ISDA2024 - The symposium provided an opportunity for sharing research findings on the theoretical aspects of data assimilation (DA), its practical applications in diverse fields such as geophysics, planetary physics, astrophysics, and life sciences, and the fusion of DA and rapidly evolving machine learning (ML) techniques. The event featured active discussions on these topics among participants. Six invited speakers from domestic and international institutions delivered keynote lectures on cutting-edge developments in their respective fields. Additionally, the symposium hosted 53 oral presentations and 100 poster presentations.

In honor of Dr. Eugenia Kalnay, a globally renowned authority in the DA field who passed away shortly before the symposium, a special "Eugenia Kalnay Memorial Session" was organized. This session commemorated her numerous contributions to the DA field and revisited the history of DA development, which serves as the foundation of numerical weather prediction.

The symposium highlighted significant advancements in DA research, building upon existing knowledge. Notable presentations included the development of coupled atmosphere-ocean DA systems, advanced methodologies addressing non-Gaussian distributions for precipitation and aerosol assimilation, and innovative approaches to weather control through the combination of DA and ML. Among the poster presentations, the Best Poster Awards were presented to Dr. Thomas Buey (MÉTÉO FRANCE), Dr. Pauline Combarnous (MÉTÉO FRANCE), and Dr. Rakesh Teja Konduru (RIKEN).

With approximately 60% of participants coming from overseas, the symposium underscored the global interest in DA research. Hosting such an international event in Japan provided a valuable opportunity for Japanese researchers to engage directly with cutting-edge studies, fostering motivation and advancing the domestic DA community. Presentation materials from the symposium have been made publicly available online, with the consent of the presenters.

Despite a few presentation withdrawals, the symposium concluded successfully without major issues. The event marked significant progress toward fostering a broad research community centered on innovations driven by DA methodologies.

News Report ISDA-Online 2023

Advancing Research and Collaboration - News Report June 2023

The International Symposium on Data Assimilation - Online (ISDA-Online) recently marked its third anniversary as a connecting online platform for advancing research and fostering collaboration. With this news report, the core organizers want to summarise past achievements and thank everyone for their contributions: co-organizing events and chairing talks, contributing abstracts and presentations, or simply attending ISDA-Online events.

Since 2021, ISDA-Online has served as a seminar series on Data Assimilation. The seminar series initially aimed to bridge COVID restrictions to allow international scientific dialogue in difficult times. Today, ISDA-Online is a global hub for exchanging ideas and insights with multinational organizers from Japan, Germany, Mexico, the United States, and Austria.

Over the past three years, ISDA-Online has organized 19 events featuring 93 presentations, with 88 recorded for wider accessibility. The presentations are uploaded on YouTube and cover diverse data assimilation topics, offering researchers valuable insights into cutting-edge methodologies and applications. The program also featured two special events with invited presentations on the history of data assimilation and the status of operational data assimilation systems.

ISDA-Online has attracted an average of approximately 75 participants per event, comprising experts, scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts from around the world. Over its three-year journey, ISDA-Online has reached around 1,400 attendees accumulated, plus numerous views of recorded presentations. Today, the ISDA-Online mailing list connects about 500 subscribers. This diverse and large community highlights the symposium's impact and relevance in advancing the field of data assimilation.

By leveraging virtual platforms, ISDA-Online transcends geographical limitations and creates a vibrant global network of researchers united in their commitment to advancing the field. The website contains information about past and future events including links to all recorded presentations plus a community tool that lists upcoming data assimilation related conferences and workshops. Please subscribe to the mailing list if you still need to do so for news on upcoming events. Again, Thank you for participating and bringing life to this seminar series!

Kind regards,

Tobias Necker (University of Vienna, Austria)

Javier Amezcua (Tec. de Monterrey, Mexico; U. Reading, UK)

Nora Schenk (DWD, Germany)

Zofia Stanley (US)

James Taylor (RIKEN, Japan)

Lars Nerger (AWI, Germany)