Minutes of the Second ESEAS-RI Project Team Meeting

Place: EARS
Date: 5-6 November 2003




Participants:


Hans-Peter Plag (HPP), NMA, (Coordinator, Task leader 2.4)
Hanne Heiberg (HH), NMA, (Project manager, Task leader 1.3)
Per Knudsen (PK), KMS, (WP3 leader)
Richard Bingley (RB), UNOTT, (WP2 leader, Task leader 1.1 + 2.8)
Dov Rosen (DR), IOLR, (WP4 leader)
Mirko Orlic (MO), PMF
Igor Strojan (IS), EARS
Ivica Vilibic (IV), HHI
Begona Perez Gomez (BPG), PE, (Task leader 1.4)
Belen Martin Miguez (BMM), PE
Eimuntas Parseliunas (EP), GI
Elizabeth Bradshaw (EB), NERC-POL
Fabio Raicich (FR), CNR-ISMAR-TS
Hasan Yildiz (HY), GCM
Luciana Fenoglio-Marc (LFM), TUD, (Task leader 3.2)
Jorge Garate (JG), ROA
Jose Martin Davila (JMD), ROA
Juan Jose Martinez-Benjamin (JJMB), UPC
Maria-Jesus Garcia (MJG), IEO, (Task leader 1.2)
Marzenna Sztobryn (MSZ), IMGW
Mikis Tsimplis (MT), NERC-SOC, (Task leader 3.1)
Mira Pasaric (MP), PMF
Mojca Susnik (MSU), EARS
Mojca Robic (MR), EARS
Ole B. Andersen (OBA), KMS, (Task leader 3.3)
Palle Bo Nielsen (PBN), Royal Danish Administration of Navigation and Hydrography
Ryszard Zdunek (RZ), SRC, (Task leader 4.4)
Theodoros Kardaras (TK), HNHS
Waldemar Stepko (WS), IMGW
Kay Suselj (KS), EARS
Zlatko Mikulic (ZM), EARS


Agenda:

  1    Welcome
  2    Discussion of Agenda
  3    Minutes from PT-1
  4    Status of Action Items from PT-1 meeting
  5    WP1: Status and Results so far
  6    WP2: Status and Results so far
  7    WP3: Status and Results so far
  7.1  Introduction to WP3
  7.2  Summary of Task 3.1
  7.3  Other activities
  7.4  Discussion of results and progress
  7.5  Next year - Task 3.2
  8    WP4: Status and Results so far
  9    Review of the overall project status
  10   Annual Report (Nov. 2002 - Oct. 2003)
  11   Management Report (May 2003 - Oct. 2003)
  12   Discussion of the report to the ESEAS GB
  13   List of Action Items
  14   AOB
  15   Date and time of the next PT meeting
1 Welcome

The meeting was opened by the representative of the hosting institute, Igor Strojan. The Head of the Monitoring Office, Dr. Silvo \v{Z}lebir, welcomed all participants and emphasised the importance of the project for EARS and in general. The Coordinator, Hans-Peter Plag , also welcomed all participants to this first major milestone of the ESEAS-RI project.

2 Discussion of Agenda

The Agenda was discussed and adpoted as proposed.

3 Minutes from PT-1

The minutes from the first PT meeting were accepted with the following changes (pointed out by Dov Rosen ):

Nadia Panardi is coordinator of MFSTEP under FP5, not coordinator of MAMA.

In the minutes it is written that Silvana Vallerga is president of MEDGOOS, she is also coordinator of MAMA Program for FP5 of EU.

4 Status of Action Items from PT-1 meeting

The coordinator reviewed the list of Action Items from the first PT meeting:

Action Item PT-1-1: Send an e-mail to all ESEAS members to support the GLOSS proposal through their national IOC members. Responsible: ESEAS Central Bureau, Deadline: 20 May 2003.

Rational: For GLOSS, a new status report has been produced, which also includes a draft proposal for the further implementation of GLOSS. The PT agreed to closely follow the further fate of the proposal in order to see whether support can be given.

Status of Action Item PT-1-1: DONE. The GLOSS proposal was distribute to all ESEAS members but no letter was requested. The proposal was accepted by IOC. Done.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-2: Hans-Peter Plag to take contact with the coordinator of EDIOS. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 30 May 2003.

Rational: The European Directory of the Initial Ocean Observing System (EDIOS), which is a directory of ongoing operational measurements relevant to EuroGOOS. Coordinator is Jennifer Weaduin. ESEAS should establish a cooperation.

Status of Action Item PT-1-2: Delayed. EDIOS has not been contacted so far.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Change of Action Item PT-1-2: EDIOS still should be contacted in order to establish a cooperation. Changed at: PT-2 New Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Action Item PT-1-3: Hans-Peter Plag to contact J. Dow to find out about the ESEAS proposal. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 30 May 2003.

Rational: Concerning the IGS TIGA project, the issue how IGS TIGA and ESEAS can cooperate is still not clarified.

Status of Action Item PT-1-3: Delayed. Hans-Peter Plag has been in contact with IGS and participated in the TIGA WG meeting at the EGS meeting in Nice. There, IGS promised to come with a response soon. Tilo Schoene was expected to come to the second PT meeting but cancled his participation in the last minute.
Reported at PT-2.

Change of Action Item PT-1-3: The issue needs to be clarified soon. Therefore, J. Dow needs to be contacted again. Changed at: PT-2 New Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Action Item PT-1-4: Hans-Peter Plag to send an e-mail to ESEAS GB to prepare the meeting and ask for changes in the membership. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 30 May 2003.

Rational: This refers to the November 2003 GB meeting.

Status of Action Item PT-1-4: Delayed. Will be taken up at the GB meeting.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-5: Richard Bingley to send an e-mail to ESEAS TEC to prepare the meeting and ask for changes in the membership. Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 30 May 2003.

Rational: This refers to the TEC meeting planned for November 2003.

