1. COST-722 Short range forecasting methods of fog, visibility and low clouds

2. Motivation for this Action The society needs accurate and timely forecasts of fog, visibility and low clouds. The formation and dissipation of fog is still not well represented by common NWP- models. Other techniques including statistical methods, empirical rules and conceptual models must also be improved.

3. D. C. Pearson, 2002

4. September 3 1999 8 killed; 45 hospitalized 87 cars involved March 17 2003 KILLER FOG

5. COST-722… … is a joint action of 14 European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK. Was established November 2001 as a follow-up action of COST-78. Phase I (Inventory phase) was completed end 2003.

6. Current activities Research and development phase ongoing Three working groups: –Initial data (chair: Jörg Bendix, Univ. of Marburg) –Models (chair: Andreas Bott, Univ. of Bonn) –Statistical methods (chair: Silas Michaelides, Cyprus Meteorological Service)

7. This expert meeting… Case Study of Fog – FMI Fog detection and nowcasting, state of research – LCRS Towards operative cloud classification and future plans-FMI Fog detection with MODIS – LCRS Met Office plans for fog/low cloud detection and nowcasting

8. … Fog detection with MSG-SEVIRI – LCRS Albedo of snow surface – FMI Validating the AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature and Height-FMI Determination of optical and microphysical properties for water clouds – LCRS In-situ microphysical measurements and their use in satellite retrievals - I. Gultepe