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Project Description

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Time Line of IRI-MASL Seasonal Climate Prediction for Water and Environmental Resources Project:

  1. January 2000: Arrived at IRI with Post-Doc Proposal. Revision after consultations with Reid’s towards Water Resources Management. Contact with Dr. H. Manthrithillake – see Email
  2. February 2000: Quality Assessment of IRI predictions for Southern Asia (report available), Compilation of literature on Mahaweli project
  3. Feb-March 2000: Discussions with Prof. Upmanu Lall, Prof. Jagath Kaluarachchi, Dr. Ranjith Wanigaratne and preparation of White Paper on project leading to agreement all around
  4. April 2000: New Proposal produced and project budget ($6000) produced and both proposal and budget approved at senior staff meeting
  5. April 2000: Presented paper for IRI Ag-forum on ENSO and Rice in Sri Lanka
  6. May 2000: Antonio sends letter to Director-General/Mahaweli Authority
  7. June 2000: DG/ Mahaweli responds welcoming project
  8. July 2000: Advertisement for Research Assistant post in Universities and Newspaper Advertisement
  9. July 2000: Work in climatic data analysis in Sri Lanka with Chet (map rooms, assessment of predictability, data archive and reports available)
  10. July 2000: A large part of Sri Lankan hydroclimate data digitized with the help of Benno and Briana.
  11. August 2000: Presentation of Mahaweli Project at IRI
  12. August 2000: Project Visit by Lareef Zubair – presentations at Environment and Water Resources Division of Mahaweli Authority, Institution of Engineers, Irrigation Department, International Water Management Institute, Meetings with Manager, NRMS Ranjan Attygalle (see visit reports).
  13. August 2000: Non-Recruitment of Research Assistant: About 20 applicants and one candidate is selected and some initial training was provided. She turns the offer down after one month. Second offer is made to Liyanage and he turns it down after one month. Position is readvertised
  14. September 2000: Briefing and Review meeting regarding Mahaweli Project with Reid, Chet, Manu and Steve.
  15. September 2000: Regional Climate Digest was produced along with Asian Climate News
  16. October 2000: Poster presentation on Dynamical Orographic rainfall model for Sri Lanka at the Climate Diagnostics Workshop, IRI.
  17. November 2000: Mahaweli Web-site is developed – with Introduction, Background, Data Histories, Map Room
  18. January 2001: Mahaweli project was presented at NOAA OGP lecture
  19. May 2001: Mahaweli project progress is presented at ISTAC meeting
  20. May 2001: Mahaweli project is presented to Trainees at Downscaling Workshop
  21. Following meeting at IRI (see attached) I was encouraged to contact Sri Lankan counterparts to check for possibility of a field project. Of the contacts that were made one lead to a Pre-proposal on Malaria Hazard Warnings prepared with IWMI, University of Sri Jayawardhenepura, Sri Lanka Meteorological Dept and with  the climate group (Mark Cane, Marc Stieglitz and Jeff Shaman). Pre-proposal successful but full proposal is turned down after favourable reviews.
  22. June 2001: Visit by Dr. Manthrithillake (Invitation and Letter of Appreciation attached). Detailed account is attached.  
  23. August 2001: Extension of project. Proposed options for follow-up projects in letters to Antonio, Roberto, Reid
  24. August 2001: Preparation of FAQ on drought in Sri Lanka, advice to donor agencies on drought response, incorporation of Story on Drought in Sri Lanka in September 2001 Climate Digest.
  25. September 2001: Recruitment of Research Assistant, Heli Bulathsinhala.
  26. September 2001: Presentation on Lessons from Last ENSO at International Human Dimensions Program in Rio.
  27. October 2001: Preparation of poster on Mahaweli Project at Climate Diagnostics Workshop, San Diego, 2001
  28. October 2001: Meetings with Fred Koontz, Prithiviraj Fernando and Chandra Giri leads to an interest in sending a proposal for the IRI-seed funding. Marc Levy and John Mickelson of CIESIN, Dr. H. Manthrithillake from Mahaweli Authority,  Benno Blumenthal from IRI join in. Proposal submitted on Climate and Human-Elephant Conflict.
  29. November 2001: Recruitment of Chanaka to assist with data entry and compilation
  30. December 2001: Project Visit – Presentation at University of Moratuwa, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Department of Meteorology, Meetings with Health and Environment Group of International Water Management Institute
  31. January 2002: Assisted a consortium of scientific agencies in Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Association for Advancement of Science, Department of Meteorology,  develop a proposal to “Assess Impacts and Adaptation Strategies for Climate Variability and Climate Change for plantation agriculture” from START, DC
  32. January 2002: prepared a concept note on developing seasonal climate predictions and applications in Sri Lanka.
  33. January 2002: Recruitment of Ms. Upamala Thennakoon and Ms. Zeena Yehiya to assist with GIS services and documentation. Started preparing regional and seasonal climatologies.
  34. Revision of Seed-Funding Proposal on Climate and Human-Elephant Conflict. 
  35. March 2002: Extended Visit to Frontier Research System for Global Change, Japan after discussions with Steve Zebiak and Antonio Moura.
  36. April 2002: Dr. Manthrithillake leaves to International Water Management Institute. Mr. Ranjan Attygalle will continue as Manager, NRMS and Manthri will continue to be one of three board members. The others are Prof. S. Kotagama (Ecologist from University of Colombo) and Mr. Sumithraarathcy (Botanist attached to Ministry of Environment). The project should stay on track.

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