Status of Action Item PT-1-5: Delayed. Not done. No TEC meeting was organised. Needs to be taken up at the GB meeting.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-6: Richard Bingley to produce a new version of the requirements and classification based on a lower number of applications. Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 15 June 2003.

Rational: The number of applications proposed by Richard Bingley in the last version of the requirements and classification was rather large.

Status of Action Item PT-1-6: Closed. Action was carried out and number of applications reduced to four with one split into two.
Reported at PT-2 by Richard Bingley.

Action Item PT-1-7: Lesley J. Rickards to revise the quality control document and to distribute it to the task members. Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline: 15 June 2003.

Rational: Maria-Jesus Garcia has produced a QC-Document for the first PT meeting. This document needs through revision.

Status of Action Item PT-1-7: Delayed. Not done
Reported at PT-2 by Elizabeth Bradshaw.

Action Item PT-1-8: Hans-Peter Plag and Hanne Heiberg to define the structure of the data flow from Data Centres to user through the Web Page to ask the Data Centres to start uploading. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 31 May 2003.

Rational: The final website and the should place minimum requirements on software, hardware and procedures at the data centres and users. This requires a heterogenous system, which most available systems do not allow for.

Status of Action Item PT-1-8: Delayed. In progress. First data up-loaded.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-9: Hanne Heiberg with help from Halfdan Kierulf and others to establish the CGPS archive at the ESEAS CB server. Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 31 May 2003.

Status of Action Item PT-1-9: Closed.. Work done in October 2003.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-10: Hans-Peter Plag to send information to Guy Woppelmann/TIGA about the ESEAS CGPS archive. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 31 May 2003.

Status of Action Item PT-1-10: Pending. Is not needed as long as the issue between TIGA/ESEAS is not clarified.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-11: Hans-Peter Plag to send out an inquiry to get input concerning the contents of the time series files. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 31 May 2003.

Rational: Concerning AI WP2/WG2-1-11, no information has been received so far. Therefore, the contents of the time series file need clarification.

Status of Action Item PT-1-11: Delayed. Some input received but not assessed so far.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-12: Hanne Heiberg to send out an inquiry to get the data for the spectra of at least two (tbd) of the control stations for combined plots. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 31 May 2003.

Rational: The results obtained so far for the control stations differ very much between the groups. For the different spectra produced for the control stations, a plot combining the spectra should be produced for comparison. For that, the partners should submit the data used to produce the plots.

Status of Action Item PT-1-12: Delayed. Some input received but not assessed so far.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-13: Hans-Peter Plag to produce combined plots of the spectra of control stations for comparison. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 15 June 2003.

Status of Action Item PT-1-13: Delayed.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

Action Item PT-1-14: Per Knudsen to ask the task leader to take immediate action to resolve the discrepancies in the spectra of the control stations computed by different partners in order to be able to start the sea level data analysis as soon as possible and meet the first deadline of June 2003. Responsible: Per Knudsen, Deadline: Soon.

Rational: The results concerning the comparison of the spectra for the control stations (SPECCOM) reveal serious problems. The comparison shows that some spectra are similar while others show discrepancies. This needs to be rectified. Hans-Peter Plag suggests in order to do so, that spectra of theoretical time series should be computed and compared. However, it was agreed to leave it to the task leader to decide how to resolve the discrepancies.

Status of Action Item PT-1-14: Done.
Reported at PT-2 by Per Knudsen.

Action Item PT-1-15: Richard Bingley to contact P8 to inform that the experiment is not suited to determine the altimeter drift but only a calibration of the bias. For this purpose, a week of GPS observations would be enough and the CGPS receiver could be used to the final location soon after that period has been recorded. Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 31 May 2003.

Rational: The plans of P8 is to install a CGPS for satellite calibration on a platform. It is planned to move the receiver after about two years to a different site. Moreover, the sampling interval of 10 min. is not practical for geodetic purposes.

Status of Action Item PT-1-15: Done.
Reported at PT-2 by Richard Bingley.

Action Item PT-1-16: Hans-Peter Plag to invite articles to the newsletter according to the list established at the meeting. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 30 May 2003.

Status of Action Item PT-1-16: Obsolete.
Reported at PT-2 by Hans-Peter Plag.

5 WP1: Status and Results so far

Richard Bingley reported on Task 1.1 (see pdf or ppt ). The word Specification used in the task description in DoW was replaced by the word Requirements to indicate that the task is to provide requirements for ESEAS Observing Sites, which can be used to test sites for their suitability of being a ESEAS Observing Site (OS).

At PT-1, it was requested to reduce the number of applications for ESEAS OS from the suggested 9 applications to four or five. This led to four main applications similar to those defined by EOSS, with the application for satellite altimetry being split into two, namely C1 and C2. A preliminary classification of all ESEAS OS has been carried out.

Richard Bingley briefly showed the resulting tables for tide gauges, benchmarks, GPS stations and absolute gravity as well as the resulting proposal for classification of the sites. All these documents are available as working documents on the task's status web page.

The following Action Items were agreed:

Action Item PT-2-1: Richard Bingley to prepare a new version of the tables resulting from ESEAS-RI Task 1.1, which are then frozen as Version 1.0. Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Rational: The tables keep changing. It is now necessary to freeze them at the current status and then to update them later based on the info available at the ESEAS DS.

Action Item PT-2-2: Hanne Heiberg to make all Version 1.0 files resulting from ESEAS-RI Task 1.1 available on the web Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline:

Hans-Peter Plag commented that the data on the ESEAS Data Server (DS) has to be delivered with all meta information required to create updated classification tables automatically. Thus, the structure of the master files on the DS need to account for the information required for the classification.

Maria-Jesus Garcia briefly presented the quality control document produced under T1.2 (see pdf or Word doc ). The most recent draft is available on the task's web page. The report had been sent to the task participants, though with little response. The report gives an overview of procedures to detect errors and to quality assurance. The preferred exchange formats are given and available software is reviewed. For each value, a quality flag is suggested indicating the status of the value (e.g. ok, suspicious, erroneous, interpolated).

