THORPEX Highlights

Click here for pdf version of full agenda
(14 November 2006)

The North American THORPEX Societal and Economic Research and Applications (NAT SERA) workshop was held August 14-16, 2006 in Boulder, Colorado.

The objective of the NAT SERA effort is to develop a social science research agenda for the Societal and Economic Research and Applications (SERA) component of North American THORPEX.

Workshop discussions focused around four themes:

1. predicting hazardous weather impacts and communicating uncertainty;
2. user-relevant verification;
3. the use of economic value of forecasts in decision making; and
4. developing decision support systems and applications.

Prior to the workshop, a discussion paper was solicited for each of the four themes.  Three cross-cutting themes were also addressed: defining high-impact weather forecasts, framing use and value of weather forecasts, and transferring benefits to developing countries

In conjunction with other components of the THORPEX program, this agenda will help set priorities and guide social science-physical science interdisciplinary research related to 1-to-14 day high-impact weather forecasts. A summary paper and report present recommendations for potential research to be funded by appropriate agencies and organizations.

The workshop was funded by a grant from the NCAR Opportunity Fund, with additional support from the THORPEX International Program Office and other contributions.

Participants

	Name	Name
	Mike Baldwin Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Purdue University	Harold Brooks Head, Mesoscale Applications Group National Severe Storms Laboratory/FRDD National Weather Center
	Barbara Brown NCAR/RAL	Brian W. Bush Energy & Infrastructure Analysis Group Los Alamos National Laboratory
	John Cahir Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education (Emeritus) Prof. Meteorology (Emeritus) The Pennsylvania State University	Barbara Casati Meteorological Research Division Environment Canada
	Jim Caughey THORPEX IPO Geneva	Valentina Davydova-Belitskaya Gerente de Redes de Observacion y Telematica Unidad del Servicio Meteorologico Nacional (Deputy Director of the National Meteorological Service of Mexico)
	Lisa deBaie Environment Canada	Nicholas E. Flores Associate Professor and Department Chair of Economics Faculty Research Associate, Institute of Behavioral Science Principal Investigator, National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics University of Colorado
	Philip Ganderton Dept of Economics University of New Mexico	John Gaynor NOAA Office of Weather and Air Quality
	Konstantine P. Georgakakos Director Hydrologic Research Center Adjunct Professor Scripps Institution of Oceanography UCSD	Bob Goldhammer CEM Region VII Vice-President International Association of Emergency Managers
	Eve Gruntfest National Center for Atmospheric Research	Greg Holland NCAR/ESSL/MMM National Center for Atmospheric Research
	Susan Joslyn University of Washington Department of Psychology	Cody Knutson Water Resources Scientist National Drought Mitigation Center
	Benjamin L. Lamptey NCAR (RAL)	Jeff Lazo Director - Societal Impacts Program National Center for Atmospheric Research
	Irving Leveson Leveson Consulting	William Mahoney Director, Weather Systems & Assessment Program Research Applications Laboratory National Center for Atmospheric Research
	Brian Mills Adaptation and Impacts Research Group Environment Canada	Rebecca Morss Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division & Institute for the Study of Society and Environment National Center for Atmospheric Research
	Robert O'Connor Program Director Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Division of Social and Economic Sciences Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences National Science Foundation	Dan O'Hair Presidential Professor Director, Institute for Communication Research President, National Communication Association Department of Communication University of Oklahoma
	David Parsons North American THORPEX Regional Co-Chair National Center for Atmospheric Research	Walter Gillis Peacock Professor and Director Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center Texas A&M University
	Eugene Poolman Senior Manager: Prediction Research South African Weather Service	Paul J. Roebber Atmospheric Science Group Department of Mathematical Sciences University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
	Paty Romero-Lankao Deputy Director Institute for the Study of Society and Environment National Center for Atmospheric Research	Sarah Ruth Program Coordinator Division of Atmospheric Sciences National Science Foundation
	Melvyn Shapiro NOAA Office of Weather and Air Quality	Douglas A. Smith Professor of Economics Carleton University
	Alan E. Stewart Associate Professor Coordinator, Community Counseling Masters Program Department of Counseling & Human Development The University of Georgia	Steven Stewart SAHRA/Hydrology and Water Resources University of Arizona
	Zoltan Toth Environmental Modeling Center, NOAA/NWS/NCEP	Lloyd A. Treinish IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
	Jorge-Luis Vázquez-Aguirre AGROASEMEX, S.A.	Lawrence Wilson Head, Statistics and Model Diagnostics Research Meteorological Research Division Environment Canada