AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

Meeting of the Council

3–4 October 2002

Newport, RI

Minutes

President Rosen called the Council to order at 8:00 a.m. on 3 October.

Present: President Rosen, President-Elect Friday, Past-Presidents Kimpel and Serafin; Councilors Arkin, Atlas, Barros, Carr, Fein, Fine, Geller, Karoly, Lyons, Schlatter, Stephens; Commissioners Avery, Ban, Colman, Klemp, and Rasmusson; Executive Director McPherson; Recorders Seitter and Annese.

1. Agenda and opening remarks

President Rosen welcomed everyone to the meeting. He said that he had been enjoying his term as president and was impressed by the dedication of those in our field that he had come into contact with during his attendance at meetings and other activities during the year. He then briefly reviewed the agenda.

2. Minutes of previous meetings

No action was required for the minutes of prior meetings since they had been approved by e-mail ballot.

3. STAC Commission report

Commissioner Colman provided a mid-year report on the activities of STAC. He said that he felt the first day-long meeting of STAC chairs that had been held at the 2002 Annual Meeting had gone well and that it should be made an annual event. Colman reported that the concept of assistant chairs for STAC committees was being discussed to help spread the workload. He also reported that several of the committees had instituted Web sites, and more were in the planning stages.

4. Named symposia

The Council voted to approve the modification of the named symposia procedures as recommended by the Executive Committee. The new procedures introduce the additional guidelines that a named symposium at an annual meeting should be limited to one day and that no more than two named symposia should be held at an annual meeting.

5. Named sessions

President Rosen outlined the proposal by the Executive Committee to formalize the process for approving named sessions at conferences, with the Executive Committee providing approval. There was some discussion of the need to allow flexibility on the part of the program committees to use named sessions to honor leaders in the field. The Council voted to approve the following policy:

A session within an established conference or symposium may be named after an individual, living or deceased, with approval of the Executive Committee on the recommendation of the STAC Commissioner.

[Councilor Glackin joined the meeting at this time.]

6. Publications Commission report

Commissioner Klemp reported on a variety of new features and initiatives for the AMS journals, including a new option allowing nonsubscribers to purchase access at the article level, cross-references to content in non AMS journals, the Web-based manuscript tracking system and its use to support online submission of manuscripts, and an initiative in NOAA to post online the issues of Monthly Weather Review that predate AMS being the publisher of that journal. Klemp said the Commission has recognized the need to move forward in electronic initiatives with care to ensure that the steps taken are consistent with future needs, and that the Headquarters Staff under Publications Director Heideman was preparing a strategic plan for a future paperless publication process.

Klemp noted that the unified manuscript tracking project continues to evolve but has not been a smooth process. Some journals are using it more than others, but it needs to be adopted by all journals to fulfill its objective. An advisory group has been established to help guide the development of the application. Klemp urged that resources continue to be put into the development so that a usable system can be in place as soon as possible.

Klemp reported that the Commission had approved the recommendation to make the online version of the journal be the journal of record, and noted that the Council would address this in the next agenda item. Klemp noted that Earth Interactions had a new chief editor and that it appeared to be on a path that should make it a stronger and more active publication.

President Rosen thanked Klemp and the rest of the Publications Commission for their hard work. The Council then voted to approve the following appointments and reappointments for the Commission: Monthly Weather Review: Editor, Steven Cohn with a three-year appointment ending in ‘06; Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences: Kerry Emanuel and Bjorn Stevens as editors with three-year appointments ending in ‘06 and Ka-Kit Tung extended for an additional two-year term; Journal of Hydrometeorology: James A. Smith, as editor for a three-year appointment; Journal of Physical Oceanography: extension of the terms for an additional two years ending ‘05 to Peter Muller, Chief Editor, Eric Firing, Lynne Talley as editors; Monograph Editors: extension of the terms for an additional two years ending ‘05 to Peter Ray and John Perry; At-Large Members of the Commission: reappointment for two years ending ‘05 to Richard Orville and appoint Dennis Boccippio for a three-year term ending ‘06. The Council also voted to add the position of chief editor of Earth Interactions to the Publications Commission as a voting member.

