| January 1995 (first edition) December 1996 (second edition) |
Peter Binder and Christoph Schär Editors |
The MAP Design Proposal is the basic planning document of a new research initiative in mountain meteorology, termed the Mesoscale Alpine Programme. This programme is designed as a cooperative international undertaking and aims at resolving some of the most outstanding scientific and practical problems in the realm of weather and climate in mountainous regions. To this end MAP includes numerous activities, ranging from high-resolution numerical modelling to a major field campaign in the Alpine area.
In this document an outline is given of the motivation for the initiation of this undertaking, and the principal objectives to be addressed are specified. Furthermore a tentative schedule for, and the organizational structure of, the programme are presented.
The first edition of the MAP Design Proposal was based on the broad consensus that emerged from an international workshop held in Zurich, Switzerland, on 12-14 September 1994. Seventy-seven participants from 42 institutions in 13 countries, among them 12 national weather services, WMO and ECMWF, took part in this workshop. Following the workshop, a team of authors contributed to the preparation of this document. In addition all workshop participants had the opportunity to critically review an earlier version of the Design Proposal, and the resulting comments have helped to significantly improve the document. The document was approved by the Scientific Steering Committee of MAP (MAP-SSC) at its first mXSeeting on 28 June 1995 in Bad Tölz, Germany.
During the spin-up phase of the Mesoscale Alpine Programme it has become evident that atmospheric and hydrological sciences would greatly benefit from common efforts within the framework of the overall programme. At its second meeting early in 1996 the MAP-SSC has thus decided to invite hydrologists to a workshop in order to examine their potential interest and define fields of cooperation within MAP. Consequently the first MAP hydrology workshop was held in Zurich on 26 April 1996. Hydrologists from 5 Alpine countries and Canada took part. The very positive mutual response led to the decision to complement MAP by hydrological aspects. This fact is reflected by this second edition of the MAP Design Proposal. The procedure to update the document was analogous to the former.
We are deeply indebted to the atmospheric scientists and hydrologists who shared their knowledge and contributed enthusiastically to produce this document. The editorial assistance of Andrea Rossa is gratefully acknowledged.
This MAP Design Proposal represents the platform for the newly initiated and constitutes the framework for the specification of individual projects within the overall programme.
We wish MAP to become a successful research programme.
| January 1995 (first edition) December 1996 (second edition) |
Peter Binder and Christoph Schär Editors |
