Welcome to the 20th COSMO General Meeting !

   
The General Meeting of the COSMO community (COSMO GM) is held regularly once a year in September and hosted by all countries of the COSMO consortium (http://www.cosmo-model.org) in turn. It features a series of plenary and Working Group (WG) sessions during which  results, deliverables, progress reports, and plans for the next COSMO year are presented and discussed.

COSMO General Meeting 2018 will be held in Saint Petersburg (Russia) from 3 to 7 September 2018.

If you are participating in the meeting please fill in:

the registration form (the deadline for registration is 01.08.2018)

or

the special registration form (for participants from Russia).

The 20th COSMO General Meeting (COSMO GM2018) will be held in Saint Petersburg (short name: St-Petersburg), at the Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya from 3 to 7 September 2018.

Address: Saint-Petersburg, Ligovsky prospekt, 10/118.

The hotel is located in the central part of St-Petersburg very close to Nevsky Prospect (the main avenue) within the walking distance to main historic places of the City and the Neva River bridges. You can find some information about this hotel at the hotel site.

The nearest to the hotel Metro stations are Ploschad’ Vosstaniya (red line) and Mayakovskaya (green line). The map of St-Petersburg Metro can be found here (for English, click on the flag icon at the bottom of the page).

A map of the surrounding area and the connection to the Metro stations can be viewed here and here.

Skeleton of the 20th COSMO General Meeting, 3 --7 September 2018, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Plenary sessions

   Plenary and parallel sessions

Working group meetings

  WG1 Data assimilation
  WG2 Numerical aspects
  WG3a Physical aspects, Upper Air
  WG3b Physical aspects, Soil and Surface
  WG4 Interpretation and Applications
  WG5 Verification and case studies
  WG6 Reference Version and Implementation
  WG7 Predictability and Ensemble Methods


    

Roshydromet has reserved a limited number of rooms at reduced (by about 30%) rates (including breakfast-buffet) in the Hotel Oktiabrskaya, where the 20th COSMO General Meeting will be held.

The room price varies approximately from 60 Euro (single) to 75-120 Euro (double). Look for more detailed information in the room reservation form.

If you plan to stay at this hotel, please fill in the room reservation form at your earliest opportunity (starting from May)!
After this, the hotel will send you a special form for your confirmation. Please fill in this form and return it to the hotel!
No prepayment is necessary.

Kindly note that the hotel has asked us to define how many rooms we need as soon as possible!

Nationals of most countries, including the USA, UK, EU, Australia, and some other countries need a visa to travel to Russia. As for the COSMO countries, only citizens of Israel are allowed to stay in the Russian Federation without a visa for up to 90 days in each 180-day period, provided they will not be involved in any commercial or work-related activities during their stay.

If you need a Russian visa, you can apply for a tourist visa yourself, or get a special visa with the support of Roshydromet.

For all questions concerning the visa support and logistics for attending the meeting please contact us using the special address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

To obtain the Russian visa, a special procedure is provided by Roshydromet through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (coordinated by international agreements on Science cooperation between the WMO countries).

In general, the visa procedure is as follows:

1. You send us the filled visa request form and the scan of your passport.

2. We submit your personal information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Roshydromet's International Department.

3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes a decision on visa issue and notifies the corresponding Russian embassy/consulate in your country on this decision, providing Roshydromet with the number of this notification message from the Ministry to the embassy/consulate (telex).

4. We send you this number for your visa request. Providing you with this number means that the decision on your visa issue has already been taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

5. You apply for visa at the corresponding Russian embassy/consulate using the received number instead of official invitation.

This is the usual procedure to apply for visas for Russia practiced by Roshydromet. Roshydromet’s International Department strongly recommended to follow this procedure. An official invitation from Roshydromet is not needed for the visa procedures. If you need a letter of invitation for your institution (not for the visa procedures) please let us know.

Roshydromet can submit visa applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not earlier than 45 days before the event. Typically the Ministry of Foreign Affairs processes the visa documents in 3-5 days.

