User consultation

GlobSnow project: 1st User workshop

The first DUE GlobSnow User workshop will be held at Innsbruck, Austria, 12 - 13 January 2010. The DUE GlobSnow User workshop 1 will present the work carried out during the first year of operations on GlobSnow.

The consortium will present the prototype datasets and algorithm evaluation results in detail for both the Snow Extent (SE) and the Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) products. The main purpose of the user workshop is to gather information and feedback on the GlobSnow products and to arrange for an open forum to discuss the assumptions and possible requests from the user community. Time for presentations by interested parties will also be arranged.

Some of the key questions that will be discussed during the workshop concerning the SE and SWE products are:

* Are the prototype data feasible for the User community (what needs to be changed?)
* Suggestions for product improvement concerning the SE and SWE prototype products

Additional details:

* What are the accuracy requirements concerning the SE and SWE products?
* How should the accuracy and reliability information be included in the products?
* What timespan should be utilized for the aggregated SE and SWE products (weekly,10-days, biweekly, monthly)?
* Are there suggestions to improve the existing coverage (temporal and spatial) for the SE product
* Are there alternative (more suitable) cloud masking approaches that could be used for SE mapping for ATSR-2 and AATSR data
* Are there issues concerning the merging of several algorithms for SE evaluation on different regions (mountainous vs. non-mountainous areas)?
* Are there issues related to using synoptic weather station data as part of the generation of SWE products?

The topics will be introduced by the consortium and the decisions and the way forward with the GlobSnow project will be decided based on the response from the User community.

Additional topics may be raised by the Users. Additionally, if a participant from the user community wishes to give a presentation during the Workshop on one of the identified topics or another related to GlobSnow activites, they are encouraged to reserve a presentation slot from the GlobSnow consortium. The organizing committee is led by Dr. Kari Luojus (FMI). The local organizing is led by Dr. Thomas Nagler (ENVEO) who has additional knowledge concerning the venue and accommodation.

The organizers can be contacted via email for further information:
Dr. Kari Luojus (firstname.lastname@fmi.fi)
Dr. Thomas Nagler (firstname.lastname@enveo.at)
Dr. Bojan Bojkov (firstname.lastname@esa.int)

Agenda

Tuesday 12 January 2010

13:30 Welcome
13:35 Overview on GlobSnow Project and Aim of the Workshop, Key Questions to be resolved
14:00 Importance of Snow
14:20 Overview on the GlobSnow SE Product
15:10 GlobSnow SAR Study
15:30 Coffee Break
16:00 Overview on the GlobSnow SWE Product
16:45 Future missions for Cryosphere
17:15 Ice Breaker