Editorial

This newsletter follows what must have been a frenetic few months for the MAP community. Three highly successful conferences have taken place since the last issue: the Mesoscale Alpine Programme meeting in Bohinjska Bistrica, Slovenia, 24-26 May 2000; the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Ninth Conference on Mountain Meteorology in Snowmass Village, Aspen, Colorado, 7-11 August, 2000; and the 26th International Conference on Alpine Meteorology (ICAM), Innsbruck, Austria, 11-15 September 2000. All conferences provided the early opportunities for researchers to present their preliminary results and discuss their findings. The overwhelming outcome was the potential importance of the data collected during the MAP Special Observing Period.

The key note speeches at the conferences, and indeed the previous MAP newsletter editorials, have been presented by some of the most respected scientists in the field of mountain meteorology. Joachim Kuettner's paper at the AMS on `How the Lee Wave was Discovered' was inspirational. Similarly, overviews and insights into the various aspects of MAP research have been presented by Ronald Smith, Christoph Schär, Reinhold Steinacker and Ignaz Vergeiner, to name but a few. The contribution that I would like to add, therefore, is to give a view of MAP from the perspective of the less established scientists of the group.

One of the outstanding qualities of the MAP research initiative is its interaction between scientists from all participating institutes. Citing the Gap-Flow group as an example, researchers investigating Foehn in the Wipptal consist of participants from ten institutions based in six countries. Within this group, and other research groups within the community, collaborations have been forged that I am sure will extend far beyond the MAP project. This will be of great benefit to the individual scientist and provide excellent opportunities for the advancement of atmospheric science as a whole.

The operational phase of MAP presented the possibility of working with researchers from various fields of expertise. Invaluable skills and `hands-on' experience were gained. The diversity of the instrumentation deployed during MAP permitted everyone to gain a greater understanding of the measurement facilities available for meteorological research. More importantly, however, it generated an appreciation of the potential requirements for the daily operation of specialized instruments, the advantages and disadvantages of each method, and the difficulties involved in the analyses of such data.

As the complexities of research increase it is becoming, or has already become, impossible for any one person to master all. Collaborative projects such as MAP allow the best aspects of current science to be brought together. Each scientist is able to excel in his/her own area of expertise as well as gaining invaluable knowledge from the overall experience. As we have, and are continuing to see, this holds the potential for outstanding results!

On that note, I would like to wish everyone much success in their continued data analyses. Looking forward to more discussions and results at the next MAP meeting in Schliersee, Germany, 14-16 May, 2001.

Samantha Arnold

University of Leeds, UK.