Third Session of the Forum on Regional Climate Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction for Asia (FOCRAII)

（Second Announcement）

April 4-6, 2007, Beijing, China

Background

The "climate" for a season is commonly defined by the average and other statistics related to temperature or precipitation over a region for a prescribed three-month period. Despite the fact that the skill of scientifically based seasonal climate prediction has improved substantially over the past two decades, seasonal climate prediction still remains a scientific challenge. This is due to the complex nature of the problem and ever increasing demand of climate information from society. Routine seasonal climate prediction is now being attempted at a small number of forecast centers around the world. In 1998 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) proposed to establish Regional Climate Centers (RCCs），focusing on providing products of seasonal to interannual climate prediction for the national Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) of its members. The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has long recognized the need to build the capacity of the climate prediction. Building on the existing infrastructure and expertise of the National Climate Center in China, the CMA established the Beijing Climate Centre (BCC) in 2003, in order to make the tailored climate forecast products that can contribute to the regional sustainable development in Asia.

The first session of the FOCRAII has been held successfully in Beijing in 2005. The objective of this Forum is twofold. The first is to offer a review of the limitations and prospects of seasonal to interannual climate prediction methodologies and systems. The second is to provide a platform to share the experience and prediction products for Asia from the climate prediction centers around the world.

The training course and the workshop

A two-day training course (April 4-5) and a one day workshop (April 6) will be organized. The two-day training course is intended for participants with strong skills in climate science and who are or will be in a position to work with climate predictions at their home institution. For this course, several internationally well known experts will be invited to give lectures. In addition, the participants will be given the opportunity to interact with the experts and to have discussions among themselves. Visit to the forecasting facilities at the CMA will be organized. For the workshop, the focus will be on presentation and discussion of the climate forecasting products for Asia (atmospheric circulation, temperature, precipitation, monsoon, typhoon and ENSO etc.). Both oral and poster presentations can be made at the workshop. An abstract should be submitted independent of the presentation form.

An updated program of the training course and workshop will be available at the BCC’s home page (http://bcc.cma.gov.cn/en/FOCRAII2007/) soon. 

Sponsors and organization

The workshop is organized and co-sponsored by the Beijing Climate Centre of China Meteorological Administration, in collaboration with the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Science and Technology of PRC and State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. The sponsors cover meals and hotel costs for all participants during the training course and the workshop. Travel funds may be made available for some of the participants. There is no registration fee.

Important dates

·      Feb.28, 2007: Deadline for submission of registration form

March 1, 2007: Issue the second circular

March 20, 2007: Deadline for submission of abstract

April 3, 2007: Registration in Beijing

April 4-6, 2007: FOCRAII

Place and Date

The training course and the workshop will be held in Beijing, China at the Beijing Climate Centre, China Meteorological Administration (BCC/CMA) from April 4 through 6, 2007.

Hotel information

Block reservation has been made at Beijing Friendship Hotel (4 stars). Please fill in the form in annex for reservation.

Beijing Friendship Hotel is the largest garden- style hotel in Asia. Built in 1954, it covers an area of 335,000 square meters. Its style is of classic elegance with traditional Chinese architecture. It offers a full range of amenities, including a large variety of services, such as restaurants, rooms, business center, halls for meetings and symposiums and recreational facilities of international standards.

Check-out time: 12 Noon

Address:  1 Zhangguancun Nandajie, Beijing, China

Postal code: 100873

Tel:  (8610)68498880

Fax:  (8610)68499168

Weather

Beijing has a continental climate with clearly defined seasons. The weather in Beijing during the conference will be fairly pleasant, but it is generally dry and can be occasional windy. The average temperature is about 14.2℃. The mean maximum is 20℃ and minimum 7℃. The average precipitation during April is 21.4 mm with 4.6 days of rain.

Visa Application

Visas are required to enter to China. An official invitation letter for this application will be sent to those who have returned the Pre Registration Form.

Correspondence should be addressed to

Mr. SUN Yuan

Division of Research and Operation Management

Beijing Climate Center

China Meteorological Administration

46 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Haidian, Beijing 100081, China

Telephone : (8610)68400093

Fax :      (8610)68400097

Email : sunyuan@cma.gov.cn