Note that your passport must be valid for more than 6 months after your departure from Russia!

• ARRIVING IN SAINT PETERSBURG
• • ARRIVING BY PLANE
• • ARRIVING BY TRAIN
    
• TRANSPORT IN ST. PETERSBURG
• FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATE

ARRIVING IN SAINT PETERSBURG

ARRIVING BY PLANE

Airport Pulkovo Saint Petersburg is located 23 kilometers away from the venue hotel.

We organized transportation from the airport to the venue hotel (Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya):

Please look for the representatives of the organizing team holding a "COSMO GM2018" sign at the Arrivals hall exit of Pulkovo-1 airport. The additional meeting point is on your right near the entrance to McDonald's of Pulkovo-1 airport. (Remain on the 1st floor of Arrivals).
Transfer departs:
1 September:
      At 14:35 and 23:35.
2 September:
     At 14:40, 18:00, 19:30, and 23:35.


You can also get from the airport to the Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya on your own by bus+metro or by taxi.

Getting to the hotel by bus + metro:

Step 1:	Take bus number 39, 39A or “marshrutka” minibus number K39  to get from the airport to Moskovskaya metro station. The bus stop in the airport is  in front of the Arrivals hall exit. It will take you about half an hour and cost you ~45-100 rubles (depending on luggage)
Step 2:	Travel by metro from Moskovskaya station to Technologichesky Institut station (Blue line) and then change for the Red line. Continue your trip to Ploschad’ Vosstaniya in the direction to Devyatkino. The trip will last about 20 min and will cost you 45 rubles.
Step 3:	Walk to the Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya. The way to the Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya from Ploschad’ Vosstaniya metro station can be viewed here.

The interactive metro map can be found here.
 

Getting to the hotel by taxi: 

You can also take a taxi. At Pulkovo Airport there is a Taxi Pulkovo licensed service. The Taxi Pulkovo counters are located at the Arrivals hall on the first floor of the Terminal.
Please do not use an illegal taxi (use the licensed service)!
You can pay for your taxi by credit card/cash at the Taxi Pulkovo counter or by cash to the driver at the end of a ride.  Please ask for a receipt at the Taxi Pulkovo counter if you need any.
The trip will cost you 600-1500 rubles (econom) or 800-2000 rub(comfort)  depending on the city region. The Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya is in the Central region, thus the trip should cost 1000-1500 rub.

ARRIVING BY TRAIN

An alternative is to fly to Moscow and take a train to Saint Petersburg. Most trains from Moscow arrive at the Moskovskii (Moscow) railway station. It’s in the walking distance from the Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya (see the map).

TRANSPORT IN ST. PETERSBURG

The most convenient transport in St. Peterburg is metro. The information about St.Petersburg metro can be found here and here. You can also use buses/trolleybuses.

Tickets for St.Petersburg transport

There are ticket offices and ticket machines at each metro station where you can buy special tokens (like coins) for metro (one token – one trip, no time limit).
Bus/trolleybus tickets are sold inside a bus/trolleybus by a special person (not a driver).
The ticket price does not depend on the distance of your trip within the city.

 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATE

The Russia currency unit is ruble (RUB). Legally, only rubles are accepted  for payment in Russia. Most shops, businesses, tour operators, airlines and hotels accept major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard). Thus you must either pay rubles or use your credit cards.
The exchange rate at the beginning of June 2018 was: 1 Euro = 72,6 RUB, 1 USD = 61.9 RUB, 1 CHF = 62,8 RUB. The exchange rate can vary in time significantly.
You can change money using ATMs (there are several in the vicinity of the hotel), at the hotel or airport exchange offices. Exchanging money at the airport is most expensive.

