Report on the WMO 15th Congress, May 2007
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HMEI Report on
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 15th Congress, Cg-XV,
 7 May to 25 May 2007, Geneva, Switzerland

This report, by B. Sumner and C. Charstone, focuses on items the HMEI Secretariat believes to be of particular interest for HMEI Members and is not intended to be definitive.

Attendees Representing HMEI
Ben Dieterink - Chairman HMEI
Jan Hörhammer - Vice Chairman HMEI
 Bruce Sumner - HMEI Executive Secretary
Christine Charstone, HMEI Administrator

Opening of the WMO 58th Executive Council
The WMO President opened the session, emphasising the important and leading role of WMO in Climate studies, Climate Change issues and the related WMO Disaster Management.

There were also introductory speeches of welcome from the Geneva cantonal government and the Swiss government.

Mr. Michel Jarraud, the WMO Secretary-General, read a speech from the UN Secretary General, who was unable to attend in person. This speech addressed the WMO dedication to issues of Weather, Climate and Water, and the role of WMO in facilitating the dissemination of information, in regard to these, so essential in this time of climate change.

The key role of WMO in issues relating to Climate Change was heavily emphasised by the other WMO Members' national representative speakers, during the opening of the session.

Condolences for Prof. Obasi 
Delegates from many WMO member countries and WMO regions, expressed their sorrow at the passing of the former President of WMO Prof. Obasi and remarked that this was a loss for Meteorology and WMO. Many remembered him for his personal support to their county. He was also remembered for his foresight in organising the building of the current innovative WMO Building in Geneva.

Report of the President of WMO
Some interesting points were:

  • There are now 189 countries who are WMO members. The most recently joined being Montenegro.
  • Most Technical Commissions have changed their structures to those of  Open Programmes. These are more flexible, open and transparent, and allow the Commissions to focus on particular projects.
  • WMO is continuing to strengthen its cooperation with international funding agencies, particularly the World Bank. At the WMO President's initiative the World Bank has done studies of the benefits of modernization of NMHSs of some European and Central Asian countries. As a result the governments of Belarus and Kazakhstan are looking to co-financing with the World Bank, to modernize their NMHSs.
  • Gaps in climate networks  in developing countries  need to be rectified so that climate change can be adequately monitored.
Please see the full report from the WMO President here.

Report of the WMO Secretary-General
The Secretary-General's verbal speech reported particularly on some of the recent allegations raised by a previous staff member of WMO against WMO as an Organization and some of its staff. He noted the current status of the external audit of WMO and legal investigations, into financial fraud, currently being carried out. The Secretary General informed the Congress of new measures he had put in place to ensure future accountability and transparency of the WMO Secretariat.

The Secretary-General went on to stress the importance of WMO work internationally; particularly in the areas of Climate Change and Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and GEOS. Regional Programmes and the Technical Cooperation Programmes were also specially mentioned as important areas of where WMO had contributed to capacity building of countries' NMHSs. 

The USA delegate asked that there be a written report from the Secretary- General, including the statements he had made verbally, relating to the fraud and the work being done to resolve it. The USA noted the good work of WMO but considered that there needed to be a written acknowledgment of the fraud issue.

Several other countries including Italy, Japan, Korea, France, Belize, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Mauritius, announced their support for WMO and the Secretary-General in his work and the measures he has taken against future fraud. These countries also praised the achievements  of WMO, and the work of the Secretary-General in general despite difficulties due to the fraud investigations. It was noted that the unfortunate fraud that WMO had been a victim of should not overwhelm the significant and considerable work that was and is being done by WMO.

However there was also a general call for a written report from the Secretary -General to be published, as suggested by USA, which would, amongst things, acknowledge the fraud investigation and the current revision of WMO Secretariat procedures in response to it.

World Weather Watch (WWW) REPORTS:
 
Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) - CBS President's Report - Doc 3.1.0 The full report can be seen here

  • CBS was noted to be the "backbone" of WWW and indeed of  WMO.
  • The last CBS session with Technical Conference (TC) and Exhibition in Seoul, Korea, was very successful.
  • CBS sessions should continue to have TCs with them this was noted as an important part of the sessions.
  • Status of World Information System (WIS) given.
  • It was considered that Regional coordination meetings of WWW need to be well planned and not  just add-ons to Regional Meetings.
  • There was a call to mobilize resources from WMO members to help Least Developed Countries (LCDs) with problems in keeping their observation networks and systems up to the level necessary for good quality and continuous data.
  • Also there was a call to develop cooperation between members, particularly with the Regional Development Programme.
  • Because of the importance of Regional meetings and the benefit of them for Developing Countries and LDCs, it was noted that more funding would be necessary in order to continue to have sufficient Regional meetings; i.e. at the current level or better.
  • The extreme importance of an Integrated Observing System between Global Earth Observation System (GEOS) and WMO was noted. 

