatives, as they are recorded elsewhere.
One tends to dwell more on things that one may have over-looked, which made me curious to review what previous CMOS presidents said at their end of term in this millennium. Every single one of them expressed feelings of challenges and of some accomplishment, but mainly of gratitude for having been given the opportunity to serve, and for the efforts of the Ottawa staff and many CMOS volunteers across the country. It is also clear, and needs to be emphasized, that CMOS continues to represent and promote meteorology and oceanography in Canada, and does it well, not that we can't improve, and will. CMOS is the primary coordinating body in Canada for accomplishing this, through scientific meetings and talks in our Centres, through our CMOS publications, sponsoring local workshops, and especially our annual Congress. These things should be recognized as being at the very core of most of our careers, for which we should be thankful. Therefore, as with all previous outgoing presidents, I highly recommend members to get involved as CMOS volunteers in your Centres, and on national committees or Council.
I am indebted to the efforts of our Executive, Council members, and especially our Ottawa staff led by Executive Director, Ian Rutherford. Finally, let me extend my very best wishes for continued success under our incoming new President, Paul Myers of the University of Alberta.
Thank you all for my opportunities to serve in CMOS, which I hope to continue in different capacities, as usual.
Geoff Strong, outgoing President, 2006-07
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO June / juin 2007)
Interdisciplinary Activities
At this writing, most Canadians continue to struggle through our usual
long winter; long indeed, but noticeably less cold than we experienced
in previous decades in most regions of the country. Most of us are looking
forward to spring, and with it, our 41st Congress in late-May, to be co-sponsored
with the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU) and the American Meteorological
Society (AMS) in St. John's. This will be the first time that CMOS and
CGU have held a joint congress, perhaps long overdue (although we did collaborate
with AGU at the 1980 Congress). One of the big advantages of this joint
congress is that it formally brings together Canada's meteorologists, oceanographers
and hydrologists for the first time at a national meeting. Together with
combined meetings of the AMS and the Eastern Snow Conference, this promises
to be our largest-ever congress, possibly even exceeding 1000 participants,
one indication being the record number of abstracts that have been received.
With the goodwill generated from this, CGU and CMOS Executives have already
taken this opportunity to discuss other areas of cooperation, and we are
planning to formalize a Canadian umbrella committee of CMOS, CGU and related
societies to discuss collaborative science on a regular basis. A ‘terms-of-reference'
for this national committee is forthcoming.
Funding Issues
We forewarn our membership of three important funding requests that
you will be asked to approve at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Congress
this May. First, our membership fees (e.g., $60 for regular members) have
remained constant since 2002, and no longer cover minimal expenses of the
Society. We have remained afloat thanks to surpluses generated by congresses
in recent years. Our fees, therefore, need to be brought into line with
those of other societies - for example, AMS dues are approximately $95
Canadian with similar privileges, Royal Meteorological Society $133. Council
is recommending a modest increase in regular fees to $80 commencing in
2008 (an average increase of about 5% per year since 2002), with similar
increases to other member categories.
Second, our Ottawa staff carry out most of the on-going day-to-day activities of CMOS, including maintenance of our web site, the huge task of putting together our publications (ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN, CMOS Bulletin SCMO), correspondence, and now a major role in the organizing and functioning of our annual congresses (registration, abstract receipts, etc.). While our Executive Director, Office Manager, Director of Publications and Bulletin Editor each receive some remuneration, none of these come even close to professional compensation for their actual expertise and time, not to mention their dedication. These remunerations therefore amount to essentially honoraria and have not been revised for several years, so that Council is now recommending increases to each of these.
And third, Council has now approved in principle the new position of Communications Officer for CMOS. This position in the Society is very much needed, and requires a dedicated professional with expertise in that area. The job would include raising the profile of CMOS, handling media communications, attracting new members, and improved communication with and assistance to our Centres and Congress organizing committees. It remains to be seen how we eventually fund this position, but initially it would be filled by a volunteer with an honorarium, and this preliminary level of funding has been included in the proposed 2008 budget being submitted to the Congress AGM in May.
Climate Change
During February, CMOS approved the release of an updated position and
statement on climate change. Our science is very focussed on climate change
at present and will continue to be so, but it is an area very much complicated
by the political winds of change, climate change skeptics, and some resulting
confusion in the media, so that this field is changing more rapidly than
the climate itself. CMOS therefore feels that periodic updates to our statements
are necessary, keeping strictly to the science and its defence, while refraining
from political statements. Our latest statement happens to coincide with
the release of the Working Group I summary of the IPCC 4th Climate Change
Assessment report (http://www.ipcc.ch/).