The criteria for different error conditions were discussed. There were no comments concerning date and time checks for sequential order, spikes, and jumps. Concerning the check of values being within a predefined (broad) range, Hans-Peter Plag pointed out that this criterium was criticised at the GLOSS Group of Expert Meeting 8 (GE8) in Paris as being problematic. A broad range makes only sense if it is not too broad, but then there is always the danger that there may be a new event associated with sea levels exceeding this range.

Concerning time errors, where Maria-Jesus Garcia stated that it is not clear how these should be corrected, Hans-Peter Plag pointed out that these errors should no longer be accepted. With relatively cheap clocks based on GPS, time errors larger than a second can be avoided. However, time errors can be corrected assuming a linear clock drift between to check points and using this to interpolate values at the desired sampling time. Dov Rosen pointed out that such GPS clocks can be bought for USD 200.

There was considerable discussion concerning the suggested removal of land movement for test purposes. Mikis Tsimplis and Hans-Peter Plag pointed out that, clearly, the tide gauge data provided by ESEAS cannot be corrected for vertical land movement. The tide gauge data has to be relative to the benchmark on land. Time series of vertical land movement will be provided separately. There seems to be no gain in removing small linear land movements from e.g. post-glacial rebound models for quality control purposes. The respective part of the document needs to be removed or rewritten to account for a treatment of e.g. earth quakes.

At the end, the following AIs were agreed

Action Item PT-2-3: Lesley J. Rickards to provide the revised Quality Control Document to the ESEAS CB. Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Action Item PT-2-4: Hanne Heiberg to make the revised Quality Control Document available on the Status Web page. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline:

For Task 1.3, Hanne Heiberg presented briefly the ESEAS-RI web site and a working page for the ESEAS Data Portal. ESEAS web pages are built in Python, php and html. Python is server-side based (unlike Java) and not client site dependent. A goal is to make the web site as far as possible independent of the user installation.

Since the Data Portal is very preliminary and will be changed considerably, the following AI was agreed:

Action Item PT-2-5: Hanne Heiberg to deactivate the link to the ESEAS Data Portal. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 20 November 2003.

Rational: The Data Portal is very preliminary and should therefore not publically available. If necessary, it can be made available under the status page of Task 1.3

Concerning the Website Map, Dov Rosen suggested to include information on the date of last changes for each link. It may also be considered to use icons/colour if a given link changed within the last months. The resulting AI is:

Action Item PT-2-6: Hanne Heiberg to include task titles on the respective ESEAS-RI web pages and for each link on the ESEAS and ESEAS-RI website maps. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 30 December 2003.

Rational: Inclusion of date of last change, and possibly an icon for links change within the last months will make it easier for an user to locate pages that are worthwhile to look at.

Currently, the ESEAS DS can be accessed via ssh (secure shell), ftp and scp (secure copy) only. ssh and scp encrypt the username and password. Access via telnet was requested for those having ssh not available.

Action Item PT-2-37: To contact the administrators of the server ftp.gdiv.statkart.no and ask if they will allow login by telnet. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 10 November 2003.

Hans-Peter Plag presented the status of the ESEAS DS and Data Portal (DP) (see pdf ). The concept and implementation of the Data Server and Data Portal is based on six principles. The structure on the Data Server is according to ESEAS Operational Centres and under these according to ESEAS OSs (EOS). An EOS is owned by the ESEAS Operational Centre (OC) operating the tide gauge itself. This organisation is responsible for updating all information on the ESEAS DS. All data on the DS are owned by the respective owner of the EOS or the ESEAS Analysis Centres (AC) creating the data.

Meta information and site documentation are contained in so-called master files, which are currently developed as plain ASCII files. Later, the master files can be transferred to XML or placed into a database. The contents of the master files is described in a ESEAS DP definition document, which is planned to be available before the end of November.

Currently, PE is providing data in order to test the programs and to fully develop the master files. All Operational Centres are urged to come with comments and input.

In the discussion, it was asked how a single tide gauge is treated if data comes from several different organisations having operated the tide gauge. Also in these cases, the EOS is owned by the organisation currently operating the tide gauge and this organisation should make available all information, including older data.

Elizabeth Bradshaw presented the status of Task 1.4, where a questionnaire has been sent out requesting information about stations, the available analog and digital data, the lengths of records etc. The collected information is available as a data catalog, which will be made available on the ESEAS web page.

Action Item PT-2-7: Lesley J. Rickards to make available the Catalog of paper-based tide gauge records compiled in Task 1.4. Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Rational: The catalog is an ESEAS-RI deliverable and needs to be available through the ESEAS web page.

Action Item PT-2-8: Hanne Heiberg to place the Catalog of paper-based tide gauge records on the ESEAS-RI web page as a deliverable. Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline:

Ivica Vilibic presented the work by HHI within taks 1.4. HHI developed a software package for digitalisation, surveyed the need for data rescue, and started the quality check of the digitised data (see ppt and pdf ).

Elizabeth Bradshaw also commented briefly on Task 1.5. The data rescue has started and is partly scheduled for the second project year. Delivery of the data requires that the ESEAS DS is established.

6 WP2: Status and Results so far

Richard Bingley presented an overview of the status (see pdf or ppt ) and started by discussing the EOS of which 27 are co-located with CGPS while 16 more sites are in preparation of co-location. In total, it is expected that in the end, there will be approximately 48 observing sites with CGPS.

Up to now, special focus has been on Tasks 2.1 and 2.3.

Hans-Peter Plag reported on the status of Tasks 2.1 and 2.3, which are led by Halfdan Pascal Kierulf (see pdf ). Version 1.0 of the Deliverable 2.1 (GPS Strategy definition document, see pdf ) has been sent out to the Task Group Members. The strategy is based on a separation of the computation of global parametres (e.g. satellite orbits and clocks) and local parametres (such as station coordinates and local atmospheric patametres). Several different programs and analysis strategies are to be used.

