[ESIP-AQ] GEO Atmospheric Composition/Air Quality Community of Practice -- newsletter 01/2014

[Keating, Terry]

Dear colleague,

     You are receiving this email, because you once registered at geo_aq_cop at fz-juelich.de<mailto:geo_aq_cop at fz-juelich.de> or esip-aqcluster at lists.esipfed.org<mailto:esip-aqcluster at lists.esipfed.org>. For various reasons, the GEO community of practice on air quality has gone through a phase of little activity lately, and there has been no communication via this list so far. One of the reasons for this hiatus was the perception that the group had reached a level of maturity and recognition that required clearer terms for its mission and scope and a loose set of rules on how the group should be steered and led. We are happy to announce that these steps were taken during the Earth Science Information Partnership (ESIP) winter meeting in January 2014, so that we now have a governance framework and look forward to launch new activities of the CoP.

    With this message, we would like to inform you about the decisions taken at the ESIP meeting and invite you to participate in the stewardship and activities of the "GEO Atmospheric Composition/Air Quality Community of Practice (GEO AC/AQ CoP)". We are currently planning the next steps and will inform you shortly about opportunities to engage and interact. If you are interested to play an active role in this process and become a member of the steering group, please send a short message to Martin Schultz (m.schultz at fz-juelich.de<mailto:m.schultz at fz-juelich.de>).

Terms of reference:

1) Name:  GEO Atmospheric Composition/Air Quality Community of Practice (GEO AC/AQ CoP)
[Note that this has changed from "Air Quality" to also include other aspects of atmospheric composition, for example in relation to climate change]

2) Mission Statement:  The GEO AC/AQ CoP cooperates to
*             enable communication across the air quality and atmospheric research communities globally
*             contribute to the definition of metadata and data exchange standards
*             aid the implementation of interoperable data exchange systems contributing to GEOSS

3) Chairs/Convenors:  Terry Keating (US EPA) and Martin Schultz (Forschungszentrum Juelich, Germany) were nominated as "convenors" to co-ordinate activities in North America and Europe, respectively, and both accepted their nomination. We are actively seeking an additional convenor to act as focal point for Asia and welcome your suggestions. We will also keep an eye on developments in South America, Africa, and Oceania and over time develop a leadership model which should truly reflect the global scope of the GEO AC/AQ CoP.

4) Steering Group:  The convenors will be responsible for periodically convening (in person or via electronic communication) a steering group. The composition of this steering group shall be flexible and reflect the breadth and scope of the CoP. As mentioned above, please contact the chairs if you are interested to participate in this steering group, so that we can send you invitations to the teleconferences and/or meetings. So far, the role of the steering group has only been loosely defined to assist in the planning and documentation of activities and endorse projects from the community. Individuals who want to conduct a project under the banner of the CoP will share information with the steering group and seek their endorsement.  We can add more formality later as needed.

5) Secretariat:  We are exploring various options to give the CoP a "home" and provide technical infrastructure for hosting a web page/Wiki, tele- or videoconferences, etc. We are very grateful to ESIP for having provided such support in the past. Although there is the potential for the CoP web site to remain under ESIP, now is an appropriate time to evaluate other options that may be able to offer additional services or opportunities.  However, ESIP will remain an important node in the information network, especially for North America. There is a clear need to rework the presence of the CoP on the web and give it more structure.

6) Meetings:  As it is increasingly difficult to pay for meetings and travel, the CoP shall try to take advantage of gathering the CoP at other meetings where members of the community participate.  We shall think about what the most appropriate opportunities are in North America and Europe and try to use those opportunities.

With kindest regards,

Terry Keating and Martin Schultz




Terry J. Keating, PhD
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (OAR/OPAR)
1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC  20460
Telephone +1-202-564-1174 Fax +1-202-564-1554

PD Dr. Martin G. Schultz
IEK-8, Forschungszentrum Jülich
D-52425 Jülich
Ph: +49 2461 61 2831
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