Introduction

     As a recent graduate, this trip to Taiwan couldn't have been any more amazing. My name is Erick Adame and I recently received my Bachelors degree in Meteorology from Oneonta State College in New York. I will be attending graduate school at the University at Albany in the fall and aspire to gain an idea of possible research topics to investigate. Throughout my undergraduate years I had the opportunity to conduct research in Boulder, Colorado with the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program. It was through this program that I connected with Bill Kuo of the COSMIC project office. In 2004 I worked with the COSMIC office and did a summer research project using GPS data in a climate study. I even had the opportunity to attend a similar trip to Taiwan last summer. For this most recent trip, I wanted to gain an even better understanding of the many possibilities in research that involve GPS data. I also proposed to COSMIC that, since I had previously attended such a trip, I could provide valuable information and advice to the other students who would be visiting the country for the first time.

     My interests in GPS data are centered mostly on climate. My first research that was done with COSMIC involved monitoring temperature trends over Antarctica using GPS radio occultations. I compared this data with other model analyses and was able to roughly evaluate the performance of the ECMWF and the NCEP-Reanalysis. Since that first summer I have now expanded my research to include both polar regions. I attended this summer camp hoping that I could gain more background knowledge on the data that I'm using as well as hoping that I would learn some new techniques for using GPS data in climate studies.

     Finally, I attended the conference knowing that this was an excellent opportunity for networking with accomplished scientists. The field of Atmospheric Science is a relatively small field compared to others. It is important that we, as young scientists, take advantage of our small numbers and network with the others around us. When applying for this summer camp, I knew that the schedule would lend itself to many conversations with various scientists from all over the planet. There was no way I could pass up such an excellent opportunity to network with colleagues from all over

Scientific Experience

     The majority of our week's scientific experience came from the summer camp conference portion of the trip. One of the most interesting part of this camp for me was noticing how quickly research develops from one summer to the next. Some of the topics that people had questions about, or where research didn't seem to have concrete success, had developed greatly since the summer colloquium in 2004. One of these hot topics was data assimilation. In previous research and conferences, I had heard a great deal about the issues and concerns that accompanied studies attempting to assimilate GPS data. During this conference, it was communicated that there appeared to be a great deal of success in assimilating data using less complex methods (3D-Var rather than 4D-Var).

     This summer camp was very unique because it seemed to be much more student oriented. The colloquium in 2004 was rather complex and very advanced at times. In fact, it was so complex at times that many students' faces became completely blank while the speaker presented for over an hour. However, during this trip, each talk was designed very specifically for the students. Topics were broken down into much easier subtopics that made the science much easier to understand. The organization and order of the talks also helped increase our understanding. There was a clear and logical order to the topics. We started with a GPS introduction and moved into current research and assimilation. After that, the main topics were climate research and the ionosphere.

     The ionosphere portion of the agenda was extremely interesting to me. It wasn't clear to me until this summer camp how little we actually know about the ionosphere. Many of the students that I spoke with agreed that the ionosphere was not a topic typically covered in an undergraduate curriculum. I became somewhat fascinated with this topic of research. And perhaps what is most intriguing about this area is that so many questions still exist. It became very clear to me that, with the introduction of much more GPS data, ionospheric research will become a science hot spot. This is a possible area of study for me to consider in the future.

     The one most important thing that I learned from the talks was that GPS data should not replace any other type of data, but rather, complement the types of data that we already have today. As a young scientist in this field I first thought that GPS data would be so much better than other types of data such as radiosondes and infrared soundings that they could almost be eliminated. However, many of the talks stressed the importance of GPS data complementing the other types of data that we already have. GPS data, together with other information, will be extremely useful in a vast number of studies covering a wide spectrum of scientific interests.

     An exciting portion of the camp was the poster presentations. Although all of the students had been spending time together for days, we hadn't been given the opportunity to share our research. Our presentations were shared with one another, as well as with the speakers. It was great to hear some suggestions for future studies from very well known scientists in our field. Presenting our posters felt more like having friendly conversations about science with a colleague. It was a very warm and comforting experience.

     After the summer camp mini-conference, the students visited the NSPO facility. As a consequence of hearing so much about the upcoming COSMIC satellites, we all had become very attached to them. At NSPO we were able to see the satellites being tested as they get closer and closer to the launch date. It was an exciting scene to watch our beloved satellites prepare for their journey.

Cultural Experience

     The cultural experiences of this trip were abundant and extremely memorable. Right from the beginning the group of students from the U.S were greeted at the airport with smiling faces from Taiwan. They made us feel right at home and were very eager to share their culture with us. The students acted as our guides as we visited their beautiful country. They directed us everyday from when we woke up until we went to bed. They helped us ordering our food, making any purchases, and even with bargaining. One of the highlights was when we would share knowledge of our languages. The Taiwanese students would teach us a few essential Chinese words and we would in turn help them improve their English. It was an excellent example of cultural exchange.

     Of course one of the greatest cultural experiences as an American student was becoming accustomed to the food. The students were always enthusiastically describing their unique dishes to us. An amusing part of this experience was that many of the types of food did not have a clear translation so many food items were described as either "some kind of vegetable" or "some kind of meat". This became a fun joke amongst all the Taiwanese and American students later in the trip.

     At the end of our week the group took a trip to Hua-Lien on the east coast of Taiwan. Although this trip included a lot of scientific experience, it was packed with cultural experiences. The city was beautiful. From the top of a radar station we could see the beautiful Pacific Ocean and the beautiful beaches that surround the region. Remarkably, just to the west were beautiful mountains and gorges that simply took your breath away. The steep edges were covered in bright green vegetation. It showed us how full of life this Island of Taiwan really is. We saw peaceful waterfalls falling hundreds of feet from high mountaintops into deep gorges. It was amazing to experience such tranquility and natural beauty in contrast to the bustling and modern streets of cities like Taipei. It was these few hours at the beautiful gorges that stood out most for me. It is this type of natural beauty that I hope to be able to preserve as a scientist by means of keeping our atmosphere safe.

Concluding Remarks

     The trip was an overwhelming success in my opinion. It was a great balance between scientific and cultural experiences. In fact, the majority of the time, the two were very intertwined. The trip clearly demonstrated the importance of being able to visit and learn about the many cultures of the world. Science does not contain itself within our borders so it is critical that we allow ourselves to be able to work with and understand people from other cultures. This trip should be done with many more young scientists with many more countries across the globe.