In its present version, the document also contains information on the implementation of the strategy. Currently, five ACs are included. However, implementation of the strategy is expected to evolve in time and this has delayed the finalisation of the document. Therefore, the following AI was agreed:

Action Item PT-2-9: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf to split up the Version 1.0 strategy document of D2.1, into strategy and implementation. Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Rational: The strategy is expected not to change much in time while implementation will evolve over time. Therefore, the two parts should be separate documents.

The ACs have analysed the GPS data of the first three months of 2003 for 24 CGPS stations. Comparison of the results reveal significant differences in the mean station coordinates as well as the trends computed for the time series (despite the very large uncertainties in these rates). The differences may be due to various ways to align the solutions with ITRF2000. The following AI was agreed:

Action Item PT-2-10: Juan Jose Martinez-Benjamin , UPC to add the results for their processing using GIPSY/OASIS II with PPP and JPL products to the ESEAS CGPS data a Responsible: Juan Jose Martinez-Benjamin, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-11: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf to make the SINEX files and solution time series files from all CGPS ACs available in the ESEAS CGPS DS. Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 16 Nov 2003.

Rational: Making the SINEX files available will allow all Task group members to compare the results and to find reasons for the differences in the coordinates.

Action Item PT-2-12: All members of the Task 2.3 team to look at their own processing of the extended sample data set and investigate how their results may be improved, considering the results from the other members of the task T2.3 team Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 31 Dec 2003.

Rational: The differences in the solutions are too large to be accepted. One step is that every Analysis Centre tries to

UNOTT used the Bernese software in precise point positioning (PPP) mode together with the IGS products for satellite orbits and clocks. The results are quite different from the other results with large trends over the three months. The discussion indicated that these differences may be due to Bernese not being appropriate for PPP, and/or IGS products not being appropriate for PPP. The following AIs were agreed:

Action Item PT-2-13: GCM and SRC to investigate any issues relating to their strategy for reference frame definition. Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-14: NMA and ROA to re-process the extended sample data set using GIPSY/OASIS II with PPP and IGS products and add these results to the ESEAS CGPS data archive Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Rational: The results produced by UNOTT using Bernese with IGS products in precise point positioning approach are considerable worse than all other solutions. It is not clear whether this is due to the IGS products or Bernese ppp or the combination of the two. Using GIPSY PPP with IGS, which seems to result in degraded time series, will help to clarify the situation.

Action Item PT-2-15: UNOTT to make a conclusion regarding Bernese 4.2 with PPP and IGS products; Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

There was also considerable discussion on how to determine the accuracy of the daily coordinate estimates. Hans-Peter Plag claimed that the differences in results from different groups using different ways to transform the results to ITRF indicates the actual uncertainty with respect to ITRF.

Mikis Tsimplis commented that comparing trends is propobably not a good way to discuss the differences between the results from different groups. Hasan Yildiz added that the software first should be tested on certain time series. Hans-Peter Plag responded that the trends for all time series samples were computed with the same program. The absolute values were not used in the comparison, just significant differences of trends determined for the different time series for any given station. Correlation studies would reveal even larger differences between the groups.

Richard Bingley discussed the status of Task 2.2 (see pdf or ppt ). The draft document for the time series analysis strategy is available since May, describing in particular the stochastic approach to be applied by several groups. The part describing the deterministic approach to be applied mainly by NMA is still missing.

Action Item PT-2-16: Hans-Peter Plag to provide input for the strategy definition document for Task 2.2. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

With respect to Task 2.4, Hans-Peter Plag reported that the SBL is currently computing global grids of atmospheric loading for the last 10 years. It is also expected that near-real time computations of the atmospheric loading signal will be operational before the end of the year.

Richard Bingley reported on Task 2.6 (see pdf or ppt ). Trevor F. Baker has carried out a survey for ESEAS concerning abs. gravity measurements at tide gauges in Europe. Observations at more than 40 sites have been offered by the different European groups. POL itself has carried out measurements at three sites in Europe.

Hasan Yildiz reported on Task 2.7, which is led by Coskun Demir (see pdf or ppt ). Up to now, work has concentrated on development of forms and software, which was done on the basis of data from Antalya.

Two forms have been prepared, namely (1) for historical and current levelling info, and (2) for information about the benchmarks. The program is basically for computation of relative land movements with respect to the primary tide gauge benchmark.

In conclusion, the OCs are asked to prepare information about precise levelling data between the primary TGBM and any other geodetic markers within a few km of the TG and upload the input files to the ESEAS DS. Together with NMA, a master file for levelling will be defined and made available for update by the OCs.

Action Item PT-2-17: Coskun Demir and Hans-Peter Plag to define the master file for the levelling information. Responsible: Coskun Demir, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

It was discussed whether levelling data including back and forth measurements should be collected or whether storing the height differences for the different markers would be sufficient. It was suggested that height differences are sufficient. However, it would amke sense to contact other projects such as ELVN to find out what and how information is collected.

Action Item PT-2-18: Coskun Demir to contact others projects such as the EULVN project to find out which an how levelling information is compiled. Responsible: Coskun Demir, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

In a general discussion, the issue of what can be an ESEAS Observing Site was taken up. Maria-Jesus Garcia pointed out that the Canary Islands are missing from the ESEAS Map and wanted this location to be included. Hans-Peter Plag extended the question and asked whether all gauges operated by a European Institute can be an ESEAS site or whether the ESEAS network should be defined on geographical basis. Mikis Tsimplis suggested to define the network on the basis of oceanographic regions. It was concluded that this issue needs to be discussed by the ESEAS GB.

7 WP3: Status and Results so far

Per Knudsen gave a brief overview of the status in WP3 (see pdf or ppt ). The work in the first 12 months concentrated on Task 3.1. The work is based on monthly means from PSMSL as well as satellite altimetry data.

There has been asucessful workshop at POL. There agreement was reached on the strategy and methodolgy for the analyses of the tide gauge data. Each partner involved in Task 3.1 was supposed to analyse data from a certain European region and a non-European region. Prior to that, the time series of 10 control stations was to be analysed in order to compare the methodology.