The updated CMOS position and statement should appear shortly in the Bulletin
and on our web site (at http://www.cmos.ca/policies.html).
Continued inputs from our membership are welcomed on this.
Somewhat surprisingly, my invitation in the last issue to respond to my answers to three questions typically raised regarding climate warming generated zero - zilch replies to date! I'm confident that this does not reflect any lack of controversy, and some may still submit comments, whether in agreement or disagreement. We welcome such comments, particularly those based on refereed science.
Research Funding
Finally, for those interested in the research side of things, you may
be wondering what is happening to the Canadian Foundation for Climate and
Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS). Virtually all CFCAS research funds have now
been allocated to projects and networks ranging between three and five
years' duration (http://www.cfcas.org/funded_projects_e.html),
as the Foundation's present mandate runs out in March of 2011. Be assured
that the Foundation is very active in seeking renewed funding from the
federal government with an expanded mandate to include related areas of
research, and that CMOS supports this effort.
That's it for this issue. I hope I will see most of you at the St. John's Congress, and if you do attend, please consider participating in some of the business meetings of the Society. Get involved and volunteer!
Cheers,
Geoff Strong
President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO April / avril 2007)
November and December turned out to be one of our busiest periods this year. One duty for the president in early-December was to attend the CFCAS (Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences) meeting in Ottawa as ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees. This allowed me the opportunity to arrive a day early and visit our national CMOS office and participate in two other meetings on that day. I was very impressed by the volunteer efforts of our Ottawa staff (Ian, Richard, Dorothy, Paul-André, and all the others), who run the real day-to-day business of CMOS for us. Bouquets to the Ottawa staff!
I won't duplicate the ‘highlights of meetings' which appears elsewhere in this issue. However, I would like to touch on the big issue that has been front and centre for us for at least the past year, has taken up much of my time, and which has increased in intensity this last few months. I'm referring of course to the on-going debate on climate warming. This issue is important enough that last fall we tasked our Science Committee with writing updated scientific statements that will be released very shortly (may in fact be already on our web site when you read this).
The public often ask ‘what position should they take on climate warming', and even some CMOS members will ask "what answer do they give to questions on climate warming", when they are not themselves experts on climate change. My answer is that CMOS members are all, to one degree or another, climate scientists and while your expertise may not be in the area of climate change specifically, you respond just as you would to any other question on atmospheric or oceanographic issues. We have an obligation to rely on the refereed published literature and give our opinion based on that. [And it is not always appropriate to ‘pass the buck' and refer someone on to another, if you think they may pull the same trick.] "But", you say, "there are some published papers that refute some findings on climate warming". True enough, I can even point you towards some, but that holds for just about anything that has been published in science. Think of Alfred Wegener (a meteorologist, by the way) who first published his theory on Continental Drift in 1912. Because he failed to come up with the root cause (sea-floor spreading), he was vilified by the geologic community and, by some accounts, died a pauper as a direct result, though his theory was finally proven by the early 1960s.
Who today would refute that the continents drift? Yet, climate science undoubtedly has far more data to back up present climate warming than geophysicists have in support of continental drift. I suppose scientific debate is not always fair, but it should at least be scientific.
There are three questions that I get asked most frequently by the public or by students of my sessional classes in meteorology and physical geography, which I summarize as follows:
1. Has the climate really warmed significantly in the last 50 years (also define ‘significant')?
2. Is the relationship between recent GHG increases and climate warming theoretically sound?
3. Can most observed warming be attributed to factors other than the greenhouse effect, for example, urban heat island effect?
Based on major published literature, the answers respectively (unless I am reading all the wrong material) are clearly: yes (at the Hydrologic Cycle, maybe no on the Geologic Cycle timescales); yes (this has never really been a scientific debate in scientific textbooks for more than 100 years); and no (think of latitudes where the strongest warming is taking place and where major urban centres are located).
However, I recognize that some of you out there may have valid points in disagreement with this, or are simply unsure, and I therefore invite letters to the editor on these questions. Please limit responses to a short paragraph for each question, and include references to major refereed literature only. [I can guarantee that our Bulletin editor will limit space for this, and the shortest letters would have the highest probability for printing.] I may be opening a can of (dead) worms for debate, but I do so quite deliberately.
If you are an internet surfer, please keep watch for CMOS (and other) news on your web site at www.CMOS.ca. I would also suggest staying tuned for the IPCC's Fourth Assessment report, due in February, probably available even before you read this. Inside sources say that "it will not only confirm the grim warnings of the past, but will also amplify them".
