The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has indicated on multiple occasions that the current CBP suite of models is going to be phased out after 2010-2011. This means that now it may be about the right time to start a community wide discussion about what the next Chesapeake Modeling and Decision Support System (CMDSS) may look like. The CCMP has proposed to organize a community effort to decide on the goals, functions, architecture and structure of the future system.

We would like to invite you to engage in an open discussion on this issue. We should include researchers that do modeling, monitoring, and data processing, as well as users that can help to identify the particular problems and goals that this system should serve. We think that Open Community Research is the ultimate level of collaborative thinking and modeling, when the project goals are decided in an open environment including researchers and users. Projects are open-ended and ongoing, while research and modeling goals can be adjusted to the changing needs of the users.

We hope that if we can build a joint vision of the future CMDSS during the next few years and start designing its components and overall architecture, we will be in a better position to make a smooth transition from the existing CBP suite of models to the new and expanded framework.

Now that our Governance Rules are drafted and posted we are looking forward to hear your opinions. Please note that we are trying to give more rule to the members, so your input is especially important.

CCMP is proud to release its latest newsletter for August, 2008.  Please click on any of the following items to skip to that part of the newsletter:

0. Introduction
1. CCMP News in brief
2. News from other communities
3. Open Source News
4. Featured Blog Question: None
5. Featured Modeler: Don Weller
6. Featured Model: CBP Watershed Model
7. Position announcement at CCMP

If you have any comments or feedback you’d like to leave, feel free to email us or, likewise, post a comment below!

The CCMP Newsletter for June, 2008 has been released. This issue contains many exciting news items, including a summary of the Chesapeake Modeling Symposium ‘08. A list of items discussed can be found below:

1. CheMS’08
2. CCMP News in brief
3. News from other communities
4. Open Source on the March
5. Featured Blog Question: How can we improve the CCMP newsletter?
6. CCMP membership
7. Featured Modeler: Doug Wilson
8. Featured Model: ChesROMS
9. Announcement: Job Opportunities at NOAA & USACE

To view this issue of the newsletter in full, please click here.

We would love to hear some community feedback to help us improve this newsletter and make it more useful. What other content would you like to see? How can we improve the format? What you like and what you don’t like? Should we send this out at all?

Your thoughts? Please share them with the community by leaving a comment via the “comment” link below.

You can now access all of the posters, presentations, and papers that were submitted or presented at CheMS’08 (May 12-14 in Annapolis).  This collection of work represents a great amount of effort and preparation from various attendees and plenary speakers.  The presentations are grouped by workshop.  Plenary talks (opening and closing) are also available.

To view these files, please visit the CheMS Presentations page.

Interested in installing the ChesROMS model? You are in luck: Wen Long (UMCES/HPL) has created various video walkthroughs to guide you through the installation process. These were created in preparation for the Chesapeake Modeling Symposium 2008 (May 12-14). The guide can be accessed through the following links:

• Installation Overview (Powerpoint)
• 52 minute video walkthrough (with sound)
• 25 minute video walkthrough (without sound)

Note: If your media player does not properly play the movies, the VLC movie player is the recommended alternative. VLC Media player is available for free for Windows, Linux, and Mac at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

The most recent issue of the CCMP newsletter has been released. This newsletter features numerous news stories and updates pertaining to the entire Chesapeake modeling & data community. Topics include:

1. CheMS’08
2. Student Grants Available for CheMS’08
3. CCMP News in brief
4. News from other communities
5. CCMP Model & Data Repository, CheMS iPod Raffle
6. Models or data?
7. Featured Question: Does CCMP need by-laws?
8. Featured Modeler: Claire Welty
9. Featured Model: CE-QUAL-ICM

To view the newsletter in full, follow the links in the list above… and while you are at it, leave a comment to share your thoughts! A stand-alone version of the newsletter can be viewed here.

The question we want to ask you today: should CCMP develop By-Laws to make sure we have a clear & transparent structure and governing mechanism?

There are many questions that are related: Who are the officers, how do they get elected? What are the committees? Where/When are the meetings, and how often? What are the working groups? Who makes up the Steering Committee? How to deal with education/knowledge? And so forth.

Your thoughts? Please share them with the community by leaving a comment.