At the workshop, also the methodology to be used for altimetry was agreed upon. In order to be consistent with the tide gauge data, non IB-correction should be used for the altimetry data.

Mikis Tsimplis as leader of Task 3.1 gave a brief overview of the progress the first year which focused on quality control of the monthly means as well as the intercomparison of the methods for time series analysis and the analysis of the interannual sea level variability.

Concerning the result of the quality control, the following AIs were agreed:

Action Item PT-2-19: Mikis Tsimplis to give feedback concerning data errors of the analysis to PSMSL Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 30 Dec 2003.

Rational: The quality control work done in Task 3.1 should be made available to a larger community. This can be achieved through information made available to PSMSL.

Action Item PT-2-20: Mikis Tsimplis to provide corrected tide gauge monthly data to ESEAS CB Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 30 Dec 2003.

The intercomparison of the power spectra computed by the participating partners for the control stations turned out to be inconsistent for unclear reasons. Mikis Tsimplis asked how important these differences are, and he considered the issue not so important.

Action Item PT-2-21: Mikis Tsimplis to provide a discussion and potential explanation of the differences in the spectra calculated by the different partners. Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 25 Dec 2003.

The current strategy for the analysis is based on records of monthly means longer than 20 years as well as all records after 1993 for comparison with satellite altimetry. A goal is to determine EOF representation of regionally coherent sea level variability.

Technical problems are due to gaps, where different approaches are used for interpolation and EOF analyses accounting for gaps.

A preliminary report compiling all available input from the different partners has been produced. This led to

Action Item PT-2-22: Hanne Heiberg to make the draft report from Task 3.1 available on the Status web page (under Task 3.1). Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 11 Nov 2003.

In conclusion, Mikis Tsimplis stated that the objectives nearly have been achieved. Currently, the work is being documented.

The remaining tasks include a merging of the version 1.0 datasets and circulating them for cross checks. In the geographical region studied by POL, variability with spatial coherence can be seen, which is most likely related to El Nino.

The next step is to establish the link to satellite altimetry.

Luciana Fenoglio-Marc reported on initial work related to Task 3.2 (see pdf and ppt ). The task will use input from T3.1 (e.g. quality controlled monthly means). The activities are to estimate spatial and temporal variation, correlations with NAO and ENSO and interpolation in space of the variability seen at the tide gauges.

Luciana Fenoglio-Marc pointed out that tide gauges having large trends cannot be included in the study (e.g. Ancona).

The work in the task will continue with an EOF analysis of the data, estimate the accuracy, consider the NAO and ENSO signal in the sea level and to separate decadal variability from long-term trends.

There was some discussion how to best utilise the EOF in order to approach the final goal, i.e. the emphirical model of the sea level variations in the last century.

Mikis Tsimplis pointed out that the result of Task 3.1 should be published. Hans-Peter Plag emphasised that besides the list of deliverables given in the DoW, it is expected that the project will result in quite a number of scientific papers. Mikis Tsimplis added that anyone is welcome to take a lead in writing the paper(s), with Mikis Tsimplis being willing to give support.

Action Item PT-2-23: Mikis Tsimplis to draft a paper reporting the results of Task 3.1. Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 20 Jan 2004.

Ole B. Andersen reported on Task 3.3 (see pdf or ppt ). A comparison of power spectra from tide gauges and satellite altimetry shows that spectra are similar if similar time intervals are chosen. However, altimetry and tide gauges are not consistent everywhere, differences are found in particular for complex regions. Moreover, the power spectrum at a given location/region is time dependent.

Concerning EOFs, it is found that a few modes describe most of the variance of the data. In some areas, the first mode captures a high fraction of the variance.

Problems are caused by the fact that only few tide gauges have data from 2000 onward. This is due to very slow delivery of monthly means to PSMSL. It is suggested that ten years of simultaneous tide gauge and satellite altimetry data are needed, but only 8 years are currently available. A better distribution of tide gauges is also expected to allow more solid conclusions.

The next steps are to extend the time interval with simultaneous data to 10 years as well as to increase the number of stations. The preliminary results need to be studied further and the reliability needs to be checked.

It was pointed out that a comparison of tide gauge data and satellite altimetry on the basis of monthly means may be misleading since monthly means computed from Topex/Poseidon are based on three temporal samples only.

It was also suggested to extend the analysis, which is currently strongly focused on frequencies only, to consider amplitudes as well.

Hans-Peter Plag raised the question whether it is possible to build an empirical model for sea level variability on the basis of EOFs if these turn out not to be constant in time. It was suggested to study smaller regions where the EOF might be more stable in time.

In a general discussion, it was concluded that in some cases, it would make sense to have an easy way to exchange data or draft documents. For that, an ESEAS-RI user will be set up for ftp on the eseas server.

Action Item PT-2-24: Hanne Heiberg to set up ESEAS-RI user for ftp-server (ftp.gdiv.statkart.no) Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 15 Nov 2003.

It was strongly recommended to organise the next WP3 meeting in conjunction with a WP1 meeting. The two meetings were tentatively scheduled for late January 2004.

Action Item PT-2-25: Per Knudsen to organise WP3 in conjunction with WP1 meeting Responsible: Per Knudsen, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

7.1 Introduction to WP3

Already discussed under TOP 7.

7.2 Summary of Task 3.1

Already discussed under TOP 7.

7.3 Other activities

Already discussed under TOP 7.

7.4 Discussion of results and progress

Already discussed under TOP 7.

7.5 Next year - Task 3.2

Already discussed under TOP 7.

8 WP4: Status and Results so far

Dov Rosen gave a brief introduction to WP4 status (see pdf or ppt ).

Begona Perez Gomez reported on Task 4.1. The test site for comparing of different tide gauge sensors was set up by PE and at this site, different sensors have been tested for one year. In addition, results obtained by IEO and POL were used. In total, 9 instruments with four different types of sensors were tested. The types used are acoustic, radar, pressure and float sensors.

