1. The PROMISE coordinator, accompanied by a crop modeller, attended the DEMETER Kick-off meeting on 2 March to discuss the collaboration between the two projects and to provide information on our potential data needs from the DEMETER seasonal prediction ensembles.

2. PROMISE Kick-off meeting was held at the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, on 3-5 April. All partners were present and the 34 attendees covered both the meteorological and the agricultural/hydrological aspects of PROMISE. Even at this i nitial meeting, we had a representative from the user community in Africa (Agrhymet).

The meeting consisted of a series of scientific talks to provide the background of the contributions that each partner will bring to the project. The presentations on the crop and water resource modelling were particularly well received and demonstrated t he importance of bringing together the climate modelling and impacts communities.

The specific data needs of the crop and water resource models were discussed in detail and a draft proposal for a basic data archive from the seasonal prediction ensembles and the climate change scenarios was prepared and has been distributed to the partn ers and to the DEMETER coordinator for comment. Some initial discussion took place on the desirability of working with a common period and common forcing (e.g. transient CO2, IPCC scenario B2) for the high resolution time slice experiments.

The proposed structure of the PROMISE Data Archive was presented and discussed. The archive will be located at Laboratory for Numerical Analysis of Meteorological and Oceanographic Data at CINECA, Bologna, Italy. The Archive for Meteorological and Oceanog raphic Data (ADAMO; http://www.cineca.it/adamo) has excellent internet links, including TCP/IP protocols, which enable users to extract, process, visualize and ftp data from the archive. Currently ADAMO has extensive holdings of ERA-15, operational ECMWF analyses and NCEP/NCAR reanalyses. A data search facility is available for the user.

The PROMISE group discussed the current facilities at ADAMO and made some recommendations which take into account the modes of working of the crop and water resource modelling groups. Based on these discussions, an outline plan for the data archive will b e developed over the next 3 months.

A temporary PROMISE website exists at http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~moltenif/projects/promise.html. In the next 2-3 months this will be replaced by the official site at UREADMY once the PROMISE coordination post is filled in mid-May 2000. PROMISE partners h ave been asked to contribute material or hyperlink addresses for inclusion in the site. Links to related programmes will be developed.

The PROMISE flier/brochure outlining the aims of the project will be prepared during the next 6 months and widely distributed through the mailing list. Partners are asked to provide the coordinator with suggestions for the content of the brochure and also any suitable images.

The proposed mid-term PROMISE Workshop be held at ICTP during June 2001. Each year the `Physics of Climate' group at ICTP holds a `Summer Colloquium' which is composed of two parts: a Workshop/School, which is a mainly educational activity lasting two wee ks, and a one-week Conference, in which recent results are presented. In 2001, the intention is to combine the PROMISE workshop with the Summer Colloquium at ICTP, which has the proposed general title of `Land-atmosphere interactions and the hydrological cycle'. The advantage of this arrangement is that PROMISE activities can be presented a very large audience, mainly from developing countries.

The development of PROMISE links with the users has been initiated. Climate Information and Prediction Services (CLIPS) is a WMO Programme which aims to link the science and applications of climate variability and predictability on seasonal to interannual timescales. The Director of CLIPS will visit Reading on 2 May to discuss potential links between the two programmes. The IRI, New York, is holding an `International Forum on Climate Prediction, Agriculture and Development' on 26-28 April, 2000. The confe rence will cover the prospects for climate prediction and regional experiences in agricultural applications of climate predictions. The user community from developing countries will be well represented. PROMISE will be presented to the conference and a re port on the conference provided to the PROMISE group.

4. The PROMISE initial payment of 40% of the total budget was received from Brussels on 17 March and distributed, as indicated by Brussels, to the partners.

5. Currently some partners have still to complete the recruitment of additional staff to work on PROMISE. It is anticipated that these staff will be in place before the end of the next reporting period.

6. The PROMISE deliverables for Year 1 have been reviewed and no problems are currently anticipated in achieving these milestones.

Julia Slingo

PROMISE Coordinator