In closing, let me pre-announce two important changes that we hope to implement this year. One concerns the need for a Communications Director for CMOS, already approved in principle by Council. Initially we perceive this person to be a volunteer like most of us in CMOS, perhaps with an honorarium offset. But ultimately, this position is important enough to warrant a paid employee or contract person - more on that later. Another long overdue change will be a membership fee increase. The last fee increase in 2001 was very modest, and CMOS undergoes the same rates of inflation as the rest of the world. Look for that to come in effect with our 2008 dues, subject to approval by our AGM.
Cheers,
Geoff Strong President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO February / février 2007)
As I write this during late-October, I am reviewing three objectives for CMOS set out in the August Bulletin – in short: (1) increase CMOS visibility publicly and politically; (2) address membership issues; and (3) encourage formal collaboration with other societies and scientific groups. Our Executive, Council, and various CMOS committees are starting to make some progress on these objectives, so I make this the main theme of my message.
Regarding the first objective, few people in the general public would recognize either our name or the acronym CMOS, yet we need that visibility in order to effectively represent our membership on issues of science and science policy in Canada. The climate change issue is one important example. Earlier this year, the federal government acknowledged correspondence and signatures from a group of 60 non-CMOS ‘scientists' who stated their doubts on IPCC reports on anthropogenic warming through increased greenhouse gases (GHGs), along with their general opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. The prime minister himself has repeated these doubts. A contrary letter from CMOS, which represents most of Canada's atmospheric, oceanographic and climatological scientists, and which confirmed general support for the conclusions of the IPCC report and for Kyoto, received comparatively little acknowledgment or press. CMOS does have among its membership internationally recognized scientists who have individually added their support to the climate issue, but our united stand on such issues is not really seen or understood by the general public. In other words, we are sometimes already 'divided and conquered' by united opposition, simply because we do not have that visibility. As one member put it at our Congress meetings, CMOS needs ‘branding' to be acknowledged. We are currently considering the possibility of having a Communications Officer for CMOS who could address visibility (and branding) issues. In the meantime, the CMOS Science Committee has been tasked with an updated policy statement on climate change for possible press release. This updated statement will clarify our stand with respect to climate change, urge government to take immediate actions to curb GHG emissions, and advocate a coordinated global response through the Kyoto Protocol. Previous CMOS policy statements are published at http://www.cmos.ca/policies.html.
Membership issues are being addressed in various ways by several committees, including the ad hoc Strategic Planning and Student Committees, Finance and Investment Committee, Science Committee, and always by Executive and Council of course. Our new Student Committee held its first teleconference meeting during October. Main issues that they discussed included student travel support for the 2007 Congress in St. John's, student outreach, including talks to elementary and high schools, participation in science fairs, plus many suggestions for content in a proposed CMOS electronic newsletter. This is a first great effort by the Student Committee, and we encourage all CMOS centres to give their support to this effort locally, particularly by including students on Centre executives, as students are the current and future lifeblood of CMOS. Another membership enterprise involves the launch of a Flight Service Specialist Accreditation Committee by CMOS, with potential membership of up to 400 flight service specialists (Note: CMOS currently has just over 800 members total). Meanwhile, we welcome other suggestions for increasing membership from our Centres.
On collaboration, we are cooperating with several societies, including the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU), the Royal Meteorological Society (RMS), and the Canadian GeoSciences Council (CGC). During November we will meet with CGU executive to discuss climate change issues and the upcoming joint congress. We have reciprocal agreements for reduced-rate associate memberships with both CGU and RMS. Our collaboration with CGC is limited to attending their annual meeting, as their membership largely consists of geologists and geophysicists and where the time/space scales are orders of magnitude greater than ours.
Other Issues and Events . . . .
We welcome the opinions of our membership on CMOS Policy Statements – what issues do you feel need to be addressed, how frequent should such statements be made, how should these be publicized (i. e., beyond our web site)? Our Tour Speaker, Fraser Davidson (with back-up from Dan Wright), is starting his rounds of centre talks during November. His talk on "Ocean Forecasts for Canadians: Improving Safety at Sea through Prediction of Ocean Behaviour" promises to be an interesting one. Please support this program by attending Fraser's (or Dan's) talk in your respective centre.
Did you know that CMOS is a registered charity and able to issue receipts for donations made to the Society? Donations provide us revenue for CMOS scholarships, for the Roger Daley Postdoctoral Publication Award and for the CMOS Development Fund. If you are interested in contributing, please find the link for "Donations to CMOS" on our web site. A good time to do this may be while you are renewing your annual membership.