A preliminary conclusion so far is that radar sensors require reduced maintainance and that this sensor meets the accuracy requirements of 1 cm proposed for an ESEAS Observing Site. However, up to now gauges have only run a few months in parallel and more time is needed for compare the sensors particularly concerning the longterm stability.

Begona Perez Gomez pointed out that POL has just installed their tide gauge at the test site and therefore, PE wants to continue the Task longer than originally planned in order to get a good comparison of the gauges currently running in parallel.

Concerning Task 4.2, Dov Rosen reported that 15 tide gauges are to be upgraded with modern equipment. Originally, the equipment was to be chosen on the basis of the results of Task 4.1. However, some partners choose to upgrade their gauges already in the first year and thus had to select the equipment on the basis of other criteria.

Partner 11 pointed out that there are two tide gauges not mentioned in the report that are upgraded.

In the frame of Task 4.3, several new CGPS sites will be established at ESEAS Observing Sites.

With respect to Task 4.4, it was reported that there were 16 GPS campaign sites, distributed in Spain, Turkey, Lithuania, Israel, and Poland.

The status of WP4 can be summarised as follows: Task 4.1 will continue for several months to compare the tide gauge sensors now including a bubbler gauge. Thus, the final report for Task 4.1 will be delayed a few months. The upgrading of the tide gauges is expected to be completed in the second year. Submission of data from the upgraded gauges will be done in near-real time to the ESEAS Data Server.

The new CGPS stations are expected to become operational early in the second year and the sites will deliver data to the ESEAS GPS DS as well as to regional ACs.

Hans-Peter Plag pointed out that at the WP4 meeting in Paris, an AI concerning the selection of new CGPS sites was agreed. This AI was again emphasised:

Action Item PT-2-26: All partners planning to install a new CGPS site to prepare a brief description of the new site and provide it to WP2 leader for assessment. Responsible: Dov Rosen, Deadline:

Rational: New CGPS sites are in most cases choosen by non-experts (tide gauge operators). In order to avoid unnecessary problems due to unfavourable site conditions, an assessment by CGPS experts is necessary prior to the installation of the site.

The AI was extended by the following:

Action Item PT-2-27: At proposed new CGPS sites, test GPS measurements have to be carried out at each potential location for the GPS antenna (preferably over two consequtive days) and the data have to be assessed and analysed by the ESEAS GPS ACs. Responsible: Dov Rosen, Deadline: 31 Jan 2004.

Rational: Experience shows that GPS conditions can vary considerably over short distances and without actual measurements, it is extremely difficult to assess GPS conditions thoroughly. In order to ensure good site quality, test observations with GPS receivers of geodetic quality are required.

9 Review of the overall project status

Hans-Peter Plag reviewed the status on the basis of the presentations given so far (see pdf ). He pointed out that the project appears to be in good shape. Starting up the project was a key task in the first year and this has been fully achieved. All tasks planned to be active during the first year have started and carried out considerable work. The project structure is in place. Major milestones have been achieved. For most deliverables due in the first year, at least preliminary versions are available.

However, many deliverables are still in preliminary form. Hans-Peter Plag requested more focus on final deliverables. He pointed out that deliverables can be published with several version with later additions. It may also be helpful to split documents in several parts so that parts easily to be finalised can be published at an earlier date. Therefore, each WP should consider what can be made final in the near future.

Hans-Peter Plag also pointed out that communication can be improved. The ESEAS-RI status web pages can be used more actively to inform about the status in each task. Therefore, task leaders and also task members are welcome to send information to the ESEAS CB, which will include the information on the respective status web page.

Hans-Peter Plag emphasised the obligation to publish scientific papers and stated that already now, plans for papers should be made.

Concerning the main points for the second year, Hans-Peter Plag emphasised for WP1 the setting up of the ESEAS Data Server and Data Portal. This work requires input from all participants in form of data and meta data. For WP2, the operational implementation of the CGPS processing is a major step to be achieved. WP3 has to finalise the analysis of the interannual to multi-decadal sea level variability and to make initial progress towards the emphirical model. Within WP4, completion of tide gauge upgrading and installation of the new CGPS sites has main priority.

In the discussion, it was agreed to plan for two ESEAS WP meetings. A joint WP1/WP3 meeting was suggested for end of January 2004, potentially in Darmstadt. Tentative dates are 28-30 January. Luciana Fenoglio-Marc has to check whether this meeting can be hosted in Darmstadt.

Action Item PT-2-28: Luciana Fenoglio-Marc to check whether the WP1/WP3 meeting can be held on 28-30 January in Darmstadt. Responsible: Luciana Fenoglio-Marc, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

A combined WP2/WP4 meeting is tentatively scheduled for early February 2004 in Madrid.

Action Item PT-2-29: Begona Perez Gomez to check whether the WP2/WP4 meeting can be held on 11-13 February in Madrid. Responsible: Begona Perez Gomez, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

The next Project Team meeting was moved to 13-14 May 2004 and will be held in Copenhagen.

The ESEAS-RI midterm workshop is scheduled for 13-17 September 2004.

Action Item PT-2-30: Dov Rosen to check whether the ESEAS-RI midterm workshop can be held in the week 13-17 September 2004 in Malta. Responsible: Dov Rosen, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Hans-Peter Plag reviewed the status of the milestones, and during the discussion the following comments were made and/or AI defined:

Action Item PT-2-31: With respect to M1.7, Lesley J. Rickards to provide information about which data are supposed to be digitized Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline: 31 Dec 2003.

M2.6 appears to be delayed. However, the time series may exist at POL and should be included on www.eseas.org.

Action Item PT-2-32: With respect to M2.6, Richard Bingley to contact POL in order to get the absolute gravity time series for eseas.org. Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

M3.3 may be hard to reach.

M4.2 is still pending. A report can be given with preliminary recommendation, but not the final recommendations.

M4.4: some station are still not co-located.

