On 30 May 2013, the Vegetation Processes working groups first meeting established a solid starting point for the group. Working group members openly exchanged ideas on how to make the best of the opportunity and perhaps most critically – how to go about it. It was concluded that regular, monthly meetings will take place on the last Thursday of every month between 1600 and 1700. Alison Specht offered to host an ACEAS workshop to accommodate face to face collaboration of the group. It is expected that as more group members have the opportunity to contribute that this enthusiasm will continue to grow.

 

MEETING NOTES

·         prepared by Brad Evans  – 14/06/2013

·         Teleconference hosted by Macquarie University

·         Thursday, May 30, 4:00 PM,

·         Attending: Tim Mcvicar (Co-chair), Brad Evans (Co-chair),  Derek Eamus, Mark Adams, Nicolas Boulain, James Cleverly, Edoardo Daly,   Rachael Gilmore, Eva Vangorsel, Huade Guan, Juan Guerschman, Alfredo Huete,  Mirko Karan, Michael Liddell, David Mcjannet, Belinda Medlyn, Colin Prentice, Natalia Restrepo Coupe, Albert VanDijk, Willem Vervoort, Randol Villalobos-Vega,  Marta Yebra, Trevor Keenan, Stuart Phinn, Alison Specht, Peter Scarth,Yi Yin,  Ross Bradstock Trent Penman, Ross Peacock, Jo Hend, Ross Bradstock

·         Apologies: Marta Yebra, Trevor Keenan, Stuart Phinn, Ross Bradstock, Trent Pennman, Derek Eamus, Eva Vangorsel, David McJannet, Alfredo Huete,

Overview ::  A brief introduction by co-chairs Tim McVicar and Brad Evans.

BE: OzEWEX is a volunteer organisation that consists mainly of active researchers in universities and government agencies. It was established in October 2012 as an Initiation Phase Regional Hydroclimate Project under the auspices of the Global and regional Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) program, an internationally coordinated effort to integrate research and observations. GEWEX is the largest initiative of its kind, focusing on the observation, understanding and prediction of the global and regional water and energy budgets and the way they are affected by interactions between land and atmosphere. 

An important pathway to our goal is by increasing data sharing, communication, discussion and collaboration within the water and energy research community.

 Typical activities include: 

·         collation and sharing of observation and model data;

·         organising workshops, courses and summer schools;

·         joint scientific experiments and their publication;

·         joint synthesis, statements, and reports;

·         endorsement, advocacy and support for funded proposals

·         web-based research infrastructure, dissemination and brokering (e.g. a data portal) 

Co-chair Tim McVicar

Day-to-day coordination is by the secretariat and chair, Albert Van Dijk

TMV: Gave an overview of the strategy for these meetings.

AvD: Albert gave overview of OzEWEX. Main goals are sharing of knowledge, fostering collaboration. Not able to provide funding.

 Introductions ::  A self-made brief introduction of each participant and indication of “what they want from the working group”.

Person	Comments	Location
Huade Guade	Seek out collaborative opportunity	Adelaide
Mirko Karan	See how Supersites can be part of the action NEON et al. Data sharing	Cairns
Michael Liddell	Coupling of ecophys of fluxes and measurements	Cairns
Belinda Medlyn	Scaling from plant ecophys Manipulative experiments Large scale modelling	Sydney
Colin Prentice	Try and popularize ideas on the interface of ecosystem science and ecohydrology : ML, BM	Sydney
Natalia Restrepo Coupe	Satellite for phenology and ecological processes Link obs	Sydney
Albert VanDijk	Observer in every working group. How he can help?	Canberra
Alison Specht	Research: Changes in space and time Professional: Enabling working groups like this to ‘come together’ through ACEAS	Brisbane
Tim McVicar	ET, PET , transpiration, GW and SM	Canberra

 

Workgroup objectives ::  A brief open discussion about the proposed objectives with the aim of settling on our objectives.

Colin’s suggestion to focus the group on trying to popularize ideas on the interface of ecosystem science and ecohydrology  sparked alot of interest, particularly from  ML and BM. The significance of other attempts to do this was raised and the Try Database was discussed. Colin gave a brief overview of the network, its output (the database) and his involvement and work with it: http://www.try-db.org

The group did not converge on a fixed set of objectives. It was therefore suggested that a workshop become the focal point for exploration on this idea and determination of the groups objectives. We agreed to monthly meetings between 1600-1700.