NWA 2012 - NWA 2012 Annual Meeting

On behalf of the 2012 program committee, I thank you for your interest in submitting an abstract for the National Weather Association annual meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. We are expecting a large number of abstracts this year and anticipate tough decisions as we select the oral presentations. This year’s annual meeting abstract submission deadline, if you wish to ensure consideration for an oral presentation, is May 25, 2012. Abstracts for poster presentations will be accepted through June 29, 2012.
The theme of the 2012 annual meeting of the National Weather Association is “Synthesizing Weather Information for Society: From Observations to Action across our Communities“. Today’s meteorologists understand that the best forecast means collaborating with weather partners in education, emergency management, government, research, and broadcast media. At this year’s meeting, we welcome the breadth of the professional community to explore the emerging technologies, ideas, and science that not only allow us to improve our forecasts but tune the message to our customers.
In addition to the traditional sessions on severe weather, weather and forecasting, etc., we are specifically soliciting abstracts which match our theme and/or one of the following disciplines:
Emerging technologies, including applications for the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) II
Numerical weather prediction
Remote sensing, including current and future environmental satellites (GOES, POES, NPP) and dual-polarization radar
Societal impacts, including multi-agency collaborations
We encourage abstracts to be information loaded and results driven. That is, we are seeking talks which have a “takeaway message” that annual meeting attendees can put into practice when they return to their jobs?immediately following the annual meeting. Only submit abstracts for work you have already accomplished or is nearly complete. Abstracts most likely to be selected for an oral presentation will:
Suggest a relevant problem which is in need of a solution;
Have information about a new or upcoming tool, technique, dissemination strategy, or observing platform generally available or useful to the Association’s membership;
Focus on several weather-related events to draw conclusions;
Demonstrate a strong applicability to operational meteorology;
Show a valid and thorough research process has been followed; and/or
Offer objective results
Poster presentations will be offered to abstracts which are believed to have limited applicability despite their interest factor. These include those traditionally classified as “show and tell” or “pet supercell”. Consider the following abstract outline for a submission likely to be offered as a poster:
I was working on a day when severe weather parameters suggested supercell potential.
We noticed a supercell on radar that formed along a well-established dryline.
We issued a tornado warning with about 15 minutes of lead time.
I did the damage survey and we found some downed trees. Here is a picture.
In contrast, abstracts likely to be selected for oral presentation will generally have similar elements to this outline:
Our office had poor lead times for several weak tornado events this past year.
We reviewed observations, model analyses, and radar data for those cases.
We developed a probabilistic model with several parameters.
We worked with our television partners to communicate uncertainty in a recent event.
Especially encouraged are abstracts for joint projects with co-authors in more than one of these groups: academia (students, scientists, or faculty), federal government (including agencies outside of NOAA/NWS), state or local government (including law enforcement and emergency management), military, private sector, and broadcast media.
I am excited to welcome you to Madison in October! We are working hard to ensure a very successful annual meeting, and recognize that your contributions as a presenter are a large part of reaching that goal.
Best,
Jordan Gerth, on behalf of the NWA 2012 Annual Meeting Program Committee