Concerning D3.1, Mikis Tsimplis asked whether the data sets for D3.1 should be made available or whether focus should only be on the report. Hans-Peter Plag responded that several datasets were included in the list of deliverables and the data sets should be made available. If errors are found, then they should be reported to PSMSL. Mikis Tsimplis pointed out that PSMSL cannot exclude data, only flag them. In WP3, suspicious data freely can be excluded. PSMSL is aware of most of the problems. However, Hans-Peter Plag urged to provide PSMSL with a list of excluded data, so that they can flag any data not already flagged.

D4.1 will be slightly delayed until February 2004

D4.2 is also delayed.

Dov Rosen suggested that a software package for quality control should be made available so that it could be used by all partners. Hans-Peter Plag stated that the software for quality control and who performs the control should be discussed at the next WP1 meeting. Earlier it had been suggested that a package should be available on the server so that everybody could use it. However, this package would have to be fully automatic. It was mentioned that Fabio Raicich has done work to report on quality control routines applied by ESEAS partners. It was emphasised that the ESEAS members should specify their quality control procedures and give this information to Douwe Dillingh.

10 Annual Report (Nov. 2002 - Oct. 2003)

Hans-Peter Plag pointed out that for the report, the EC guidelines from 15 June have to be followed.

The ESEAS CB will compile the forms with participants information, and the members must check it and provide changes.

For Section 1, Hans-Peter Plag ask for input from the members.

Section 2 will be written by the coordinator and sent to the members for comments. For this section, full references to publications are needed. These need to be separated into peer-reviewed journals and other reports. For other reports, the type (reports, posters, proceesings, etc.) has to be specified. Conference presentations will be included in additional table in Section 2. Planned publications need to be specified, too.

Action Item PT-2-33: All partners to provide references to presentations and publications for Section 2 of the Annual Report. Responsible: all Deadline: 20 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-34: All partners to provide posters and presentations to the ESEAS CB for inclusion on eseas.org. Responsible: all Deadline: open.

The publishing policy was discussed. ESEAS-RI members planning to prepare a publication related to the work in ESEAS should invite other task members to participate in the publication. Work in the ESEAS-RI can usually not be considered to be done by a single person alone, since open discussions take place in the project meetings. In order to be open, all partners must be sure that their ideas are not used by others. Plans for publications should therefore be discussed on task or even WP level.

Publications must always mention the EU funding and the ESEAS-RI contract number EVR1-2002-40025.

Potential publications are e.g. the results of the test station (T4.1), and the results concerning the use of Bernese for ppp (T3.4).

Hans-Peter Plag writes Section 3 of the report and send it out for review.

There was some discussion about the efficiency of the structure specified in the guidelines, however, this is what the EC wants.

Concerning the Technical Implementation Plan (TIP), the Commission does not expect a draft TIP in the first annual report. In 2004, Hans-Peter Plag will set up a web page and register the participants. After that, the members are to provide the information in the forms as indicated in the TIP guidelines.

Sections 5 and 6 apply only for the final report.

Partners who have spent more than planned for the first year can include this in the cost statement. However, this will reduce the funds available for the following years. The total funds cannot be exceeded. Several partners have spent more on travel due to increased prices after 11 September 2001. Hans-Peter Plag pointed out that using significantly less money than planned leads to problems as this will reduce the prepayment for all partners.

Only costs documented by invoices can be charged to the project. This excludes a number of costs from consumables (e.g. printer paper, phone calls, etc.).

Formally, partners need to document who worked when on the project.

Action Item PT-2-35: Hans-Peter Plag to inform everybody about the requirements for documentation of who worked when on the project. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Action Item PT-2-36: All ESEAS-RI partners to provide table with planned and spent personmonths for the last 12 months. More than 20 % deviation from planned personmonths requires an explanation. Responsible: all Deadline: 13 November 2003.

11 Management Report (May 2003 - Oct. 2003)

This item was covered in the previous one.

12 Discussion of the report to the ESEAS GB

An issue to be discussed and decided by the ESEAS GB is the question whether to define the ESEAS on a geographical region (European Waters) or on an institutional basis (all tide gauges operated by European institutes) or a mixture.

It was also asked that providing hourly data for all ESEAS Observing sites should be taken up by the ESEAS GB.

13 List of Action Items

Action Item PT-2-1: Richard Bingley to prepare a new version of the tables resulting from ESEAS-RI Task 1.1, which are then frozen as Version 1.0. Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Rational: The tables keep changing. It is now necessary to freeze them at the current status and then to update them later based on the info available at the ESEAS DS.

Action Item PT-2-2: Hanne Heiberg to make all Version 1.0 files resulting from ESEAS-RI Task 1.1 available on the web Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline:

Action Item PT-2-3: Lesley J. Rickards to provide the revised Quality Control Document to the ESEAS CB. Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Action Item PT-2-4: Hanne Heiberg to make the revised Quality Control Document available on the Status Web page. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline:

Action Item PT-2-5: Hanne Heiberg to deactivate the link to the ESEAS Data Portal. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 20 November 2003.

Rational: The Data Portal is very preliminary and should therefore not publically available. If necessary, it can be made available under the status page of Task 1.3

Action Item PT-2-6: Hanne Heiberg to include task titles on the respective ESEAS-RI web pages and for each link on the ESEAS and ESEAS-RI website maps. Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 30 December 2003.

Rational: Inclusion of date of last change, and possibly an icon for links change within the last months will make it easier for an user to locate pages that are worthwhile to look at.

Action Item PT-2-7: Lesley J. Rickards to make available the Catalog of paper-based tide gauge records compiled in Task 1.4. Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Rational: The catalog is an ESEAS-RI deliverable and needs to be available through the ESEAS web page.

Action Item PT-2-8: Hanne Heiberg to place the Catalog of paper-based tide gauge records on the ESEAS-RI web page as a deliverable. Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline:

Action Item PT-2-9: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf to split up the Version 1.0 strategy document of D2.1, into strategy and implementation. Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Rational: The strategy is expected not to change much in time while implementation will evolve over time. Therefore, the two parts should be separate documents.

