Scientific Programme

• Stratosphere-Troposphere Dynamical Coupling
• Stratospheric Variability and Climate Change
• Extra-tropical Upper Troposphere/Lower Stratosphere
• Detection, Attribution and Prediction of Stratospheric Change
• Tropical Tropopause Layer
• Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate
• Stratospheric data assimilation
• Gravity-wave processes and their parameterization
• Stratospheric and upper tropospheric water vapour

Calendar

Financial Support :

There are no reduced rates for registration. Students, young scientists, and scientist from developing or transitional countries are encouraged to apply for financial support to the SPARC Office. To
qualify for financial support, the applicant must first submit the
abstract of a paper, of which he/she is the principal author. The SPARC Office will do its best to accommodate requests for financial support.

Application for financial support is now closed.

Oral and Poster  Programme:

The
scientific programme will include invited talks, contributed talks and
poster sessions. The majority of presentations will be as posters.
Poster sessions have been allocated a large fraction of time and have been carefully timetabled to maximize their effectiveness.
The General Assembly will open Sunday 31^st August 2008 at 14:00 with an Opening Lecture followed by a session on cross-cutting issues.

Opening Lecture: Susan Solomon. ‘From Assessment to Research and Back: An Overview of Key Issues in the Stratosphere and UTLS‘

Other invited speakers at the General Assembly will be:

Thomas
Birner, John Burrows, Eugene Cordero, Leo Donner, Stephan Fueglistaler,
Masatamo Fujiwara, Nathan Gillett, Michaela Hegglin, Thomas Koop, Paul
Kushner, Mark Lawrence, Ulrike Lohmann, Dan Murphy, Paul Newman, Tim
Palmer, Saroja Polavarapu, Cora Randall, Markus Rex, Kauro Sato, Kengo
Sudo, Dave Thompson, Darryn Waugh.

Please download the General Assembly Programme and Abstracts HERE.

 Note that the Programme will be updated regularly. Please check the above link till the FINAL version will appear.

Abstract Submission:

 Participants
who wish to give a presentation (oral or poster) must submit an
abstract. Abstracts should be short (max 4000 characters), clear,
concise and written in English (plain text). Figures, tables, special
symbols and references cannot be included. Please carefully check your
abstract, including list of authors and presenter affiliation and email
address, before submission.
The
submission of an abstract carries with it the obligation that it is
actually presented at the meeting by the author or by one of the
co-authors.
Abstracts must be submitted by the deadline and only by following the link above. Abstracts cannot be submitted by email or fax. Abstract submission is closed.

Guidelines for oral and poster presentations:

Oral
presentations: Projection only. Please prepare your presentation
compliant with windows OS. No transparencies. No personal computers.
Participants with oral presentations will be informed by email of the
possibility to upload they presentations few days before the General
Assembly.

Poster presentation: Size of poster board: 90 cm x 120 cm (width x length).

Social Events:

• 31 August 2008 –  Refreshment
• 3 September 2008  – General Assembly Dinner

Registration:

Registration fees include attendance to the General Assembly, refreshments, coffee breaks, lunches, the General Assembly Dinner, and daily shuttle transportation from selected fixed locations to the CNR Conference Centre.

Participants registering for the entire SPARC 4th General Assembly can register at the IGAC 10th International Conference at reduced rates for the first 2 days (8-9 September 2008) of the IGAC 10th International Conference. Please apply at the IGAC web page and note that there are a limited number of reduced registrations available. Please note that this agreement is reciprocal with IGAC (see below).

Registration fee for Accompanying Person: 60 Euro.
The registration fee gives access to the General Assembly Dinner. The accompanying persons will not have access to the conference center.

Registration Procedure

To register, please use the COSIS online registration and complete your contact information there. Reminder – this is how your name will appear on your name badge.

All participants must register. Each person must register separately.

If you do not possess a COSIS-ID, you may log into the COSIS system free of charge. If you have registered with COSIS in the past (e.g. previous conferences), you have a COSIS-ID number.

If you forgot your number, please use the ‘Lost your login data?’ link on the login page. Have your COSIS-ID number and your password ready and enter the registration page.

Please register with the COSIS online registration tool HERE.

Payment

Payment
accepted during online registration is by a secure credit card process
(American Express, Eurocard/Mastercard, VISA oder JCB) or by bank
transfer. After your online registration is completed, COSIS will send
you an invoice, attached as pdf file to an email, and a receipt after
your payment is effected.

Conditions

IGAC 10th International Conference Participants:

Participants
registering for the entire the IGAC 10th International Conference can
register at the SPARC 4th General Assembly at reduced rates for the
last 2 days (4-5 September 2008) of the SPARC 4th General Assembly.
Please note that this agreement is reciprocal with IGAC.