7. Making the online version of the journals the journal of record

After some discussion of the issues, the Council voted to approve the following motion:

That the electronic database of journal content, currently coded in SGML, be the official journal of record for all AMS journals beginning 2003, with the official dissemination path for each journal being the delivery of the database content online using HTML, XML, or subsequent technology.

On the recommendation of the Executive Committee, the Council also voted that each discrete step that represents a divergence of the online version of the journals from the print (such as using color figures online and black and white in print) be approved by the Executive Committee, on the recommendation of the Publications Commission, after review of the proposed change in the context of the overall evolution of the journals.

8. Procedures for named monographs

President Rosen introduced the proposed policy on named monographs provided by Commissioner Klemp that had been discussed by the Executive Committee the previous day. An important aspect of that proposed policy was a clarification that Council approval for a named monograph only approved the concept of such a monograph, but that it still had to pass the same rigorous review for scientific content and utility to the community as any other monograph. It was noted that the detailed procedures were under the purview of the chief editor of the monograph series and the Publications Commission, thus Council approval was not required at that level of detail proposed. Rosen suggested that it might be sufficient to express the sense of the Council that it reaffirms the authority of the monograph editor to oversee the process leading to the creation of a monograph to ensure that it meets the high standards of the Society for publication. Klemp agreed to draft a motion for later consideration that encompassed the spirit of the discussion.

9. Commission on Education and Human Resources

Commissioner Avery reported on the activities of the boards and committees under the Commission, including the Symposium on Education, collaboration of the Commission with UCAR educational activities, the upcoming Heads and Chairs meeting that will be held jointly with AGU this fall, and work on a BAMS article that describes the role that AMS educational activities have had on national and local education standards. Commissioner Avery noted that having student members on the boards appeared to be working well, and there was some level of consensus among the Council that expanding this practice within the STAC and Professional Affairs commissions be encouraged.

On the recommendation of Commissioner Avery, the Council voted to approve that the Board on Education and Public Outreach be renamed the Board on Outreach and Precollege Education. The Council also voted to approve the following appointments and reappointments: Committee of Judges for Undergraduate Awards: appoint as chair for one year, Richard E. Orville and appoint Margaret LeMone to a four-year term ending ‘07. Board on Higher Education: reappoint for three years ending ‘06, Stanley Kidder, Patricia Pauley, Eugene Takle, and appoint for three years Donna Charlevoix and Michael (Pat) McCormick. Board on Women and Minorities: reappoint for three years ending ‘06, Carl Arredondo II, and appoint for three years, Gregory Jenkins, Leslie Hartten, and Eldewins M. Haynes. Board on Outreach and Precollege Education: appoint as chair for two years, Mark Reynolds to a term expiring ‘05; reappoint for three years ending ‘06, Steven Graham and Jon Nese; and appoint for three years ending ‘06, Joseph Joyner, Debra Brice, and student representative, Kyle Pressel.

10. Planning Commission report

Commissioner Rasmusson reported on the activities of the Commission, which included preparing for the mid-term review of the Ten-Year Vision and exploring issues related to enhancing the role of the Society in promoting professional ethics.

President Rosen briefed the Council on the discussions of the prior day in which the Executive Committee had agreed to create an Ad Hoc Committee on Ethics, and that Past-president Kimpel had agreed to serve as chair (with a possible co-chair). The Council voted to establish this ad hoc committee reporting to the Executive Committee, with a scope as outlined in the Planning Commission report and with membership that will be approved by the Executive Committee. It was suggested that more effort be placed on having speakers at the Annual Meeting who dealt with issues of professional ethics, especially at the Student Conference.

President Rosen similarly reported on the agreement within the Executive Committee to create an Ad Hoc Committee for the Mid-Term Review of the Ten-Year Vision. The Council voted to establish this ad hoc committee reporting to the Executive Committee, with Councilor Glackin agreeing to serve as co-chair and with membership that will be approved by the Executive Committee. It was agreed that this committee may be larger than typical committees so that several subcommittees can be formed to address the various areas of the Ten-Year Vision. It was also agreed that the president in office at the completion of the review would be responsible for reporting the results of the review to the membership.

[Councilor Colton joined the meeting.]

