Global Earth Observation System of Systems / Asian Water Cycle Initiative
News Archive
The AWCI Training Course on Climate Change Impact Assessment, Islamabad, Pakistan, 15 - 17 September 2014. 09.9.2014
A training workshop of the Asia Water Cycle Initiative organized by the Pakistan Meteorological Department in Islamabad, Pakistan. The training will provide in-depth explanation of the techniques for climate change impact assessment studies on water resources that are built in the Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) and available on-line.
Further information available at the Workshop website.
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A new ASEAN-US Science & Technology Fellows Pilot Program has been launched. 05.12.2013
Please see details below about a new ASEAN-US Science & Technology Fellows Pilot Program. This activity is inspired by, patterned after, and will be coordinated with the AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship Program and is targeted for scientists from the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region.
It provides a one-year fellowship, which will embed PhD scientists from ASEAN countries in home country ministries to promote the use of the best available science to inform the national and ASEAN regional policy process; advance ASEAN regional cooperation on science and technology; build institutional capacity within ASEAN and between ASEAN and the United States to study regional and transboundary issues; and, deepen people-to-people interaction between ASEAN and U.S. scientists. Thematic focus areas for the program include: Health, Climate Change, Food Security, Early warning systems for disaster risk reduction, Water Management, and Biodiversity. (Specific focus areas vary for the six participating countries, which are Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia.)
This is a unique opportunity for participating scientists to learn new skills, apply their knowledge to national and regional priorities, see how their governments work from the inside, and forge connections with S&T Fellows in other ASEAN countries, as well as with U.S. scientists. Applications are due January 6, 2014.
More information on the activity, eligibility, participating countries & ministries, and how to apply can be found at: http://www.usaid.gov/documents/1861/asean-us-science-and-technology-st-fellows-pilot-program-call-proposals
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Call for Proposal: ICIMOD/ SERVIR-Himalaya Small Grants Programme. 05.12.2013
With an aim to help growing the network of organizations, universities and institutions within the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region that utilize geospatial tools and services to improve decision-making related to sustainable mountain development with a special focus on climate adaptation, vulnerability or mitigation, ICIMOD SERVIR-Himalaya invites Request for Concept Paper (RCP) from potential organizations. Only organizations within ICIMOD SERVIR-Himalaya member countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan) are eligible to apply.
Deadline for submitting the Concept Paper is 15 December 2013.
For detail information about how to write the concept paper pelase visit the ICIMOD website at: http://www.icimod.org/?q=11944 and download the'Concept Paper Guidelines'.
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The final report of the APN supported project: Climate Change Impact Assessment on the Asia-Pacific Water Resources under AWCI/GEOSS. 13.09.2013
The final report of the APN supported project ARCP2011-05CMY-Bae: Climate Change Impact Assessment on the Asia-Pacific Water Resources under AWCI/GEOSS has been submitted to the APN Secretariat and is available in the pdf version from this website.
In the project, the analysis of historical climate and hydrology trend with future climate change impact was conducted over Asia region covering 18 designated basins of AWCI. The Mann-Kendall test was employed for historical trend analysis using observed gridded climate data from APHRODITE and hydrology data from VIC model at horizontal grid resolution of 0.5° x 0.5° for period of 1977 to 2006. The hydrological components over AWCI 18 basins were calculated using VIC model which revealed various distinct regional features at each basin. The authors appreciated support of the AWCI country representatives and lood forward to further collaboration on a more complex climate change assessment analyses using IPCC AR5 model output data.
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The final report of the APN supported project: River Management System Development in Asia Based on Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) under the GEOSS. 23.05.2013
The final report of the APN supported project ARCP2011-02CMY-Koike: River Management System Development in Asia Based on Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) under the GEOSS has been submitted to the APN Secretariat and is available in the pdf version from this website. We are thankful to all the AWCI ICG country representatives for their continued support of the AWCI activities. The presentation materials and demonstration project summary reports provided at the AWCI ICG meeting events from October 2010 through September 2012 have been utilized in the final report.
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The 5th GEOSS AP Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, 2 - 4 April 2012. 13.01.2012
The 5th GEOSS AP Symposium has been postponed and will be held in Tokyo, Japan, 2 - 4 April 2012. A full-day parallel session of the Symposium will be dedicated to AWCI on Tuesday 3 April. The AWCI ICG is expected to present proposal of implementation plan for the next AWCI phase that will be in line with GEOSS Water Cycle Integrator (WCI). Representatives of ODA agencies will be invited to the event and their involvement in the AWCI/WCI activities will be sought.
The AWCI country represenatives are expected to submit their country input for the implementation plan by 27 January 2012.
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The 5th GEOSS AP Symposium, Ahmedabad, India, 23 - 25 January 2012. 13.10.2011
Cancelled.