Some Countries comments on the CBS report:

 France, China, Russia, USA, Kuwait, Australia  and several other countries:
Supported work of the WMO Secretariat, under Steering-Group on Radio Frequency Coordination (SG-RFC), for the protection of Meteorological Radio Frequencies.

USA:
1. Supported the importance of TCs to be held before CBS sessions.
2. Agreed that CBS was in their opinion the most important part of WMO and thus its budget should reflect this.
3. Wants CBS to continue to facilitate procurements for maintenance of Global Systems.

Russia:
1.Also sees WWW and CBS as the key programme areas of WMO.
2. Stated that they felt the Global Observation System (GOS) had no clear description of the outcomes and aims formulated and that they should be:
     a) Improvements in observing systems;
     b) Capacity building both in Upper-air and Surface areas.
3.It was necessary to have stronger emphasise on Quality Control (QC) for observation systems.

UK:
1. Noted critical importance of RF protection for Meteorology through CBS.
2. Transfer of WMO standards (guidelines/recommendations) to become ISO standards seen as important issue.
3. Stressed the importance of, and their support for, the Integrated Observing System between GEOS and WMO.

JCOMM Representative:
Requested that for the WIS and the Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) there should be collaboration between CBS and other Commissions (i.e. JCOMM).

China:
1. More importance should be given to QC.
2. Regional Climate Centres should be strengthened in all Regions, particularly Region 2 (Asia).

Canada:
1. Wanted more support for GEOS from WWW  and CBS.
2. Requested that there be a stronger emphasise on the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS), especially the benefits socially and of the Early Warning Systems.

Germany:
They supported more WMO funding directed to CBS in light of the amount and importance of its work.

France:
Also wanted CBS to put more emphasise on Quality Management/QC.

India:
1. Wanted more importance to be given to the Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW)
2. Wanted more cross-cutting collaboration between Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and other programmes through the Regional Conferences.
 
Kenya:
1. WIS has potential to providing cost effective systems to countries if the viewpoints from one country to another about WIS can be equalized.
2. Need for training for Regional Training Centers (RTCs) on table driven codes.

Kuwait:
Need equipment to ensure they can receive satellite data not now available to them.

USA, China, Kenya and other countries:
Agreed to the reported need to the update of GTS in Developing and LD countries.

Dr Hayes' (Director of WWW) response:
CBS recognises the benefit of WIS for Developing and LD countries and the need for CBS to communicate with and educate member countries regarding WIS.

Instruments and Methods of Observations Programme (IMOP) - Report from the CIMO President - Doc 3.1.5  Please see the full report here:
The President's report outlined for Congress the work of CIMO and emphasised the collaborative work between manufacturers, through HMEI, the WMO members and the scientific community .

Key challenges for CIMO to address:

  • Sustainability of systems
  • Integrating remote sensing
  • Monitoring Climate change
  • Weather Radar calibration
  • Development of technical expertise
  • Standardization of measurements to known parameters
  • Evaluation of Algorithms

CIMO Achievements in last four years:

  • The 3 major Intercomparisons conducted (noting that 2 more will start in July 2007)
  • 17 technical reports
  • 7th CIMO Guide completely revised
  • Traceability of measurements to SI standards.

Also mentioned were:

  • The Improvements in quality of Radiosonde measurements
  • Pyrheliometers assessments achieved through Intercomparison
  • 10 Training Workshops had been conducted
  • Dr Nash noted the importance of the information from Intercomparisons being reported back to manufacturers, resulting in good improvements from the manufactures in their products.