11. Statement on Climate Change Science

Executive Director McPherson reviewed the history of the draft statement on global change that was provided. President Rosen reported that the Executive Committee had recommended to the Council that this draft, with possible small editorial changes, be posted on the AMS Web site for the 30-day public comment period. Councilor Karoly noted that the summary did not fully reflect the scope of the Statement's content. The Council voted to approve the posting of this statement on climate change science.

12. Statement on Automated Aircraft Observations

Councilor Schlatter, who serves as Council facilitator for this statement, reviewed the history of the draft statement on Support for Automated Observations from U.S. Aircraft that had been prepared by the STAC Committee on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology. He provided for the Council a summary of the editorial changes that had been suggested by the Executive Committee. There was discussion on reaching the right balance in the statement between encouraging continuing support of the MDCRS program and prescribing how that support should be accomplished. The Council voted to approve the statement for the 30-day period of public comment after editorial changes in the text that incorporated the sense of the Council from the discussion.

13. Statement on Lightning Protection

Councilor Lyons, who serves as Council facilitator on this statement, reviewed the revisions that had been made to the draft statement after the 30-day period of public comment and additional review by the Executive Committee. Some final minor changes had been received from the Committee on Atmospheric Electricity, but not in time for them to be forwarded to the Council. Lyons suggested that this final version be sent to the Council after the meeting via e-mail and voted on by e-mail ballot.

The Council recessed for lunch at 12:20 p.m. and reconvened at 1:30 p.m.

14. Professional Affairs Commission report

Commissioner Ban reported on the activities of the boards under the Commission, each of which continues to be very active. He said the level of collaboration among the boards had been especially good this year. Board activities specifically reported on included the efforts of the Private Sector Board to address the need for level 2 radar data to be made widely available in real time, the success of a recruitment initiative by the CCM Board, the successful Broadcast Conference in which a workshop on watershed issues was especially well received, and ongoing initiatives of the Board for Operational Government Meteorologists and the Board on Continuing Education. Ban noted his appreciation for the support provided by Gary Rasmusson as private sector coordinator on the Headquarters staff.

On the recommendation of Commissioner Ban the Council voted to approve the following appointments and reappointments: Board of Private Sector Meteorology: Extension for three years with term ending ‘06, Maria Pirone and appoint for three-year terms, Mishelle Michaels and Matthew Parker. Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists: appoint as chair for 2003, Stanley Marsh; extension for an additional year to their present term ending ‘04 now to end ‘05, Stanley Marsh and John Toohey-Morales; appoint for four-year terms ending ‘07, G. Anderson White III and Vincent Scheetz. Board of Broadcast Meteorology: appoint as chair for 2003, John McLaughlin; appoint for three-year terms ending ‘06, Jillene Wahl and Gregory Fishel. Board for Government Meteorologists: appoint as chair for 2003, Neil Stuart. Board for Continuing Education: appoint as chair for 2003 and extend term to end ‘06, Paul Croft; appoint for three-year term ending ‘06, Jose Maliekal.

Commissioner Ban led a discussion on the possibility of a letter from the Society to the NWS that would request that level 2 data from the entire WRS-88D radar network be made available to the community in real time. After some discussion, it was agreed that Commissioner Ban would ask the Private Sector Board, who had brought this issue forward in the Commission, to draft text for such a letter that could be reviewed by the Executive Committee.

A change in the language for the submission of tapes for Broadcast Seal application procedures was proposed by Commissioner Ban and after some discussion and editorial changes was approved by the Council.

15. Certification and recertification procedures

Executive Director McPherson led a discussion on the proposals to modify the CCM and Broadcast Seal of Approval certification programs and on the creation of a recertification requirement for both. McPherson reviewed the evolution of the proposals in light of several rounds of vetting through the boards overseeing the two certification programs, the National Council on Industrial Meteorology, and by the community in response to posting the proposal on the AMS Web site.

In response to the comments received from all quarters, the current versions of the proposals now call for essentially no change in the initial CCM certification, the addition of testing procedures for the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (Seal) program, and mandatory recertification for both that must be completed no more than six years after the most recent certification or recertification.

After a lengthy discussion, the Council voted to approve the posting of the most recently revised Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program proposal, with edits resulting from the discussion, on the AMS Web site for another round of public comment.