Finally, please note that our annual drive to have memberships renewed for 2007 has started. It is especially helpful to receive early renewals in order to replenish low cash reserves at the end of the year and to avoid having to borrow or dip into the reserve fund. Membership fees are the largest single revenue source for the operating budget, closely followed by congress surpluses. Since fees have not changed since 2001, whereas activities and costs have increased substantially since then, it is time to consider raising our fees to bring them back into line with actual costs. This is your society, so support it by participating and renewing your membership. We invite you to renew early and easily on-line at https://www1.cmos.ca/.
Sincerely,
Geoff Strong President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO December / décembre 2006)
Summer has pretty much passed as I write this brief article, and it seems like the new year really begins in September when summer holidays are over and students head back to school or university, and some of us start teaching again. In agricultural areas, September is also a time to assess the results of harvest, often on the heels of drought in some regions, heavy rains over other areas, damaging hailstorms, tornadoes, etc. This summer has been no exception on the prairies, with deadly tornadoes in Manitoba, damaging hail in central Alberta during early August at the most critical time prior to harvest, and continuing drought in central Alberta despite the hailstorms. Other regions have comparable weather problems; for example, the Atlantic region is still under threat from hurricanes right through October, while all Canadians need to be concerned about climate change. Our Canadian weather and climate truly exert major controls on how we live.
Meanwhile, CMOS has received increased visibility as a result of its statement and press conference on climate change at the Toronto Congress, with various follow-up interviews and articles on this issue. This statement was published in the August CMOS Bulletin SCMO (Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 108-109). Our official stand has been to support the IPCC statement on climate change, which has the consensus of the majority of scientific experts nationally and internationally. This viewpoint was also reflected in a CMOS open letter to the Prime Minister in April also published in the June CMOS Bulletin SCMO (Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 71-72).
Further to this, the new CMOS ad hoc Strategic Planning Committee, at its first meeting in September, among other issues such as membership and publicity, will decide how best to address the motion passed at the Congress Annual General Meeting that committed us to take a more visible and effective, national and political role in support of issues relevant to CMOS and its members. The above actions show that we are already moving in that direction.
Finally, we will continue to vigourously publicize the upcoming Congress in St. John's next May. This will be somewhat of a watershed congress, since for the first time we will be co-hosting the congress with the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU), of which roughly half their members are hydrologists. The Eastern Snow Conference will also meet at this time, as well as three prominent committees of the American Meteorological Society (Polar Meteorology and Oceanography, Climate Variability, and Air-Sea Interactions). This level of interdisciplinary and international collaboration bodes very well for CMOS. Plan to attend this busy Congress while visiting one of the oldest and most interesting cities in North America!
Together with on-going issues, the coming year promises to be a very demanding one.
Sincerely,
Geoff Strong President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO October / octobre 2006)
I must confess to a little trepidation in taking on this new task of President at our Toronto Congress. First, it's hard to follow great acts in that position – in most recent years our presidents have been Susan Woodbury (2005-06), Hal Ritchie (2004-05), Allyn Clarke (2003-04), Ron Bianchi (2002-03), Ron Stewart (2001-02), and Peter Taylor (2000-01). On the positive side, it is reassuring to me that these people, and others they followed, are all long-time colleagues and friends with whom I have worked at various times for many years, not just within CMOS, but on various research teams, and even weather forecasting many years ago. Having served CMOS in a number of capacities over the years, I realize that the President's role is not one of management, but rather of working with a democratic team approach to all problems. From my perspective, that is very much like the joy of participating in scientific field research. The smallness of our scientific community and familiarity with most members can be a definite advantage when the same people often come together to address issues in either our science or in the Society.
The Toronto Congress saw an important passing of the torch, with the CMOS Executive moving from Halifax to the prairies. In addition to yours truly, members of the executive are:
New Members –
1) To increase the visibility of CMOS publicly and politically.
2) To continue to make progress on issues of CMOS membership,
in two ways: a) increasing communications with Centres, the life-blood
of our Society; and b) providing more visibility and influence for graduate
and undergraduate students within CMOS.
3) To encourage formal collaboration between CMOS and other relevant
societies and scientific groups, in particular, bringing together the
atmospheric, oceanographic and hydrologic sciences.
With climate change impacts becoming more evident every year, and federal government plans for addressing the issues still uncertain at this stage, the first objective will likely have increased importance (and difficulty) in future. On membership, we have already encouraged all of our 14 Centres to elect at least one student on their local executive, who would in turn interact with other students and encourage their participation; and, we have recently approved the formation of a new national ad hoc Student Committee, whose chair (Ms. Tiffany Shaw, a graduate student at the University of Toronto) will also sit on Council. And, on collaboration with other groups, happily, our next Congress in St. John's will be the first formal joint meeting between CMOS and CGU-Hydrology, along with an AMS group to boot.
