LBA-MIP Messages to Participants
January 31, 2008

Dear LBA-MIP participant:

There are several important issues to discuss regarding (1) submission of MIP runs, (2) the upcoming LBA-MIP workshop (now scheduled for May 2-3, at the University of Maryland, see below), and (3) the IV LBA Scientific Conference from July 27-31, 2008 in Manaus, Brazil.

(1) The target date for submission of MIP runs is now April 1, moved from our original target of March 15 (see the LBA-MIP website for information on how to submit runs:  http://www.climatemodeling.org/lba-mip/).  This is about the latest practical date that will still allow combined analysis of results in advance of the LBA-MIP workshop in May.  Please let us know now if you anticipate any problem with meeting this deadline.

1. There were also changes in the protocol which being sent attached to this message. The most important is related to the proposed LAI data which we found to be too high in some sites. We have now three choices of LAI data coming from 3 different sources: MODIS, modeled (thanks to Reto Stockli) and a combination of observed and satellite (thanks to Natalia Restrepo). Find more details in the new protocol, at http://www.climatemodeling.org/lba-mip/.

(2) The LBA-MIP Workshop has now been set for the University of Maryland Inn and Conference Center 3501 University Boulevard East, Adelphi, MD from May, 2nd to May, 3rd.  This is the same location as NASA's time-adjacent Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems (CCE) Joint Science Workshop (see http://cce.nasa.gov/meeting_2008/index.html).

1. We have arranged with NASA's LBA-ECO program to subsidize some of the meeting costs, including limited travel for participants that cannot otherwise support their travel. Please contact us for more information.

2. A principle part of the agenda of the workshop will be presentation and discussion of the simulations and of the analysis of the simulations made during April.  Those interested in volunteering to help making the analysis, or in leading discussion of some issue at the workshop, please let us know now.

3. An additional key part of the agenda is laying out and organizing the outline of papers that we expect to come out of the LBA-MIP exercise.

4. We may have a core group that could meet a day or two before the workshop to prepare presentation/discussion of these results.   If you will be at the NASA CCS meeting and can participate in this advance planning, please let us now.  As a reminder, key features we are interested on looking into are:
   1. energy, water and carbon budgets and closure;
   2. metrics for determining how a particular model compares against the others (e.g., model spread, rmse, means, N-S...);
   3. how reasonable a model performs against what we already know from seasonality and climatological trends in Amazonia

(3) The IV LBA Scientific Conference (July 27-31, 2008 in Manaus, Brazil)  (see http://www.lbaeco.org/lbaeco/out/news_events/lba_conf2008.htm) is another target forum for presentation of LBA-MIP results to a broader audience.  Our hope is to have a session that can include discussion of modeling results in the Amazon, including those of the LBA-MIP.

The LBA-MIP is a unique exercise for advancement in the understanding of tropical environments from the modeling point of view. Furthermore, upon the knowledge acquired during these initial steps we believe we could move forward toward broader scenarios where we look at the Amazon as a region therefore understanding better the linkage between land surface and climate. If you have any questions or need help or support for your simulations or any other issues please contact us since the success of this MIP depend on everyone’s participation.

Best regards,



LBA-MIP Organizers
(lba-mip-organizers@climatemodeling.org)
(Luis.G.deGoncalves@nasa.gov, Scott Saleska, Natalia Restrepo-Coupe, and Reto Stockli)