An additional lengthy discussion on the recertification process resulted in a motion by Councilor Glackin that would serve as a "sense of the Council" on the issue at this time. The Council voted to approve the following:

1. The Council appreciates the work of the Commission on Professional Affairs on recertification.

2. The Council endorses the principle of recertification for all programs that issue certifications (currently the CCM and AMS Seal programs).

3. The Council recognizes that the goal of a recertification program is to ensure the holder has remained current in his or her field. For broadcast meteorologists, this is recognized to be broadcast meteorology, while it is recognized that the fields of CCM holders range from very specialized to quite general.

4. The Council recognizes that recertification may be implemented by various methods including: continuing education, testing, or submission and evaluation of a portfolio representing recent work and related training. The Council recognizes that the implementation approach may be different for the CCM and Seal programs.

5. The Council requests that the recertification proposal be modified accordingly and posted for comments by the members for at least 30 days.

The Council suspended action at 5:45 p.m. and reconvened at 8:00 a.m. on 4 October.

16. Awards

The Council voted to approve the following award nominations that had been recommended by the Awards Oversight Committee and endorsed by the Executive Committee. The nominations are identified below with the committee/Commission that forwarded them to the Awards Oversight Committee for consideration.

Atmospheric Research Awards Committee: Rossby, Keith A. Browning; Charney, Wilfried Brutsaert; Meisinger, Michael T. Montgomery; Houghton, Azadeh Tabazadeh.

Oceanographic Research Awards Committee: Soumi, Thomas R. Karl; Sverdrup, Robert A. Weller; Stommel, Harry Bryden.

Awards Oversight Committee (directly): Brooks, George L. Frederick; Abbe, Richard E. Hallgren; Outstanding Services to Meteorology by a Corporation, Vaisala Oyj.

Education and Human Resources Commission: Anderson, David D. Houghton; Teaching Excellence, Alistair Fraser; Battan, The Coldest March by Susan Solomon.

STAC Commission: Mitchell, Robert S. Davis; Exceptional Specific Prediction, Raymond Brady, Michael Jurewicz, David Morford, Jeff Waldstreicher; Reichelderfer, Joseph T. Schaefer; Outstanding Achievement in Biometeorology, George W. Thurtell.

Professional Affairs Commission: Applied Meteorology, John C. Freeman; Outstanding Service by a Broadcast Meteorologist, Frederick J. Gadomski and Paul G. Knight.

Publications Commission, Editor Awards: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Andrew A. White; Journal of Applied Meteorology, Robert E. Schlesinger; Monthly Weather Review, Gary M. Lackmann; Journal of Physical Oceanography, Bernadette M. Sloyan; Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, James L. Mueller; Weather and Forecasting, Michael E. Baldwin; Journal of Climate, William H. Lipscomb; Journal of Hydrometeorology, Robert J. Kuligowski.

Local Chapter Affairs Committee: Outstanding Chapter of the Year, District of Columbia Chapter; Outstanding Student Chapter of The Year, Texas A&M University Chapter.

17. Fellows

The Council voted to approve the following Fellow nominations that had been endorsed by the Executive Committee. There was discussion on a list of major award winners for years prior to the current policy that such winners be automatically considered by the Council. There was general consensus that non Fellows on this list should be elevated to Fellow, and the Council ultimately voted to approve this elevation with consideration of the individual being a current member of the Society as required by the Council policy on Fellows.

18. Monograph Procedures

In response to the discussion of the prior day (see item 8) Commissioner Klemp proposed the following language be adopted by the Council to govern named monographs:

The AMS Council will provide conditional approval for named monographs but reaffirms the authority of the Monograph Chief Editor, working with the guest editors and authors as appropriate, to determine the content, uphold standards for the quality of contributions, and provide final acceptance for publication.

Duly moved and seconded, the Council voted to approve this as policy.

19. Budget

Executive Director McPherson reviewed the 2001 budget compared to the actual income and expenditures realized in that year. He noted that the Services, Programs, and Meetings (SPM) portion of the budget completed the year in deficit. McPherson then reviewed the revised 2002 budget, as approved by the Executive Committee in April, and noted that despite a number of actions taken over the course of the year to decrease expenditures and increase revenue, the year was likely to end with a deficit in the SPM budget that was at least as large as for 2001. Some time was spent reviewing the actions taken during the year to improve the SPM budget without prohibiting the core mission programs of the Society from being carried out effectively. There was acknowledgment within the Council that 2002 had been a difficult year financially for nearly all organizations.

