Society’s increasing involvement with coastal and offshore areas through
population-related and industrial pressures has accelerated and accentuated an
awareness of the impact of natural processes on the coastal zones and offshore
areas of the world.
The barriers to our ability to respond to society’s needs for information
about the coastal atmosphere and its interactions with water and land are
essentially the following: inadequately defined requirements for meteorological
information; inadequate datasets and measurement techniques in the coastal zone
on both sides of the land–water boundary; inadequate knowledge of coastal
atmospheric and related ocean processes; and inadequate consolidation and
exchange of available technology and data with problem solvers and decision
makers working on problems in coastal and offshore areas.
This committee will consider the coastal zone to be that region that is
appreciably altered by the common intersection of land, water, and air. This
definition has no dimensional restrictions and, thus, includes continental
coastal areas and adjacent waters of the continental shelf, and in addition
those regions near islands, lakes, and large rivers, all of which exhibit
coastal-related meteorological phenomena and are also subject to societal
pressures.
The Committee on Meteorology and Oceanography of the Coastal Zone will
facilitate and promote communication about and awareness of coastal zone
meteorological and related oceanographic processes as a primary objective.
The functions of the committee are to
- advise the Society concerning significant problems in understanding coastal
meteorological and related oceanographic processes and their impacts;
- promote the dissemination of information related to the science and
technology of meteorological processes in coastal zones, including publication
in relevant journals of the Society;
- stimulate interaction with other AMS committees and related professional
societies involved in the physical science of coastal areas;
- stimulate improvements in the scientific aspects of weather warnings and
forecasts for coastal and offshore areas;
- facilitate an effective exchange among coastal zone scientists, engineers,
oceanographers, planners, operational meteorologists, and managers by planning
and supporting national and international conferences, workshops, symposia, and
seminars; and
- promote an increased awareness of the need for sponsorship of basic as well
as applied meteorological and interdisciplinary research in coastal zones.
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