Future Plans

  • More training workshops are planned including an Upper-Air Training Workshop to be held in Namibia at the end of 2007
  • Want to promote work of Regional Instrument Centres (RICs) and encourage standardization to SI standards.
  • Establishment of CIMO test-beds for investigating the integration of in-situ and remote sensing observing systems
  • Establishment of additional lead centres for observations

Address by Dr Hayes - WWW Secretariat Director
He notably recognized the importance of, amongst other things:

  • Standardization of measurements
  • The importance of now having electronic access on the Internet to the CIMO Guide
Responses to the CIMO Report from Country Delegates:

Several Countries noted and applauded:
The strengthening of links between CIMO and the Commission for Hydrology (i.e. in Intercomparison work).

Call from Canada:
For an Intercomparison in arctic environment of  temperature measurements and shields.

China:
Recommended an investigation into and development of low cost instruments for LDC. China stated that this would need collaboration with HMEI

African countries:
Stressed the importance of standardization of measurements quality so that basic and less expensive instrumentation with tractability would be available.

Several Countries:
Stated the need for standards for AWS, which they believed would allow manufacturers to produce products of good standard at reasonable cost

Developing and Least Developed Countries:
Also stated their concern regarding the growing use of automatic equipment (i.e. AWS), without ensuring the reliability of the measurements of this equipment.

Several Countries called for:
A stronger recognition of the necessity of Quality Assurance  to be noted in the CIMO report.

Several Countries:
There was a call, in the light of obvious Climate Change, for more robust instruments and equipment capable of measuring of higher and lower extremes.

Korea:
Because of problems with measuring high temperatures with AWS they suggested an Intercomparison between AWS and traditional thermometers

India:
Called for standardization of ground based remote measurement instrumentation and AWS to be assured through Intercomparisons.

Several countries:
Also called for calibration of AWS to ensure quality data, and for Intercomparisons of AWS and that the meeting report documentation specifically reflect this.

Egypt:
Called for a training seminar in 2008-2009 and to have a discussion on a possible Intercomparison of Upper Air (U.A.) systems for sub-tropical region.

The Chairman:
Call for cross cutting-work by WMO with other international organisations (i.e. the United Nations), in order that special conditions could be given for exporting and importing of  meteorological instrumentation (and specifically AWS), because of the high cost and problems incurred with loss of data when instruments were absent for extended periods from NMHSs, when they had to be exported overseas to be calibrated. More streamlined and faster movement of instruments through international borders would encourage more NMHSs to follow the recommendation from CIMO, for yearly calibration of instrumentation. This to be added to the CIMO document.

Global Observations System (GOS) - Doc 3.1.1  The report, presented by Dr Jack Hayes, can be seen here.
The presentation noted, amongst other things, that:

  • Between 2004-2006, an increasing stability in surface and upper-air observational programmes was achieved and certain cost reductions accomplished.
  • The upper-air network density remained unchanged in the African, South American and Antarctic Regions.
  • The upper-air network had been increased by 10 stations in the Oceania Region.
  • The number of upper-air stations across the European, North American and Asian Regions had been optimized, decreasing overall by 17 stations.
  • The total number of surface stations had increased globally from 4032 to 4169.
  • The number of AWSs included in RBSN globally had increased from 651 to 858.
  • Standardization of observing techniques and practices has been carried out within the framework of the IMOP (CIMO).

There was a call from the conference floor for a Resolution defining GOS and its importance.

Responses to the GOS Report from Country Delegates:
Finland:
The increase of AWSs is seen as a positive and more automatic systems should be encouraged, provided good quality of data can be maintained.

UK:
1. Would like to see the importance of Regional Basic Synoptic Networks RBSNs stressed more, especially GUAN stations.
2. They stated that the statistics for GOS may be misleading and that CBS should take charge of finding better ways for the assessment of GOS.

JCOMM:
The JCOMM President reported to the meeting that an important part of GOS, the ship reports, have fallen to almost crisis point. In order to encourage a rise in ships' observations in GOS, he suggested that more emphasis on the importance of ships' observations needs to be stated.

USA:
1. Agreed with UK about RBSN.
2. Also supported the JCOMM statement regarding the VOS contribution to observations.

Spain:
Wanted the importance of the satellite part of GOS to be stressed. Spain gives particular support to this area, so that Latin America is adequately covered by satellite.

ASECNA (the Agency for the Safety of Aerial Navigation in Africa):
1. ASECNA reported to the conference that the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) network has started up 5 new stations and are refurbishing older ones, with the help of WMO in maintaining this network.
2. Also ASECNA are creating a new regional AMDAR project.