We are taking the above challenges very seriously, and over the next few months the issues will be a priority for a new ad hoc Strategic Planning Committee formed at the first meeting of our new Executive in June. It is my sincere wish to make real progress on the stated objectives during the next year.
Finally, I would emphasize that CMOS is run entirely by volunteer efforts of members such as yourself. Without volunteers, CMOS could not exist, and then who would speak for our environment, unfettered from government policy and politics, economic concerns, and the like? CMOS has the scientific and moral justification for making our views on the environment and like issues known to the public. We urge you to be a volunteer, first by being a member, by participating first in your local Centre activities, and second in annual congresses, by contributing to scientific and informative articles in CMOS publications, and even by participating on the various CMOS committees and Council. I promise you will be welcomed with open arms!
Sincerely,
Geoff Strong,
President / Président
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO August / août 2006)
Because I was asked to participate in a Women in Science and Technology Panel Discussion about my career, I have been reflecting on some of the events which have occurred since my first course in Climatology with Svenn Orvig at McGill University in 1965. There have been many highlights, but it is very safe to say that being given the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the advancement of meteorology and oceanography in Canada, while serving as President of CMOS, has been a very great honour and privilege. Thank you so much.
During the past year we have taken several actions as a result of a review of the CMOS Vision Paper. These included the inauguration of an annual CMOS Photo Contest and the formation of the Finance and Investment and the Ad Hoc Student Committees. The Private Sector Committee, in conjunction with MSC, completed a regional tour of five MSC offices and formulated further plans for the formation of a Private Sector Industry Association. The Scientific Committee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Harper regarding the climate change debate, and three new accredited consultants were appointed by the Accreditation Committee. We supported Pelmorex in their bid before the CRTC for an All Channel Alert system. A host of activities have been accomplished at the local Centre level with interesting talks, involvement in science fairs and a very successful speaking tour by Phil, The Forecaster, Chadwick. The major focus of each year is the annual congress and we are indebted to Dave Hudak and Paul Kushner and their energetic committees for producing our 40th Annual Congress in Toronto. Meanwhile, teams of people have already started to plan for 2007 in St. John's, 2008 in Kelowna and 2009 in Halifax.
CMOS Publications have met their usual high standard thanks to the dedication of Richard Asselin and Paul-André Bolduc and their crews. I commend the entire CMOS National Office staff, under the very capable leadership of Ian Rutherford, for their commitment to CMOS and its aims. Many thanks to Bob Jones for upgrading and maintaining our website and to Lise Harvey for her efficient administration of all the accounts, for implementing individual files for each member and for pointing out numerous software bugs areas where procedures could be streamlined. It is truly amazing how much is accomplished by our enthusiastic staff and volunteers.
Also, I would like to express my thanks to the Executive – Bridget Thomas, Geoff Strong, Dan Kelley, Mike Dowd, Harold Ritchie, Rich Pawlowicz, Fraser Davidson, and Neil Campbell – for their tireless efforts on your behalf. It is with considerable pleasure that I turn the reins of office over to Geoff Strong and his western Canadian team. I am looking forward to working with them during the next year.
Finally, I hope you will consider becoming an active CMOS volunteer at the local or national level. The work is challenging and rewarding and it is a great way to make new friends and renew old acquaintances.
Thank you.
Susan Woodbury, ACM, FCMOS Outgoing President / Présidente sortante
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO June / juin 2006)
The first part of 2006 has been an extraordinarily busy time of year
for CMOS. The national office has been preoccupied with processing abstracts,
membership renewals, congress registrations and nominations for prizes
and awards. The Toronto Congress organizers are moving into high gear in
order to have everything ready for our arrival in late May. I hope you
are planning to attend!
Because we thought that it was important for CMOS members to receive
information in a timely fashion, the Vision Committee did a quick survey
of CMOS Councillors to determine if they thought an electronic newsletter,
in
addition to the CMOS Bulletin SCMO, was a good idea. Here is
a summary of the responses that we received.
Some respondents thought that an electronic newsletter was a good idea, provided that we could find a volunteer to publish it. It was noted that it is not a trivial job since it involves going after material on a proactive basis. It should be seen as a supplement to, not a replacement for, the CMOS Bulletin SCMO.
It was suggested that we hire a reporter to write the news items. This employee could do phone or in person interviews with informed sources. Of course, unsolicited news would also be accepted. Further ideas included coverage of each Canadian university with a met or ocean program, each of DFO and MSC and their appropriate operational as well as research components, each Private Sector company, relevant NGOs, etc. Find out what is going on, what is coming, opportunities for employment, scholarships, etc. It was recommended that we get assistance from a communications expert to help us get the project organized.