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The 8th AWCI ICG meeting, Seoul, South Korea, 6-8 October 2011. 13.10.2011
The 8th AWCI ICG meeting and the 1st CCAA workshop were held in Seoul, South Korea on 6 - 8 October 2011. The successful event reviewed recent progress and kicked off planning activities for the next phase of AWCI that will be in line with the GEOSS Water Cycle Integrator (WCI). More information of the meeting is available at its page.
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The next AWCI meeting, Seoul, South Korea 6-8 October 2011. 27.05.2011
The next meeting of AWCI ICG together with the CCAA workshop will be held in Seoul, South Korea on 6 - 8 October 2011. The meeting program is under preparation and further details will be announced in due course.
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The CCAA training course and other related events, March 2011. 27.05.2011
The AWCI Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation (CCAA) study training course was held as scheduled on 11 - 12 March 2011. The report of this event is available HERE and presented material is available HERE. The course program had to be slightly modified due to the unexpected circumstances following the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March. The scheduled IFAS training session was cancelled because the ICHARM team, who organized this session, could not reach the venue on 12 March due to discontinued train services.
The other related events were also held as planned with adjusted programs (GTN-H and IGWCO-CoP workshops), except for the 5th GEOSS AP Symposium that was postponed due to the Earthquake consequences. The alternate venue and date are India, February - march 2012.
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A series of AWCI-related events in March 2011. 14.12.2010
A training course on downscaling techniques for the AWCI Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation (CCAA) study and a series of AWCI-related meeting events will be held at the University of Tokyo facilities in Tokyo, Japan from 11 through 18 March 2011:
- The training course on downscaling techniques for the AWCI CCAA study (11 - 12 March)
- The Global Terrestrial Network - Hydrology (GTN-H) Meeting (12 - 13 March);
- The 7th Integrated Global Water Cycle Observations (IGWCO) Community of Practice Science and Planning Meeting (14 - 15 March);
- The 5th GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium (16 - 18 March);
- The GEOSS/AWCI ICG Summary Session (18 March afternoon)
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The DIAS archive opened. 06.10.2010
The Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) archive was opened to a broader community on 1 October 2010. A demonstration on the data search in and download from the archive was provided at the 7thAWCI ICG Meeting in Tokyo, 5 - 6 October 2010.
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The 7th AWCI ICG Meeting website opened. 13.09.2010
The 7th AWCI ICG Meeting will be held at the Institute of Industrial Sciences, Universtity of Tokyo Komaba Campus, Tokyo, Japan, on 5 - 6 October 2010. The meeting website including on-line registration has been released.
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Pakistan flood first analysis using ALOS data provided by JAXA. 30.08.2010
Serious damage has occurred in Pakistan recently due to floods and mudslides caused by heavy rain which occurred continuously since July 29, 2010. The flood damage has spread from north to south in Pakistan. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has made observations using the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS, "Daichi") to monitor the state of the damage. First analysis of the ALOS images is available here.
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Three GEOSS/AWCI projects approved for the APN funding in 2010-2011. 07.06.2010
We are pleased to announce that three GEOSS/AWCI projects proposed under the two research programs of the Asian Pacific Network for Global Change Research, namely APN Regional Call for Proposals (ARCP) and Capacity Building/Enhancement for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries (CAPaBLE), have been approved for funding in the years 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 (the second year funding is subject to the project mid-term evaluation). The projects are:
- River Management System Development in Asia Based on Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) under the GEOSS; project leader: Prof. Toshio Koike, Japan. ARCP program.
- Climate Change Impact Assessment on the Asia-Pacific Water Resources under GEOSS/AWCI; project leader: Prof. Deg-Hyo Bae, Korea. ARCP program.
- Drought monitoring system development by integrating in-situ data, satellite data and numerical model output; project leader: Prof. Ichirow Kaihotsu. CAPaBLE program.
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The 7th AWCI ICG Meeting is being planned to be held in Tokyo, Japan, 5 - 6 October 2010. 03.06.2010
The 7th Meeting of the Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI) International Coordination Group (ICG) will be held in Tokyo, Japan, on 5 - 6 October 2010. The timing of the meeting was decided with intention to provide the ICG members with opportunity to formulate a message from the AWCI for the GEO Ministerial Summit that will take place in Beijing in November 2010.
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The final draft of the 6th GEOSS/AWCI ICG Meeting report available. 03.06.2010
The Report of the 6th GEOSS/AWCI ICG Meeting held in Bali, Indonesia, March 2010 has been finalized and is available for download in the pdf format here. Further comments, questions, and corrections should be addressed to the AWCI Secretariat. Meeting presentations are also available in the pdf format - here.
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The GEOSS/AWCI website revised. 03.06.2010
The GEOSS/AWCI website has been revised and expanded in order to provide an easily accessible platform for presentation of outcomes and achievements of the AWCI activities as well as to support effective coordination of the AWCI projects. We hope that both AWCI members and a broader community with an interest in the Asian Water Cycle related issues will find this site informative and helpful. Your comments and suggestions for improving the website functionality and presentation are welcome. Please contact us. The AWCI Secretariat.