Uganda:
Noted that for many countries there was a problem with AWSs because there are many AWSs available that lack quality generally and in their data reliability. There are also problems regarding maintenance and calibration with some AWSs.

India:
India supported the Uganda comments on AWSs, particularly in regard to the lack of data accuracy.

Oman:
Noted a problem with coverage of service network. This was not a hardware problem, but rather one relating to the maintenance of software and of updating of software. They felt the need for in-house software developed by WMO in partnership with private industry, to produce a STANDARDIZED software that could then be maintained in a standardized way.

Belize:
In light of the CBS commitment to the table driven code form, BUFR, Belize stated there would be a need for support to LDCs for the migration to BUFR.

France and Australia:
Noted and supported the importance of the CBS work on Radio Frequencies (RF) issues.

China:
1. Also supported CBS work on RF;
2. Supported the call for BUFR migration support to LCDs;
3. Noted that for some LDCs there were no Global Telecommunication System (GTS) links and felt that this should be addressed by CBS.

Dr Hayes:
In response to comments above noted that there was rapid change in equipment and that AWSs were being increasingly used. He agreed that the increasing use of AWS technology needed to be approached carefully, especially for LDCs. He noted that this issue could be dealt with by WMO through the Technical Commission specializing in this area, i.e. CBS and/or CIMO. He further noted that regional cooperation in this issue was a key to development for the LDCs.

WWW Information System and Services (WIS); including the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) and Data Management - Doc 3.1.2
The report in PDF can be seen here
In his presented of this report, Dr Hayes noted that the important key points for the development of the GTS were:

  • Interoperability

  • Adherence to standards

  • Data driven code forms

Protection of the RF allocation for Radiosondes was also emphasised in the presentation.

Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) - Doc 3.2.3
The report is available here.
The GCOS programme continues to develop. Some items that have been achieved recently are:

  • For regional action plans, CLIM DEV Africa is the first breakthrough in creating the GCOS network for climate observations and services in Africa.
  • The GCOS cooperation programme has enabled GCOS Upper-Air Network (GUAN) funding support, which has led  to the addition of or re-establishing of GUAN stations.

It was stressed that the role of GCOS is as coordinator of the WMO programmes and NMHSs to enable implementation of climate observations and services.

Responses of interest from the delegates:
Several countries:
Congratulated GCOS on its work and emphasises the importance of GCOS as a high priority programme. They stated there willingness to continue to support, and increase support for, GCOS.

The regular calibration of instrumentation/equipment was noted as an important issue to be addressed to ensure that the data GCOS disseminates is of high quality.

ASECNA:
Appealed for more funding/assistance for implementing more GUAN stations.

JCOMM:
JCOMM is implementing a system as designed in the GCOS plan for the Ocean Observing Programme.

Egypt:
Appealed for companies producing equipment for assistance in setting up equipment and good continuing maintenance of the equipment.

Australia:
Requested that software tools for the special and temporal distribution of observations, be developed and made available to members.

CIMO:
Dr Nash the CIMO President stated that:

CIMO had carried out some Training Workshops where GCOS observations and equipment are being set up.

CIMO has also done testing of donor equipment so that it is suitable for the conditions and regions it will be used in.

Continued and improved support was needed to fund the continuing work of CIMO with GCOS

India:
India noted that the accuracy and parameters of the data coming form the spaced based system part of GCOS was not necessarily of the level required for GCOS. India would like to see Research and Development in this area, to make sure the space based observations meet the requirements.

India will have a GUAN station ready for operation by the next WMO Executive Council.

China:
Called for better Quality Assurance in GCOS networks and observations, improved equipment, and better guidance and support for developing countries in steering GCOS networks.

Response from GCOS:
The points from the meeting were well taken and GCOS will try to address them.

World Climate Programme (WCP) - Report of the President of the Commission for Climatology (CCl)  Doc 3.2(1)
Please see the President's report here
There is a draft 3rd edition of the Guide to Climatological Practices now available on the CCl website. Please see:
http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/wcp/ccl/guide/guide_climat_practices.html

Some responses from the meeting:
Mali:
Called for climate related standards be developed for the building and urban planning industry.
The extreme importance of metadata was emphasised

Korea:
WIS should include more climate data information from centres currently not connected to WIS and the standards and "best practice" for this should be set by WMO.

Egypt:
Asked for more workshops and training on climate data issues. They also requested collaboration between CCl and CBS especially in regard to the quality of climate data.