There were content suggestions such as late-breaking news, announcements, meeting notices, government policy changes, items from the various institutions we deal with, government labs, universities, other societies, events of significance to members in various categories, obituaries, promotions, new job opportunities, grants, awards, and program changes.
Others noted that it should be kept short – otherwise it won't be read.
It is very important that we define the mandate for the Newsletter and make sure that there is coordination between the Newsletter and Bulletin editors.
Many organizations are relying on electronic publications to disseminate information in a more timely fashion. However, it should be noted that although about 90% of our membership has access to email/internet, there would be extra charges to those members who don't have access to the web, if they wanted to receive the Newsletter.
Other respondents noted that we have a hard enough time getting enough information for a 32-page Bulletin and noted that there wasn't enough material for another publication. Perhaps we could expand the Bulletin to a 48-page format (indeed, the last two issues have been 36 pages), adding whatever we could, such as a historical article section to the Bulletin. Members could be asked to write a historical sketch. Let's generate more interest in the Bulletin.
Some people find that electronic newsletters get buried in the ever-increasing pile of email while the Bulletin can be picked up and read anywhere.
We also received some technical advice which is worth noting. The SPAM issue must not be overlooked. Many people now have their electronic inboxes so restricted that any bulk mailings, solicited or otherwise, get snagged in filters. Another concern may be the constant changes to email addresses.
We had one suggestion to try video! With increasing fast access, emailing of a short mpeg file, with sound of course, from the President or Executive Director would certainly be viewed and read by most of the recipients.
So, there you have it. We would be delighted to hear from you. Do you want an electronic newsletter, in addition to the CMOS Bulletin SCMO? Are you interested in being the editor or a regular contributor to such a publication? Your opinions are important. Write to me at president@cmos.ca
With best regards,
Susan Woodbury, ACM, FCMOS President / Présidente
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO April / avril 2006)
We have had interesting email discussions and teleconferences regarding the proliferation of weather-related articles in our national and local newspapers and magazines. Several CMOS members have taken exception to the way that our science is being portrayed by a number of reporters, scientists and weathercasters. Some were disconcerted about a MACLEAN'S Magazine article that dubbed our own David Phillips as Canada's 'Chicken Little' while others were offended by the Dec. 12th Ottawa Citizen article titled "We now know what we don't know about climate change" by Tad Murty and felt that it went "way beyond scientific credibility." Still others have voiced their concern about TV "weathermen" doing "clown tricks" and using questionable weather graphics with "warm fronts moving south" and other nonsensical things. CMOS doesn't have a committee that evaluates and responds to these sorts of issues. Nor do we have the funds to hire someone with media/marketing experience who could help us to deliver a message to the public. As we continue to discuss the vision for CMOS in the future, we would be very interested in your opinions about the role CMOS should take, if any. Are there steps that could be taken by our Society to advance the public image of meteorology in Canada? Please write me at president@cmos.ca with your ideas.
On a more positive note, I encourage you to nominate a colleague for a CMOS prize or award. Although the February 15th deadline for some awards may have passed by the time that you receive this, there is still an opportunity to nominate candidates for CMOS Fellow or for the Neil J. Campbell Medal (deadline March 15th).
Let's make the CMOS congress in Toronto May 29 to June 1, 2006 an event to remember! The organizing committee has been working feverishly to prepare a stimulating week of science and entertainment. Encourage your friends, colleagues and students to submit abstracts and to register for the Congress. This can be done through the first link on the CMOS web site.
Here are some highlights from the December Council meeting:
1) Council approved the formation of an Ad Hoc Flight Service Specialist Accreditation Committee to develop Terms of Reference for a permanent committee and a CMOS accreditation program for FSSs. The committee will be chaired by Ron Bianchi.
2) Council approved the upgrading of the existing Ad Hoc Finance and Investment Committee to a full Council-Appointed Committee and approved its Terms of Reference.
3) Council approved the formation of an Ad Hoc Student Committee and its Terms of Reference.
Your Executive, Council and National Headquarters are working very hard on your behalf to promote meteorology and oceanography in Canada. Let us know if we can help you in your personal efforts to do the same.
