1. MAP has started!
A big international programme such as MAP is always endangered by
incompatibilities between expectations and achievements. Many of us have
presumably returned home with this worry from the Zurich workshop last
year. Thus it is a pleasure to see that numerous dedicated MAP activities
have taken place in the meantime: the MAP Design Proposal has been
published, the Programme Office is now operational, and solid efforts are
being undertaken to start with phase I activities. We are still far away
from resolving all the puzzling problems of mountain meteorology, yet
after reading this Newsletter you will probably agree with us -- the
Mesoscale Alpine Programme has started! This issue of the Newsletter is also
dedicated to the tragic Piedmont flooding episode of November 1994, which
has caused widespread devestating damage and loss of more than 60 lives.
Since this episode is likely to become an object of intensive study within
the MAP community, we have invited some first-hand contributions on
observations and operational numerical weather prediction of the Piedmont
event. Last but not least, the next MAP meeting in Bad Tölz is only a
few months away. Don't miss to register in time!
Christoph Schär and Stephan Bader
MAP Newsletter. October '00