World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
The lack of funding to fulfill the aims of the programme was a major issue raised in the Report of WCRP.
Strategic partnerships with WMO, WCP, THORPEX, GEOS and others was a suggested way to overcome the funding problems. Without extra budgetary help the WCRP would have grave problems fulfilling its work and continuing to operate as a programme. There has already been a 50% reduction in activities in the programme.

Responses from the meeting:
Overall the comments from countries and attendees were that the critical nature of the programme be noted in the report of the meeting. The need to retain the programme given the extreme weather events that cause losses both economically and in human lives was stressed. The need for the work of the programme to continue in order to have research that informs the world community about climate variability and resulting extreme weather events was emphasised.

Atmospheric Research and Environment Programme (AREP) - the Report of the President of Commission for Atmospheric Science (CAS) Doc 3.3
Please see the full report here
AREP is the WMO programme running the work of the Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS). AREP consists of  GAW and WWRP-THORPEX. Funding cuts will be a problem for all the CAS programme activities to be able to continue.

CAS has 2 OPAGS, these having working groups on:

  • Nowcasting
  • Mesoscale
  • Tropical Meteorology
  • THORPEX
  • Forecast Verification
  • Societal Economic Research and Applications
  • Weather Modifications

GAW:
Maintains long-term observations of the chemical composition and selected physical parameters of the atmosphere, such as:

  • Ozone,
  • UV
  • Reactive Gases
  • Greenhouse Gases
  • Aerosols and Dust
  • Precipitation Chemistry

GAW places emphasise on calibration and quality assurance/control. In regard to this the report noted that WMO members' World and Regional Calibration Centres and on-site instrumental calibration programmes contribute to the GAW quality assurance system. Also Spain has established the first Regional Brewer Calibration Centre in Tenerife, Spain.
The report noted the following Intercomparison work that had been carried out:

  • The Balloon Experiment on Standards for Ozone Sondes (BESOS) field campaign was carried out at the University of Wyoming.
  •  Intercomparisons of Dobson spectrophotometers took place for Latin America in 2003 and 2006, for RA I in 2004, for RA V in 2006 and for RA II in 2006.
  • The first Brewer comparison, hosted by the GAW Regional Brewer Calibration Centre – Europe, was arranged in Spain in September 2005. Several Brewer spectrophotometers were calibrated by International Ozone Services.

It was further noted that GAW publishes a series of UV reports. This has continued with the report "Instruments to Measure Solar Ultraviolet Radiation - Part 2: Broadband Instruments Measuring Erythemally Weighted Solar Irradiance". 

UV instrument calibration exercises, with support from WMO, were organised, for the first time, for multifilter UV instruments. The World Calibration Centre (WCC) for CH4, CO, and O3,  has continued to assure quality, and train and support instrument operations at remote GAW stations.

The lack of global UV calibration facilities was noted as problematic.

In addition the report:

  • Urged WMO Members operating satellites to include atmospheric ozone sensors of proven capability aboard future spacecraft, and to maintain continuous ozone measurements for as long as possible, making a selection of vertical ozone profiles and total ozone values available to all interested users;
  • Requested Regional Associations to designate and maintain at least one of their total ozone measuring instruments as regional standard for atmospheric ozone observations, and ensure that the observing station concerned is suitably equipped for that purpose.
  • Requested WMO Members to establish, upgrade or reactivate, and maintain ozone observations (including observations in the Arctic and the Antarctic) using surface instruments, balloon sondes, aircraft and satellites;
  • Emphasised quality assurance and quality control.

Comments of interest from the meeting:
There was a general call for scientific work on the role of aerosols on precipitation.

USA:
They stated their supported for the work of THORPEX and called for members participating in THORPEX to increase funding for this activity.

Agricultural Meteorological Programme - the Report of the President of the Commission for Agrometeorlogy (CAgM) Doc 3.4.2
The President notified the meeting of its web-based information service www.wamis.org that has input from 31 member countries.

The Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices (GAMP) has been revised and will be available electronically, from the website, and as a hardcopy publication in 2008. The currently available draft chapters are available at http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/wcp/agm/gamp/gamp_en.html.

This programme has three OPAGs working in various areas, see these here:

Future Plans:
These concentrated on the amelioration of monitoring of agricultural forecasting and issues for mitigation of problems and vulnerability in agriculture; drought areas were particularly mentioned.

