Verification in complex terrain

- Spatial Verification Methods and NWP Model Performance -
(MesoVICT - Final workshop)

8-9 July, 2019, Vienna, Austria

Second Announcement

Complex terrain raises not only specific challenges to NWP model performance but also on spatial verification methods. For the latter the Mesoscale Verification Inter-Comparison over Complex Terrain (MesoVICT) project has been initiated a couple of years ago under the auspices of the WMO Joint Working Group on Forecast Verification Research (JWGFVR) to further explore new verification methods.  

MesoVICT can be regarded as the second phase of the spatial forecast verification methods inter-comparison project (ICP, http://www.ral.ucar.edu/projects/icp ). 

The aims of MesoVICT can be summarised as follows: 

  • To investigate the ability of existing or newly developed spatial verification methods to verify fields other than deterministic precipitation forecasts, e.g., wind forecasts and ensemble forecasts.
  • To demonstrate the capability of spatial verification methods over complex terrain, and gain an understanding of the issues that arise from this more challenging situation.
  • To encourage community participation in the development and improvement of spatial verification methods, especially for evaluating high resolution numerical forecasts.
  • To provide a community testbed where common data sets are available, but also for the sharing of data and code to assist in developing and testing spatial verification methods.

More information about MesoVICT is available in BAMS paper:  

https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0164.1

With this second announcement we cordially invite you to submit an abstract (max. 400 words, abstract submission opens on 15 March) for an oral or poster presentation. All contributions are welcome which describe aspects of or raise new questions on verification in complex terrain not only related to MesoVICT.

This includes:

  • spatial verification of high resolution numerical forecasts in complex terrain
  • verification of parameters that have not been traditionally analysed with spatial verification (e.g. wind)
  • the effect of observation uncertainties on verification scores
  • verification of ensemble forecasts in complex terrain

Abstracts submission and registration opens on 15 March 2019

Organising Committee: 

Marion Mittermaier (MetOffice, UK), Manfred Dorninger (Univ. Vienna, Austria, local organiser), Eric Gilleland (NCAR/RAL, USA), Barbara Casati (ECCC, Canada), Gregor Skok (Univ.Ljubljana, Slovenia)