Call for courses 2016

Below are the proposals for upcoming courses that were submitted fall 2016. The ones that were funded are shown in the table at the bottom.


A1: BUBBLES 2017: The role of methane in marine and terrestrial environment – International school: Initiative provides significant international exposure, which is good for CHESS PhD students. There was a general consensus in the CHESS SG about a financial contribution by CHESS, but the SG reduced the granted amount, because the applied sum was 1/3 of total call. 

A2: Community Land Model tutorial and workshop: Course content very relevant to CHESS mission, but the content appeared very similar to another proposal on Land-Atmosphere interactions, i.e., Parameterizations in Earth System Models from Lena Tallaksen at UiO. The CHESS SG decided that these two courses should be merged and envisions that this could lead to further synergies that benefit the offered course as well as enhances collaboration among CHESS partners.

A3: Solar effects on natural climate variability in the North Atlantic and Arctic: The SG of CHESS decided that the proposed activity is relevant to CHESS, though rather on the side of the CHESS mission. The organisers are recommended to try to link the activity more towards the core CHESS activities and the CHESS mission and are encouraged to resubmit their proposed activity for the call next year.

A4: Large-scale turbulence course: The SG of CHESS agreed that this course, which was offered annually in ResClim, will be arranged in 2017 and should be offered every other year after that, i.e., the next course will be offered 2019.

A5: Ocean/Atmosphere Time Series Analysis – Theory and Practice: The SG of CHESS discussed that this topic is generally covered in standard courses offered through physics and maths departments. However, it was pointed out that the content of these courses is often not tailored enough to the needs of our PhD students. Hence, the CHESS SG decided that this course will be arranged for 2017, though the organisers should explore the possible course portfolio at partner institutions of CHESS, also in the maths and physics departments, to see how a subsequent proposition of this course could cover aspects not covered in standard data analysis courses.

A6: Bornö Summer School Practice: The SG of CHESS decided that an involvement in such a summer school could leave a great legacy of CHESS if this summer school develops into a larger Northern European venture for atmosphere-ocean dynamics. However, as of today, this activity is currently on the side of what CHESS can fund. It was decided that discussions should ensue with the other partners about making this an annual CHESS summer school in collaboration with the partners. This could be achieved through funding from Copenhagen, Hamburg and maybe Stockholm. Hence, there was a consensus to fund the CHESS participation in this summer school in 2017 and that the participation should be used to engage with the partners to turn this into an annual larger Northern European activity.

A7: PhD course on hydrometeorological downscaling and bias correction techniques: The SG of CHESS found the proposed activity with its topic within the CHESS mission, in particular, the activity features a high degree of collaboration among CHESS partner institutions. However, the SG of CHESS found that the activity has a rather specific topic with a narrow focus, limiting the potential participants among CHESS members. Due to the fact that there appears to be a larger participation of non-CHESS participants, there was a consensus to offer co-sponsorship for this activity with a budget cut of around 25 kNOK with respect to the total applied sum.

A8: Land-Atmosphere interactions: parameterizations in Earth System Models: Course content very relevant to CHESS mission, but the content appeared very similar to another proposal, i.e., Community Land Model tutorial and workshop from Hanna Lee at UNI Research. The CHESS SG decided that these two courses should be merged and envisions that this could lead to further synergies that benefits the offered course as well as enhances collaboration among CHESS partners.

A9: Climatological Vegetation Ecology: The SG of CHESS decided that the proposed activity is relevant to CHESS, though rather on the side of the CHESS mission. The organisers are recommended to try to link the activity more towards the core CHESS activities and the CHESS mission and are encouraged to resubmit their proposed activity for the call next year. In particular, we encourage the organisers to connect to groups working on similar topics among CHESS partners, such as UiB, where there is also a larger group working on ecology in changing climates.

A10: Applied Bayesian Modeling for climate scientists: The SG of CHESS finds this topic very relevant and within the CHESS mission. However, the CHESS SG decided to not directly fund this activity, as CHESS already features an annual statistics course offered by the same group at the University of Exeter. However, we propose that the applicants get in a dialogue with the organisers of the annual statistics course to negotiate a shift in topic, or adding Bayesian statistics to the annual course. The SG of CHESS will also communicate this wish with the organisers of the annual statistics course and the CHESS leadership will offer assistance in negotiating such a merging and shifting of focus within the annual statistics course.


The following decisions were made for funding:

NameSum
A1: BUBBLES 2017: The role of methane in marine and terrestrial environment – International school50000
A2 merged with A8: Land-Atmosphere interactions: parameterizations in Earth System Models tutorial and workshop100000
A4: Large turbulence course30000
A5: Ocean/Atmosphere Time Series Analysis: Theory and Practice60000
A6: Bornö Summer School Practice25000
A7: PhD course on hydrometeorological downscaling and bias correction techniques 50000
Total315000