Comments from the meeting:

There was a call for a stronger cooperation with the WMO WWW.

There was a call for more scientific research on both crop yield and sand storms, given the increase in occurrence of problems with these with climate change.

It was noted that agricultural meteorology also needed additional input from hydrological and oceanographic data.

Aeronautical Meteorology Programme (AeMP) - Report of the President of the Commission for The Commission of Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM) - Doc 3.4.3
The CAeM President's report is available here.
The presentation of this report noted that with the original structure of 2 OPAGS for CAeM with 4 Expert Teams (ETs) each, although achieving some good results, had not been viable financially and it had not been possible to hold meetings for them all very often. The new streamline structure of OPAGs for CAeM now has 3 ETs and 1 Expert Network. See information on these here.

The report noted that training is an important part of the CAeM work and that they had made good progress in this, including their on-line training materials from their website at www.caem.wmo.int

Cost recovery had always been a strong point with CAeM. However with the growing provision of on-line training materials, aviation meteorological products and so forth CAeM now had reached the maximum it could achieved in cost recovery and would now need to find additional ways to find further funding to adequately achieve the further work of the Aeronautical Meteorology Programme as demands for more aviation meteorological products increased.

Development is now ongoing for aircraft observations to include humidity data. A result of this could be that the AMDAR data source will result in substantial savings in the upper-air observations programme. Congress therefore supported the investment in introducing humidity sensors on aircraft, to the benefit of the Global Observing System (GOS). In the light of this there is to be a migration of the AMDAR programme, when operational, from AeMP to the World Weather Watch (WWW).

There is a requirement for sharing experiences with new instrumentation between countries. In particular development and experience with new technologies, such as for dispersal technology, could be coordinated by CAeM.

Presentation: Aviation and Environment

  • It was noted that, with climate change, issues such as an increase in  tropical storms and cyclones, could severely undermine the efficiency of airline services. Also that aeronautical meteorology, in the light of climate change, can play an important role in cross-cutting activities, such as Disaster Mitigation and Prevention, and support for LDCs, for whom aviation is an important element in development and also has an impact on the local and global environment.
     
  • There is a need for new instrumentation and software for giving pilots on-board short-term forecasts.
     
  • Quality Management Systems were recommended with possible future ISO certification for this. In light of this there was a new WMO Quality Management guide (WMO Guide no. 1001) published in 2006.
     
  • It was noted there was a need for standardized OPMET data format for the transmission of data and information between ground and aircraft; such format could be based on XML for example. BUFR and CREX would be used only for internal use and for data exchange between NMHSs.
     
  • It was noted that graphical information was rapidly becoming the new "standard".

Some comments of interest from the meeting:
France:
There should be more representation and attendance at ICAO meetings from CAeM.
ICAO is also distributing aeronautical meteorological information over the Internet and there should be coordination between their on-line information and that from WMO.

Russia:
Urged the Executive Council should look at providing more funding from WMO for the Aeronautical Meteorological Programme, as is recommended in the report
Several other countries supported this and often stated that the WMO extremely limited regular budget allotment to the AeMP was not sufficient, especially in light of the very high input to the budget of many countries' NMHSs provided by aviation meteorology.

Russia and several other countries emphasised the importance of cost recovery for aeronautical meteorological products.

Russia  noted that many countries' NMHSs did not necessarily have a mandate for cost recovery from its products, therefore guidelines from WMO would be needed to help with this matter. This was supported by other countries especially for developing, small and least developed countries.

Mauritius:
1. Noted the increase in Aeronautical Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) observations and they could increase still further.
2. Stated that WMO, through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and manufacturers of aircraft, should encouraged incorporation of integrated observing systems in aircraft at the point of manufacture, rather than installation at a later point.

ASECNA:
1. Called for the WMO Guide No. 1001 and new Guides, as suggested above, to be available in French for better ability to be accessed in African countries.
2. ASECNA is creating a new regional AMDAR project.

ICAO:
Commented on the excellent relationship between ICAO and WMO/CAeM.

Considered that WMO should keep and increase its funding for training in this area, as this was the responsibility of WMO.

Considered that CAeM regional activities on cooperation should also be linked to ICAO regional groups.

Regarding the Cg-XV Resolution on Agrometeorological QM System: safety management systems should be in accordance with ICO developments in that area and ISO certified.