McPherson then briefed the Council on the 2003 budget, which is projected to be at slightly better than break even levels for the SPM portion of the budget, and yield no drain on the Society's reserve funds overall. McPherson pointed out that this was the result of the efforts taken in 2002 to reduce the deficit, which would continue to yield positive impact in 2003, and because the 2003 annual meeting was expected to be at least break-even financially. With respect to the publications portion of the budget, the Council discussed the issue of nonpayment of journal page charges by international authors, many of whom are prohibited by national statutes from doing so, and the budgetary impact that has as the journals continue to attract larger percentages of submissions from international authors. It was suggested that efforts should be made to discuss this with the major research and funding agencies in other countries, and that more analysis of the situation was required. Councilor Karoly agreed to work on this issue with Headquarters staff, and said he would try to attend the Publications Commission meeting in 2003 to discuss the issue with the journals editors.

Duly moved and seconded, the Council voted to approve the 2003 budget.

20. Honorary Members

On the recommendation of the Executive Committee, the Council voted to approve as Honorary Members Peter S. Eagleson and John A. Knauss. There was some discussion on the current practice of choosing two Honorary Members each year, on average, and the consensus of the Council was that this number continued to be about right to maintain the level of prestige that accompanied this award.

21. Fellows Committee

On the recommendation of President-Elect Friday, the Council voted to appoint Dara Entekhabi and Walt Lyons to the Fellows Committee for terms ending in January 2006.

22. Awards and Nominating Committees

President-Elect Friday reported on the Executive Committee actions appointing new members to the Atmospheric Research Awards, Oceanic Research Awards, and Nominating committees.

23. Fifth Councilor

On the recommendation of the Executive Committee, the Council voted to elect David Blaskovich as the Fifth Councilor for a three-year term beginning in February 2003 to join the four Councilors elected by the membership.

In discussion on the Fifth Councilor position, it was agreed that the Nominating Committee should strive to have a representative of the broadcast community on the next ballot.

[Commissioner Klemp left the meeting at this time]

24. Facilities Update

Deputy Executive Director Seitter briefed the Council on the status of the renovations of the main Headquarters building. The long planning period is complete, staff have been shifted to temporary space in preparation for the first phase, and construction begins very soon. The renovations are expected to be completed by the end of May.

Councilor Glackin presented a briefing from the Architecture Committee, which is charged with preparing a plan for the decorations of the Headquarters interior after renovations. A number of ideas have been discussed, and a set of guidelines governing the decoration process is being developed. There was some feeling that the development campaign could be a source of funds for some aspects of the renovations, and Executive Director McPherson pointed out that this is already identified as a program area under the 21st Century Campaign.

Seitter reported on the current status of negotiations with the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities to replace the current indenture on the property with an agreement between the two organizations that more clearly outlined the responsibilities of each and that was more in the spirit of a cooperative effort in the preservation of the property. Councilor Karoly asked that the practice of valuing the property at $2 in the auditors report be looked at to ensure that it still met general accounting principles.

[Councilors Barros, Geller, Fein, and Stephens, and Commissioner Avery, left the meeting during the next agenda item.]

25. Meetings

Deputy Executive Director Seitter briefed the Council on the 2003 annual meeting. He noted the fact that this annual meeting will feature a preprint CD-ROM that will allow all attendees to receive with their registration the preprints for all the conferences and symposia at the meeting. The Council acknowledged this positive development and noted that use of a preprint CD-ROM for future meetings should allow the deadlines for abstract and extended abstract submission to be moved closer to the meeting date, which would benefit the scientific content of the meeting.

Seitter also reported on the large number of meetings carried out in 2002 and the current efforts of the staff and the STAC Commissioner to even out the number of meetings held each year. The upcoming specialty meetings for 2003 and 2004 were reviewed, as well as venues for annual meeting out to 2009. The plans for international meetings over the next two years were also discussed.

26. Update on new Bulletin

Executive Director McPherson reported that the response of the community to the redesigned Bulletin had been overwhelmingly positive. He reported that there were still some refinements being made to the staffing structure among the chief editor, in-house support staff, and volunteer editorial board to improve the responsiveness to authors.