* This reduced fee covering both days will be available for 40 participants only. Otherwise, attendance by SPARC registrants will be charged at the rate of 100 Euros per day. Please note that there are a limited number of reduced registrations available.

Please register by email to the SPARC Office ([email protected]), specifying your name, affiliation and email address. You will be informed by email by the SPARC Office on how to pay. Use SPARC/IGAC in your email subject.

Payment and Conditions as for normal registrants.

General Assembly Location:

The SPARC 4^th General Assembly will be held in the Main Conference Hall of the CNR Conference Center located in Via Gobetti, 101 40129 Bologna, Italy.

Please find a description on how to reach the CNR Center and the SPARC shuttle stops HERE Interactive map and GA locator).

Please download local information and the time table of the SPARC shuttle HERE.

The CNR Conference Center is located just outside Bologna city center, within the main ring of the outer Bologna. The CNR Conference Center can be reached by public transportation (bus 87 and 11).

How to reach Bologna:

Air: Large regional airport, connected to the major European inter continental hubs. For information click here.
Train: Major node within the national and European networks. Downtown train station. For information click here.
Car: Major node within the national and European networks.

Accommodation / Tourism :

Find information on Accomodation and Tourism in Bologna HERE.

Find information on Accommodation and Tourism in Bologna here.

Block booking:

Block
booking for the SPARC General Assembly participants is available at the
hotels listed below. Please follow the given instructions. Housing
deadline, prices and details are different for each hotel (see the form
for each hotel). Reservations are available on a first-come,
first-serve basis. It is recommended that you make your hotel
reservation as soon as possible. All block
booked hotels are close to pick up stops of public and our daily
shuttle transportation to the CNR Conference Center. Details on the
daily shuttles will be included in the GA program.

Please remember to specify “SPARC-GA” in your contact with the hotel of your choice.

• Jolly Hotel De La Gare

Email: [email protected]
Fax: +39-051-249764.
Please fill in and email (subject: SPARC-GA) or fax directly to the hotel the form available here. Offer valid from 30 August to 6 September 2008.
BLOCK BOOKING DEADLINE: 24 JULY 2008.

• Royal Hotel Carlton

Email: [email protected]
Fax : +39-051-249724
Please fill in and email (subject: SPARC-GA) or fax directly to the hotel the form available here. Offer valid from 30 August to 5 September 2008.
BLOCK BOOKING DEADLINE: 30 JULY 2008

• StarHotel Excelsior

Email: [email protected]
Fax: +39-051-249448
Please fill in and email (subject: SPARC-GA) or fax directly to the hotel the form available here. Offer valid from 30 August to 6 September 2008.
BLOCK BOOKING DEADLINE: 22 AUGUST 2008

• Hotel Mercure Bologna

Email: [email protected]
Fax : +39-051-249421
Please fill in and email (subject: SPARC-GA) or fax directly to the hotel the form available here. Offer valid from 30 August to 6 September 2008.
BLOCK BOOKING DEADLINE: 11 AUGUST 2008.

• Savhotel

E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: +39-051-373511
Please fill in and email (subject: SPARC-GA) or fax directly to the hotel the form available here. Offer valid from 29 August to 6 September 2008.
BLOCK BOOKING DEADLINE: 11 AUGUST 2008.

Accomodation for students:

Students
need to make their own reservation. Please indicate SPARC-GA in your
contact. Note that rooms for students are not block-booked: It is
recommended that you make your reservation as soon as possible.

Rooms are available at Camplus Foresterie:

• San Giovanni in Monte
  Please contact: [email protected]
  Fax +39 051 276777

• Castellaccio
  Please contact: [email protected]
  Fax +39 051 526 100

A
small number of apartments for students (sharing possible) are also
available at Camplus Foresterie. For the apartments please contact: [email protected]

Practical Information:

On arrival in Italy,
a valid national passport or other equivalent official document that
satisfactorily establishes your identity and nationality must be show.
In addition, a visa may be needed to be acquired before traveling to Italy. To find out whether or not a visa is required in your case, please visit the Italian visa website

Contacts:

• E. Manzini ([email protected] )
• C. Cagnazzo, S. Corti, F. Fierli, E. Palazzi, M. Pantano

• P. Haynes ([email protected] )
• T. Peter ([email protected])

Cosponsor:

• SPARK
• WCRP
• CMCC
• ISAC
• SCOUT-03
• COST
• CLU
• NIWA
• COSPAR
• ESA
• EUROCHAMP
• NEC
• IBM
• NSF
• NASA