Marine Meteorology and Oceanography Programme - the Report of the Co-Presidents of JCOMM Doc 3.4.4
The report is available here
Future priorities for JCOMM will be:

  • Working towards making best practices for observations and services; an integrated approach for participation in the Integrated Observing System
  • Dialogue with the private sector
  • Encouraging best practices for observations, data and meta data

It was noted that 50% of JCOMM resources in funding comes from outside WMO to complete JCOMM programmes. This was on ongoing challenge.

The JCOMM President announced there would be several major events in the run up to JCOMM III in 2009. These included:

  • International Maritime MetOcean Services Conference 2008 (IMMSC2008), see relevant item below for details.
  • Seoul event see information in relevant item below.
  • Expert Team on Sea Ice

Comments of interest from the meeting:
Morocco offered to hold the next WMO Marine Meteorology Conference in their country.

International Maritime MetOcean Services Conference 2008 (IMMSC2008)
This will be held in Exeter in October 2008. The conference is seen as an opportunity to look at shortcomings in and solutions for current services. It will further be an opportunity to look at monitoring and warning/safety issues, and pollution monitoring. This conference will have poster presentations and a limited number of trade stands. Please click here for information from the Appendix B of the JCOMM Secretariat Report of Second Session of the JCOMM Observations Coordination Group, Geneva, Switzerland, 23-25 April 2007.

Exhibition at the JCOMM Scientific and Technical Symposium, on Storm Surges, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2-6 October 2007
This exhibition opportunity was announced at the Congress and a special information meeting was also held.
Details as follows:
The conference registration and accommodation booking are due by 31st July 2007. Further symposium information is available at: http://www.jcomm2007sss.org/
The exhibition with this conference is expected to have 8 booths in the space just next to a small meeting room which will be used for special sessions and side meetings. A PowerPoint presentation of the plan of the exhibition area is available here. The prospectus and application form for exhibitors are available here.
 
The local organizer also seeks supports for the Symposium itself from the private sector, for example, sponsoring a social event during the symposium. Should there be any company interested in such an activity, please contact the local organizer at email: jcomm2007@jcomm2007sss.org, with copies also sent to Dr. Jae-Cheol Nam jcnam@kma.go.kr  and Dr. Jang-Won Seo jwseo@kma.go.kr. Contact the local organizers, Dr. Nam, and Dr. Seo for all information.

Technical Cooperation Program - Doc 3.7
The Technical Cooperation Programme and the Regional Activates Programme have been merged in to one, now called Development Cooperation and Regional Activities (DCR).
The report is available here.

Notes of interest from the presentation of this report:

  • An LDCs programme has been initiated in WMO with a programme office
  • New formats and procedures have been established; these include a section on presentation of new developments in observations
  • Several new project are foreseen: including Radar initiatives in Region II; observation activities in the Caribbean; a South-East Europe project; also several other initiatives were also mentioned in the Caucus and South-East Asia
  • Projects are frequently in cooperation with the World Bank
  • The Private Sector was requested to donate either financial or equipment to the donor list of the Voluntary Cooperation Programme
  • It was noted that during 2003-6 four private companies had provided support to the DCP.

Following this report the HMEI Executive Secretary talked with Steve Palmer, Chairman of the Informal Planning Meetings (IPM), which coordinates donations to the Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP). HMEI will keep in contact with Mr Palmer regarding possible cooperation between HMEI and VCP.

WMO PROGRAMME FOR THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (LDCs) Doc 7.3
The report is available here
The report outlined the work achieved in this programme. It also outlined the future plans of the programme,  these included:

  • Enhancing development and modernization plans of NMHSs of LDCs;
  • Establishing links and strategic partnerships in order to benefit from funding opportunities with regional/sub regional organizations and economic groupings, UN Country Teams, cooperating partners, national development and aid funding agencies, World Bank and Regional Development Banks, bilateral and multilateral Funds, including the LDCs Fund and the Adaptation Fund under the UNFCCC, the GCOS Regional Action Plans and the private sector as appropriate;

Congress underscored that additional resources, including extra budgetary resources would be required to ensure the successful implementation of the WMO Programme for the LDCs. This was supported by a call from Region 4(North America) for ongoing and increased support in development and capacity building programs especially in training areas for LCDs.

