Outstanding Poster Award

After a careful screening of all posters the Committee agreed unanimously to give the Award to:

Poster FF39 (EMS2013-676)
Severe European cyclones: a storm-prone situation perspective
J.S.R. Owen, P Knippertz, and T.M. Trzeciak

The selection was based on the criteria as defined by EMS, namely:

  • Visual aspects, attractiveness;
  • Clarity/fluency to get the message to the readers;
  • Scientific quality;
  • Innovativeness of the approach;
  • Potential impacts of the results.

This visually appealing poster attracts the reader's eye to a set of four maps documenting some characteristics of the well-known wind-storms Kyrill, Emma, Klaus and Xynthia. A set of four corresponding diagrams depicts the evolution of different indicators for potential developments of wind-storms within an area covering Western Europe and the North Atlantic, during a 6-month period for each storm. Boxes, which are neatly placed around and between the two main figures, explain in a clear and concise way (a) the general goal of the study, namely to identify "storm-prone situations" and evaluate their representation in climate models; (b) the methodology based on scientific aspects which are, albeit not new, well referenced; and (c) the conclusions that four different jet types could be successfully identified and that individual storms, however, cannot be easily associated with one singular type. The results are potentially important for the predictability of wind-storms, and – to an even greater extent – for assessing a possible increase in the number of severe storms related to climate change.

The Selection Committee:

  • Ingeborg Auer, Austria
  • Liz Bentley, United Kingdom
  • Frank Beyrich, Germany
  • Jean Pailleux, France
  • Hans Richner, Switzerland (Chair)

Award

The author(s) will receive a certificate, one registration fee waiver for the EMS&ECAC 2014 in Prague where the award will be handed over, and the poster(s) will be highlighted on the EMS website as example of Best Practice.