27. Atmospheric Policy Program

Director Hooke briefed the Council on the role of the Atmospheric Policy Program in furthering the mission of the Society through a number of initiatives, including the very successful summer colloquia, the policy forum series, and support for the AMS/UCAR Congressional Fellow.

[Councilors Karoly and Glackin and Commissioner Ban left the meeting at this time.]

The Council recessed for lunch at 12:30 p.m. and reconvened at 1:30 p.m.

28. Report on Implementation of the Ten-Year Vision

Executive Director McPherson briefed the Council on a number of activities in support of the private sector, especially the upcoming conference at the annual meeting for users of weather and climate information. There was some discussion of the need to integrate this conference with the rest of the annual meeting to enhance interaction between the user and provider communities.

On the issue of increased public outreach, McPherson noted the significant number of press releases and other activities aimed at promoting the field and the scientific results of the community.

The list of recommendations provided by the Inclusiveness Committee and the significant progress made to date in implementing a large number of them was reviewed by McPherson. He said that this implementation of the recommendations would continue.

Outreach activities aimed at the economic sectors that are weather and climate sensitive were also reported to the Council, especially the interactions of the Society with the national Intelligent Surface Transportation initiative and collaborations with other organizations involved in space weather initiatives.

29. Committees of the Executive Committee reports

Executive Director McPherson reported on the activities of the IIPS committee and the need to secure a new chair for this active committee.

In reporting on the activities of the Local Chapter Affairs Committee, McPherson highlighted the Mid-Atlantic Winter Storms regional meeting being sponsored by the Washington, DC, chapter. This meeting is serving as a model of regional meetings that can be run by local chapters, and the intention is to create a guidebook for how to carry out this sort of meeting by the Local Chapter Affairs Committee.

McPherson also reported on the activities of the Development Committee, which will need a new chair for next year.

30. Fellowship and Scholarships

Executive Director McPherson reported on the support of industry and government agencies for the scholarship and fellowship programs of the Society, which continues to be very strong. He also briefed the Council on the annual summer visit to Washington of the prior year's Fellowship winners, which had once again this past summer provided a rich experience for these future leaders in the field.

31. Reports on the Society's Publications

Deputy Executive Director Seitter reported on the status of the AMS journals, noting that they had reached and maintained the goal of production time of 150 days in aggregate for the year. He also reported on the subscriptions for the year, noting that the trend of the past couple of years of decreasing print subscription and increasing online subscription continued.

Earth Interactions has been relaunched under the leadership of a new chief editor and there is optimism that its change in focus will result in a more successful journal.

Seitter reported that the transition of Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts (MGA) from the prior contact vendor, Inforonics, to the Cambridge Scientific Abstracts was not as smooth as it was hoped it would be, but by about July the database was in very good shape and the online delivery of the of MGA content through the new interface now appeared to be very robust.

The new Glossary of Meteorology went online during the summer and Seitter reported on the approach for online access that was implemented on the recommendation of the Publications Commission. The Glossary of Meteorology Online is available as a searchable and browsable tool at no charge for members of the Society, and also available to all at no charge through the journals online, but in the latter case as a pop-up window that only allows one term at a time to be searched for.

32. Report on K–13 Activities

Executive Director McPherson reported on activities of the Society's education programs that support K–12 and early college level teaching. There are a number of active grant-supported initiatives that were reviewed by McPherson. The Council voiced its appreciation for the leadership of Director Geer of this program and encouraged more effort be placed on making the rest of the membership aware of the excellent work being done under it.

33. History and Archive Activities

Deputy Executive Director Seitter briefed the Council on the activities in the areas of history and archive development both in-house and in collaboration with UCAR.

34. Affiliations with other organizations

Executive Director McPherson provided the annual brief review of all the organizations to which the Society has some affiliation and the benefits of each. There was consensus that all the affiliations on the list were appropriate and worthwhile.

35. Closing remarks

President Rosen thanked the Councilors for their attendance at the meeting and also thanked Director of Executive Programs Annese for the excellent logistical support for the meeting.

The Council adjourned at 2:50 p.m.

The Council will next meet on 9 February 2003 in Long Beach, CA.