Note: due to the conflict caused by some WMO Programme Reports being presented in different venues at the same time, on the same days, it was not possible for the HMEI Secretariat to attend all presentations. However we have, below, included information from the reports and hyperlinks to the reports from the two programme areas of interest to HMEI Members that we were unable to personally attend:

Hydrology and Water Resources Programme (HWR) -  Report of the President of the Commission for Hydrology (CHy) and Draft Resolutions  Doc 3.5
Items of note in the report:

  • Item 3.5.0.3 - The Congress expressed its satisfaction for the work that was being carried out by CHy in relation to the assessment of the performance of flow measurement instruments and techniques, especially involving new technological equipment, as this would be of great assistance to Members modernizing their hydrological networks. Congress was pleased to learn about the offer of Brazil to host and support an International Conference on Hydrometry in 2008 in the city of Manaus, and noted the interest of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) in participating in its organization.
     
  • Item 3.5.1.4 Congress noted that the demand-driven approach manifested in the active involvement of regional partners such as the Niger Basin Authority (NBA), the Volta Basin Authority, the Mekong River Commission (MRC), the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), and a greater interaction with different technical and financial partners have borne fruit in getting financial resources to the countries of approximately 15 million Euros for Niger-HYCOS, Volta-HYCOS, SADC-HYCOS, Mekong-HYCOS and Pacific-HYCOS components, which are now under implementation. Through the implementation of these HYCOS components 42 Members (among them 20 LDCs) will have their capacities in hydrological observations and information generation enhanced.
     

  • From the Appendix: Progress/Activity Report of the Hydrology and Water Resources Programme (HWRP)
    26. CHy-XII had identified an activity “to develop a proposal and implement a project to assess the performance of flow measurement instruments and techniques against WMO
    standards” in the theme area “Basic systems (hydrometry and hydraulics)”. The proposal aims to address the absence of standards and guidance material for uncertainty analysis in relation to recent advances in flow measurement instruments and techniques such as acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), point acoustic velocity meters, surface-velocity radar, and large-scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV). The proposal has been widely distributed and has received the support of several organizations, including the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research (IAHR), the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Association of Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry (HMEI) and various NHSs.

WMO SPACE PROGRAMME - Report of the WMO Space Programme (WMOSP) Doc 3.10
Points of note in the Appendix: Progress/Activity Report:

  • 3. Update to the Implementation Plan for the space component of the GOS - The Implementation Plan for the Evolution of the Space and Surface-based Subsystems of the GOS contains 22 recommendations relevant to space-based observations that have been systematically addressed and used as guidance within the WMO Space Programme.
     
  • 5. Global Space-based Inter-calibration System (GSICS) - Action to establish GSICS was agreed by CGMS-XXXIII. The goal of GSICS is to ensure comparability of satellite measurements provided at different times by different instruments and programmes, and to tie these measurements to absolute references and SI standards. GSICS is expected to improve the use of space-based observations of the GOS and to enable recalibration of archived data.
     
  • 7. Response to GCOS requirements for space-based products - A preliminary analysis suggested current satellite plans provided impressive capabilities to meet most of GCOS
    requirements. It highlighted however a risk of gaps for some specific variables such as Earth radiation budget, sea level, sea surface winds or global precipitation. The analysis suggested redefining the scope of the WMO Global Observing System beyond its current objectives that are driven by operational requirements of the World Weather Watch programme taking into account the need for long-term “sustained” measurement of all Essential Climate Variables.
     
  • 12. Integrated Global Data Dissemination Service (IGDDS) - IGDDS is a project within the WMO Information System (WIS) with a goal to ensure that WMO requirements for access to space-based observation data and products are satisfied in all WMO regions and for all WMO or cosponsored programmes. One particular objective of IGDDS is to implement a satellite-based Digital Video Broadcast (DVB-S) dissemination service that would integrate data flows from multiple sources, with quasi-global coverage and inter-regional data exchange between the various regional hubs. This particular objective is about to be achieved through joint efforts of EUMETSAT, NOAA and CMA. Other dissemination means shall however be considered as a complement to the DVB-S broadcast, namely the GTS, Direct Readout from meteorological satellites, and the Internet.

President and Vice Presidents of WMO and Presidents of WMO Commissions
At the Congress the President and Vice Presidents of WMO were confirmed and/or elected for the next 4 years.
Please click here to see these and also the current Presidents of WMO Commissions.