28.08.2018   The final version of the agenda is published.

24.08.2018   Details of airport-hotel transfers on September 1 and 2 are published.  

24.08.2018   The information about the excursions to Peterhof is updated. 

21.08.2018   The information about social events was updated (an excursion to the Hermitage on Thursday).

09.08.2018   The agenda of the WG7 parallel sessions is published.

09.08.2018   The agenda of the WG4 parallel sessions is published.

06.08.2018   The agenda of the WG6 parallel sessions is published.

23.07.2018   The Skeleton of the 20th COSMO General Meeting is published.

13.07.2018   The information about social events was updated.

28.06.2018  The deadline for Visa request for those  who are not citizens of the country they currently reside in
 (e.g., German citizens working in Switzerland) is now July 5, 2018! By this date  these persons should send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  the filled questionnaire, the passport scan, the hotel confirmation, and the air tickets. 

26.06.2018 The new deadline for registration is 01.08.2018.

20.06.2018 If you need the visa support by Roshydromet, we kindly ask you to prepare and send us the visa request form and the scan of your passport by 10.07.2018. Please use the special address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

01.05.2018 Registration is open.

Icebreaker
Monday, 3 September

An excursion (a boat trip) along St.Petersburg rivers and canals followed by a dinner
Wednesday, 5 September

Extra-excursions

Peterhof  (http://en.peterhofmuseum.ru) -the famous park with fountains and the Grand Peterhof Palace.
A self-paid excursion.
9:30am - 5:00pm, incl. lunch
The excursions will be organized
on Sunday, 2 September;
on Friday, 7 September;
and on Saturday, 8 September.
The buses will depart from the Сity Hotel Oktiabrskaya at 9:30.
We plan to visit the Grand Peterhof Palace (https://en.peterhofmuseum.ru/objects/peterhof/bolshoy_petergofskiy_dvorets) and the Lower Park (https://en.peterhofmuseum.ru/objects/peterhof/nizhniy_park). The price (approx. 35 Euro) includes a guided tour, transfer to Peterhof and back, and a lunch in a local restaurant after visiting the museum. The final price per person depends on the group size.

The State Russian Museum (http://en.rusmuseum.ru/about/) 
You need to pay only for the entrance tickets. 
Sunday, 2 September; 4pm-6pm  (price for the entrance tickets is 450 rub/6-7 Euro)
Michael Tsyrulnikov invites you to the Russian Museum, the world’s largest collection of Russian art. Michael will be waiting for you at the hotel's lobby at 3:30pm.

Bridge raising
Free
Night from Sunday, 2 September to Monday, 3 September; 0:30-2:00am
The silhouette of the raising Palace Bridge is a famous landmark of the city. There are more than 400 bridges in the city that is why Sankt Petersburg is called the Northern Venice. We will see some of them during the boat trip through the channels on Wednesday.
If you want to see bridge raising we invite you for a  walk on Sunday late at night. The bridge raising starts at 1:10 a.m. with The Palace Bridge raising first (the next are Troitsky (Trinity) Bridge at 1:20 a.m., Blagoveschensky (Annunciation) Bridge at 1:25 a.m., Liteyny (Foundry) Bridge at 1:40 a.m. and so on).
You can find the information about the Sankt Petersburg bridges at https://en.mostotrest-spb.ru/bridges.
Marina Shatunova will be pleased to accompany you.

The Hermitage museum (http://hermitage--www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/visitus?lng=en)
The largest collection of paintings in the world according to Wikipedia.
Thursday (6 September) afternoon (the exact time will be announced later). The entrance to the museum on the first Thursday each month is free of charge. Michael Tsyrulnikov will be happy to come along with you.


The exact start time of the excursions and the meeting points will be specified later (a few days before the event).

The Consortium for Small-scale Modeling (COSMO) was formed in October 1998. Its general goal is to develop, improve and maintain a non-hydrostatic limited-area atmospheric model, to be used both for operational and for research applications by the members of the consortium. Moreover, within a licence agreement, the COSMO model may be used for operational and research applications by other national (hydro-)meteorological services, universities and research institutes.
Today the consortium has as members 8 national meteorological services including the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russia.

Detailed information you can get on the site: http://www.cosmo-model.org