HMEI Report of ISO/TC 146 Air Quality - Sub-committee 5 (SC5) – Meteorology
Stockholm, Sweden, 13-17 September 2004

The HMEI Executive Secretary, with the kind financial support of the HMEI Chairman, was able to attend this meeting. This is the first meeting of the International Standards Organization in which HMEI has been able to participate.
HMEI was invited as a observer to Subcommittee 5 (SC5) - Meteorology by the Secretary of that Subcommittee, Mr. Paul Fransioli.
SC5 has two Draft International Standards on which they are currently working and that are nearly ready to be accepted as full ISO standards. These are:

1. ISO/DIS 17713-1 
Wind tunnel test methods for rotating anemometer performance

2. ISO/DIS 17714
Air temperature measurements- Test methods for comparing the performance of thermometer shields/screens and defining important characteristics, and

Regarding DIS 17713-1 the meeting experts discussed the draft standard in considerable detail and made changes as necessary to the draft. The five month period for receiving comments on the draft finishes on 19 October, after which the group will discuss and incorporate the changes at its next meeting. A final DIS (FDIS) will then be prepared and this will be voted on by all 20 member countries of SC5, hopefully sometime next year. After acceptance the standard will then be published.

Regarding DIS 17714, the five month voting  period for comments finished on 8 September 2004, and the meeting discussed all the received comments and incorporated them into the DIS. The revised draft standard will now be submitted to the 20 member countries for any final comments, prior to formal voting on acceptance of the standard and ultimate publication.

As these two projects are nearing completion, it was necessary for SC5 to determine its future work plan. The subcommittee already had two suggested areas from previous discussions that warranted work, namely:

• Wind tunnel test methods for wind vanes

• Atmospheric dispersion models

 Additional suggestions were discussed as needed standards. Two areas finally were chosen as warranting further investigation and standard setting. These were

• Site selection (submitted by M. Leroy, MeteoFrance, and

• Radiosondes (submitted by HMEI)

The group decided that it was too early to tackle standards for atmospheric dispersion models, and thus three new work areas were chosen:·         Wind tunnel test methods for wind vanes

• Site selection

• Radiosondes

The HMEI Executive Secretary made a short presentation to the subcommittee, who were most interested in the Association. They unanimously expressed the desire that HMEI, as the representative of manufacturers, should be actively involved in the future work of this meteorology subcommittee.

As only countries, through their national standards setting body, can be members of ISO with full voting rights (one vote per country), there was some discussion on how HMEI would be able to participate formally with ISO. This was resolved very satisfactorily by Carolyn Hornfeld from the ISO Secretariat in Geneva when she advised that within the ISO framework international organizations that can provide assistance, guidance and technical expertise to ISO can be granted so-called ‘liaison status’. HMEI will be applying for this membership category, which allows full participation at relevant technical sessions, but without voting rights (as noted above, only countries can vote). This means HMEI and experts from its membership will be involved in setting relevant meteorological standards within ISO. This is a very satisfactory result for HMEI and an exciting new area we can work in. The meeting passed a resolution to accept HMEI as a liaison member.

There was discussion on where to hold the next meeting of subcommittee 5. HMEI suggested that an opportunity for a meeting coinciding with the TECO/Meteoroex meeting next May in Bucharest might be possible. The group felt this was an excellent suggestion, and the SC5 Secretary will follow up on this.

Thus another reason for HMEI members to come to TECO/METEOREX 2005 in Bucharest next year.

HMEI is now on the distribution list of all relevant ISO publications and information. HMEI members will be kept informed of all activities with ISO. We will be requesting expert participation from HMEI members as needed for the future work with ISO.

Additionally the SC5 Secretary, Mr. Paul Fransioli is also the Secretary of the meteorology sub-group in ASTM International (American Society for Testing and Materials). He has invited HMEI to also become active within that group.

Bruce Sumner

20^th September 2004