Action Item PT-2-10: Juan Jose Martinez-Benjamin , UPC to add the results for their processing using GIPSY/OASIS II with PPP and JPL products to the ESEAS CGPS data a Responsible: Juan Jose Martinez-Benjamin, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-11: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf to make the SINEX files and solution time series files from all CGPS ACs available in the ESEAS CGPS DS. Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 16 Nov 2003.

Rational: Making the SINEX files available will allow all Task group members to compare the results and to find reasons for the differences in the coordinates.

Action Item PT-2-12: All members of the Task 2.3 team to look at their own processing of the extended sample data set and investigate how their results may be improved, considering the results from the other members of the task T2.3 team Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 31 Dec 2003.

Rational: The differences in the solutions are too large to be accepted. One step is that every Analysis Centre tries to

Action Item PT-2-13: GCM and SRC to investigate any issues relating to their strategy for reference frame definition. Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-14: NMA and ROA to re-process the extended sample data set using GIPSY/OASIS II with PPP and IGS products and add these results to the ESEAS CGPS data archive Responsible: Halfdan Pascal Kierulf, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Rational: The results produced by UNOTT using Bernese with IGS products in precise point positioning approach are considerable worse than all other solutions. It is not clear whether this is due to the IGS products or Bernese ppp or the combination of the two. Using GIPSY PPP with IGS, which seems to result in degraded time series, will help to clarify the situation.

Action Item PT-2-15: UNOTT to make a conclusion regarding Bernese 4.2 with PPP and IGS products; Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-16: Hans-Peter Plag to provide input for the strategy definition document for Task 2.2. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-17: Coskun Demir and Hans-Peter Plag to define the master file for the levelling information. Responsible: Coskun Demir, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-18: Coskun Demir to contact others projects such as the EULVN project to find out which an how levelling information is compiled. Responsible: Coskun Demir, Deadline: 15 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-19: Mikis Tsimplis to give feedback concerning data errors of the analysis to PSMSL Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 30 Dec 2003.

Rational: The quality control work done in Task 3.1 should be made available to a larger community. This can be achieved through information made available to PSMSL.

Action Item PT-2-20: Mikis Tsimplis to provide corrected tide gauge monthly data to ESEAS CB Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 30 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-21: Mikis Tsimplis to provide a discussion and potential explanation of the differences in the spectra calculated by the different partners. Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 25 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-22: Hanne Heiberg to make the draft report from Task 3.1 available on the Status web page (under Task 3.1). Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 11 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-23: Mikis Tsimplis to draft a paper reporting the results of Task 3.1. Responsible: Mikis Tsimplis, Deadline: 20 Jan 2004.

Action Item PT-2-24: Hanne Heiberg to set up ESEAS-RI user for ftp-server (ftp.gdiv.statkart.no) Responsible: Hanne Heiberg, Deadline: 15 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-25: Per Knudsen to organise WP3 in conjunction with WP1 meeting Responsible: Per Knudsen, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-26: All partners planning to install a new CGPS site to prepare a brief description of the new site and provide it to WP2 leader for assessment. Responsible: Dov Rosen, Deadline:

Rational: New CGPS sites are in most cases choosen by non-experts (tide gauge operators). In order to avoid unnecessary problems due to unfavourable site conditions, an assessment by CGPS experts is necessary prior to the installation of the site.

Action Item PT-2-27: At proposed new CGPS sites, test GPS measurements have to be carried out at each potential location for the GPS antenna (preferably over two consequtive days) and the data have to be assessed and analysed by the ESEAS GPS ACs. Responsible: Dov Rosen, Deadline: 31 Jan 2004.

Rational: Experience shows that GPS conditions can vary considerably over short distances and without actual measurements, it is extremely difficult to assess GPS conditions thoroughly. In order to ensure good site quality, test observations with GPS receivers of geodetic quality are required.

Action Item PT-2-28: Luciana Fenoglio-Marc to check whether the WP1/WP3 meeting can be held on 28-30 January in Darmstadt. Responsible: Luciana Fenoglio-Marc, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-29: Begona Perez Gomez to check whether the WP2/WP4 meeting can be held on 11-13 February in Madrid. Responsible: Begona Perez Gomez, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-30: Dov Rosen to check whether the ESEAS-RI midterm workshop can be held in the week 13-17 September 2004 in Malta. Responsible: Dov Rosen, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-31: With respect to M1.7, Lesley J. Rickards to provide information about which data are supposed to be digitized Responsible: Lesley J. Rickards, Deadline: 31 Dec 2003.

Action Item PT-2-32: With respect to M2.6, Richard Bingley to contact POL in order to get the absolute gravity time series for eseas.org. Responsible: Richard Bingley, Deadline: 30 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-33: All partners to provide references to presentations and publications for Section 2 of the Annual Report. Responsible: all Deadline: 20 Nov 2003.

Action Item PT-2-34: All partners to provide posters and presentations to the ESEAS CB for inclusion on eseas.org. Responsible: all Deadline: open.

Action Item PT-2-35: Hans-Peter Plag to inform everybody about the requirements for documentation of who worked when on the project. Responsible: Hans-Peter Plag, Deadline: 30 November 2003.

Action Item PT-2-36: All ESEAS-RI partners to provide table with planned and spent personmonths for the last 12 months. More than 20 % deviation from planned personmonths requires an explanation. Responsible: all Deadline: 13 November 2003.

14 AOB

There was a discussion about the ESEAS Newsletter and its contents. There is a need for an editor since the CB cannot carry out this task.

Eimuntas Parseliunas advertise for publishing in the Lithuanian Journal, where a short time from submission to publishing can be an advantage.

15 Date and time of the next PT meeting

The next PT meeting will take place 13-14 May 2004 in Copenhagen.

The minutes were written by Hans-Peter Plag and Hanne Heiberg .

First Draft was made available 9 December 2003

Last Correction was carried out 6 January 2003.