Conceptual Models for
Southern Hemisphere
(CM4SH)
CM4SH project involves four Centres of Ecxellence
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Project team: CoE experts
Review: CIRA + NOAA
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Funding: WMO+EUMETSAT
The Objectives
 To collect, create and
share resources about
CMs for Southern
Hemisphere.
 To increase the
operational forecasters’
understanding of the
weather systems with
the help of CMs.
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Baroclinic leaf
Comma cloud
Vortex
deformation cloud
Buenos Aires
MCS
CM4SH part I ended March 2014
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CM4SH
part IIinvolves
to begin
CM4SH project
four January
Centres of2015?!
Ecxellence
1. Same partners + maybe one new...
2. Document 6-10 more CMs
3. Training aspect – advise needed!
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Comments from Project
Partners
South Africa Vlab CoE
Project
• Create a conceptual model of Cut Off Low (COL) Pressure
systems over Southern Africa (Lee-ann Simpson & Jannie
Stander, SAWS)
• Create a conceptual model of continental tropical lows (Dr Liesl
Dyson, University of Pretoria)
Cut Off Low Pressure Systems
https://sites.google.com/site/cmsforsh/CoE-South-Africa/col
Successes of the project
• The new material that can now be used as reference and as
new learning material for students and meteorologists.
• Learning about other weather systems in the Southern
Hemisphere
• The help provided by Project leaders was invaluable
• Expose to using Google docs for such projects
• Brushing up on our knowledge of these weather systems 
Challenges of the Project
• Firewall problems and being able to access and use Google
Docs
• Human resources at SAWS. Project was more involved than
anticipated and took up more time than we bargained on.
• Online group meetings were very long
Comments from Project
Partners
Argentina Vlab CoE
Argentina VLab CoE
CM4SH Project
Argentine Team
CM4SH project experiences
Development
 Generation of updated training resources for the region in Spanish.
 Production of a guide to analyze and diagnose meteorological situations of
local and regional interest.
 Incorporation of new parameters which help the description of regional
events (eg: learning about and adopting the thermal front parameter and some
combinations such as TFP and equivalent thickness).
 Thorough revision of bibliography: a positive contribution to obtain the sate
of the art in topics related to each conceptual model.
Argentine Team
CM4SH project experiences
Support
 SATMANU structure helped us organize the development of material
(images, schematics, vertical crossections).
 The European Team gave us support at all times, always ready to answer
our doubts, solve our problems or try to work them out together.
 Coordination and communication was excellent.
• Milestones and deadlines helped us achieve the goals at each stage of
the project.
Argentine Team
CM4SH project experiences
Support
 External reviewers gave us valuable contributions.
 This project promoted the interaction within different departments of the
National Weather Service as well as with researchers from the University.
 Experts from the University collaborated as internal reviewers.
Argentine Team
CM4SH project experiences
Interaction
 Participation in this project gave us the opportunity of joining events and
conferences and therefore the possibility of meeting the organizers and
members of other COEs and interacting with them.
Calmet 2013, SIMS Course (Langen 2014), Eumetsat Conference 2014,
Calmet online 2014.
Argentine Team
CM4SH project experiences
Expectations
and Issues
 Active Collab is a tool to organize the Milestones and send messages which
resulted a bit confusing when trying to find a specific message.
 Internet issues are still present at the National Weather Service.
 This project takes quite a lot more time than we had considered at the
beginning. Therefore in a future stage, we should consider a different approach:
involve more professionals or senior students.
 Gaps of information were detected when trying to match SATMANU content.
Argentine Team
CM4SH project experiences
Future plans
◊ Apply the Conceptual Models developed in academic and operational
(forecasters) training. It is available for different users.
◊ It is highly positive to continue with this project and carry on the
collaborative task among the participating teams.
Argentine Team
CM4SH project experiences
VERONIKA, VESA and AB
Thank you!
Argentine Team