With best regards,
Susan Woodbury, ACM, FCMOS President / Présidente
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO February / février 2006)
In early November, Ian Rutherford and I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Marc Denis Everell, Assistant Deputy Minister, Environment Canada (Meteorological Service of Canada) and with Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright, Assistant Deputy Minister, Fisheries and Oceans (Science) in Ottawa. We spoke extensively with each ADM, outlining CMOS' relationship with each department, describing our role in the development and delivery of the PAGSE (Partnership Group for Science and Engineering) and CCR (Canadian Consortium for Research) briefs for funding scientific research, offering to work with the department on various topics and seeking advice on how to attract more meteorologists and oceanographers to join CMOS. We gave a presentation to Dr. Everell on the growth of the meteorological and oceanographic private sector since 2002. Please see the December 2005 Bulletin on page 163 the brief presented by PAGSE to the House of Commons Finance Committee (page 168 en français).
The CMOS Ad Hoc Vision Committee, which consists of Neil Campbell, Hal Ritchie, Ian Rutherford, Gilles Simard and myself, began its deliberations in October. If there are topics which you would like us to address, please send me an email at president@cmos.ca. We are using the document, CMOS in 2003/2004 and its Future, which can be found at http://www.cmos.ca/VisionPapere.pdf, as the basis for our discussions.
We are pleased to see that Dr. Lawrence Mysak has been awarded the ACFAS Michel-Jurdant Prize for Environmental Sciences. It is well-deserved recognition for one of our leading members. See page 175 of the Bulletin for more details.
It is membership renewal time! Your prompt attention to your renewal notice would be greatly appreciated. Also, please take time to consider adding a donation to help to fund the prizes and awards which CMOS administers. Your generosity will be acknowledged with an official tax receipt. Thank you.
Best wishes for a happy, healthy and safe holiday season.
Susan Woodbury, ACM, FCMOS President / Présidente
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO December / décembre 2005)
It is early September as I write this article, not many days since Hurricane Katrina steamrolled over the Gulf States leaving death and destruction in its wake. Those of us who suffered through the wrath of Hurricane Juan just two years ago have, perhaps, some inkling about how difficult it is to clean up after a major catastrophe. However, the damage here was minimal compared to the devastation that we have witnessed in New Orleans. The frequency and intensity of these natural disasters highlight the need for sustained and well-funded research in all aspects of our sciences. In the coming months you will see evidence of the extensive lobby work which is being done this fall by PAGSE (Partnership Group for Science and Engineering), CCR (Canadian Consortium for Research) and CFCAS (Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences) to secure more funding for science and technology research and development. I sincerely hope that their efforts are rewarded.
Your national office staff contributes a great deal of time to the smooth running of the Society. We are indebted to Ian Rutherford, Uri Schwarz, Neil Campbell, Richard Asselin, Paul-André Bolduc, Lise Harvey, Dorothy Neale and Bob Jones for their dedication to CMOS. Dick Stoddart continues to run the Secretariat for the CNCs for SCOR and ECOR on behalf of CMOS and DFO and Bill Pugsley keeps on top of data privacy and security issues and is available to our members for the redress of any lapses.
CMOS has supported DFO, EC and NOAA in the logistics of running the JCOMM II Assembly conference in September in Halifax.
Our new Ad Hoc Finance Committee is composed of Richard Asselin, Dan Kelley, Ian Rutherford, Mike Stacey, Dick Stoddart and me. We met in September and have developed a long list of topics to analyze in the coming months. If there are financial issues you would like us to cover, please send me an email at president@cmos.ca.
Have you been considering joining the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) http://www.rmets.org/index.php and/or the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU) http://www.cgu-ugc.ca/? If so, CMOS has negotiated great membership deals for you. CMOS members are eligible for a 25% discount off membership fees for the RMetS and CGU is offering us associate memberships. Members of both these societies are eligible for associate membership in CMOS so please encourage your colleagues in those societies to join CMOS too.
I hope that you are using the CMOS website http://www.cmos.ca/ as a resource tool. It is jam packed full of useful information and updated frequently with important notices of local centre meetings, What's New announcements, job postings and much more. The Members Only section is a useful resource tool. If you haven't done so already, please take a moment to update your contact information in the members-only directory. Our webmaster, Bob Jones, webmaster@cmos.ca, is always happy to hear from our members.
Our congratulations are extended to Dr. Timothy Oke, urban weather decoder,
who is the 2005 winner of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Massey
Medal for "outstanding achievement in the field of Canadian Geography."
http://www.rcgs.org/rcgs/awards/awards_massey05.asp Other CMOS members
who have won this award are: James P. Bruce
(1996), Dr. Byron Boville (1990), Morley Thomas (1984) and Kenneth
Hare (1974). We have received the annual invitation to CMOS for nominations
for the RCGS Massey and Gold Medals. CMOS members may wish to visit the
RCGS web site
(http://www.rcgs.org/rcgs/awards/awards.asp)
for information on how to do so.
I hope all CMOS members enjoy a rewarding, successful and profitable fall season.
Susan Woodbury, ACM, FCMOS President / Présidente
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO October / octobre 2005)
I was very impressed with the extraordinary efforts made by the Vancouver Local Arrangements and Science Program Committees to host the Annual Congress this past June. This team laboured behind the scenes (sometimes all night) to ensure that those who attended enjoyed and benefited from the oral presentations, exhibits and posters. At the last CMOS Executive meeting in late June, it was noted that there should have been an evaluation form, so that attendees could tell the organizers what they did and didn't like. This will be rectified next year. Meanwhile, if you would like to tell the organizers anything, please send an email to president@cmos.ca and I will make sure to forward it to the appropriate people.
There are some new initiatives which the CMOS Executive will launch this year. An AD HOC Vision Committee is being formed to discuss how we are doing in implementing the vision as presented in CMOS in 2003/2004 and its Future http://www.cmos.ca/VisionPapere.pdf and to formulate new plans.
In addition, the AD HOC Finance Committee is being reinstated to advise the Executive and Council about the future financial viability of the Society by taking a long view on things like projected revenue and expenses, in the light of current trends and the strategic vision. It will devise a strategic financial plan. Out of that should come recommendations on the evolution of membership fees, subscription fees, revenue from meetings, donations and contributions, investment policy, investment in infrastructure and contingency plans for loss of government subsidies. The committee will also have responsibility for review of budget proposals in the shorter term but in the light of the strategic plan for finances. If you are interested in submitting ideas to these committees or in being part of the discussion, please contact me at president@cmos.ca.
We will be initiating a new feature in each CMOS Bulletin to highlight the achievements and contributions of our dedicated volunteers. If you would like to write a feature article, please contact Paul-André Bolduc at bulletin@cmos.ca.
I trust that you are having a good summer despite the humidity, floods, fog and thunderstorms which have plagued various parts of the country.
Susan Woodbury, ACM, FCMOS President, Présidente
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO August / août 2005)
Well, here it is already – the duet from the Presidents' Desks. Serving as President for the past year has been an honour and privilege for me. With your strong support we have had a busy and productive year which is covered in the CMOS Annual Review 2004 Revue annuelle de la SCMO that was presented at our Annual General Meeting on May 31 at CMOS/SCMO 2005 Congress in Vancouver, and can also be found by clicking on the "CMOS Bulletin" tab in the Members Only section of our CMOS web site www.cmos.ca. Our Society thrives because of the continuing involvement of many volunteers who are active on committees and in CMOS centres across Canada, and I express my gratitude to all of you. In particular, I would like to thank fellow Council members, staff in the CMOS Office, and especially the Executive members whose dedication, efficiency and enthusiasm as members of the CMOS team have made this year so enjoyable.
There are a few individuals whom I would be remiss not to mention. Ian Rutherford's expert handling of his new responsibilities as Executive Director has certainly been a great help to me as President, and to us all through the continuing modernization of our National CMOS Office. After providing a smooth transition for the "Nova Scotia" executive during his year as President, Allyn Clarke continued to be actively involved as Past-President, sharing his wise counsel and corporate memory, and carrying several files for us. Thank you, Allyn, for your three years of outstanding service on the CMOS Executive. Which brings us to our Vice-President, Susan Woodbury, who has thoughtfully and effectively jumped into her responsibilities, enhancing clarity and focus within the Executive as she prepared to take over the reins at this time. I look forward to another active year on the Executive under Susan's leadership, and I am sure that she will enjoy your continuing support and enthusiasm.
Harold (Hal) Ritchie, Outgoing President / Président sortant
On behalf of the entire membership I would like to express my sincere thanks to Hal Ritchie for his sound leadership of the CMOS Council and Executive over the past year.
I am looking forward to working with the staff of the National CMOS Office and the Council. This year we will review the CMOS vision as expressed in the paper, CMOS in 2003/2004 and its Future, to ensure that we are meeting our targets and to set new goals. I encourage all members to contact me, the CMOS Office and/or the Council regarding meteorological and oceanographic topics with which CMOS can be of assistance. Together we will do our part to write the next chapter of CMOS' distinguished history.
I have worked in both the public and private sectors, in both meteorology and oceanography, during my career. I trust that this diverse background will assist me to serve you and CMOS effectively.
Susan Woodbury, Incoming President / Nouvelle présidente
(CMOS Bulletin SCMO June / juin 2005)
 |
Homepage / Page d'accueil
URL: http://www.cmos.ca/president.html |
