STATEMENT ON THE OCCASION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING OF THE

ASSOCIATION OF HYDRO-METEOROLOGICAL EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY

by

M. Jarraud

Secretary-General

World Meteorological Organization

(Seattle, Washington, USA, 13 January 2004)

Mr Ben Dieterink, Chairman of the of the Association of Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry,

Mr Jan Hörhammer, Vice-chairman of the of the Association of Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry,

Distinguished Members of the Council of the Association,

Distinguished Members of the Association,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased to be here today to address the second meeting of the General Assembly of the Association of Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry (HMEI) after its formal establishment in September 2001.

I wish to recall briefing some of the milestones of the recent history of a long-standing aspiration for enhanced collaboration of WMO and the instrument and equipment manufacturers.

It has always been part of the WMO strategy to have an enhanced collaboration with instrument and equipment manufacturers since we both have a common interest, namely the enhancement of global monitoring capacities, which will result in development of and progress in meteorology. Since the late 80’s, WMO senior officials have had a series of discussions with the instrument manufacturers at various occasions, such as the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Conferences, sessions of the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO) and related technical conferences with the aim to streamline our mutual cooperation.

The Thirteenth WMO Congress, in 1999, underlined that our mutual collaboration should lead to better and more cost effective equipment and concluded that WMO, especially through the work of the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation, should enhance this collaboration, inter alia, in the field of education and training, where manufacturers should become involved prior to the installation of equipment.

The positive outcome of these meetings made it possible to establish the Association of the Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry on the occasion of the Conference of the European Meteorological Society on 26 September 2001, in Budapest, Hungary.

Following the request of the HMEI Association, the fifty-fourth session of the WMO’s Executive Council (2002) granted HMEI a consultative status with WMO. Based on this consultative status, the HMEI Association is entitled to be represented by an observer, without voting rights, at sessions of the World Meteorological Organization Congress, regional associations and the technical commissions in which HMEI is interested. At these sessions, HMEI is entitled to present documents, propose items for agenda and take part in the discussions.

I am pleased that the HMEI was already represented by an observer at the thirteenth session of the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation in Bratislava, in 2002 and at the fourteenth World Meteorological Congress, in May 2003.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I wish to recall some important outcome of the thirteenth session of CIMO (CIMO-XIII) and some concrete areas of collaboration of WMO and the Association of HMEI since CIMO-XIII.

CIMO-XIII discussed options for working more effectively in the future and concluded that the most effective, flexible and responsive means of carrying out CIMO tasks would be a system of Expert Teams complemented by suitable ways to inform and involve all CIMO members and representatives of your Association in the process. The Commission agreed that its activities and teams should be grouped together and handled by three Open Programme Area Groups (OPAGs), namely:

(a) OPAG on Surface Observation Technology;

(b) OPAG on Upper-air Observation Technology;

(c) OPAG on Capacity Building.

I wish to recall THAT the HMEI Association considered nominations of experts, who would be interested to work actively within the new working structure of CIMO and its expert teams. In this regard, thirteen representatives were nominated to seven CIMO Expert Teams.

Four representatives of the HMEI already actively participated at the CIMO ET on Upgrading the Global radiosonde Network, Geneva, 3-7 November 2003 and two representatives of the HMEI at the Joint CIMO ET on Surface-based Instrument Intercomparisons and Calibration Methods and International Organizing Committee on Surface-based Instrument Intercomparisons.

CIMO ET on Training Activities and Training Materials was recently very active in organizing instrument related training events. In this regard, representatives of HMEI took part in several Training Workshops on Upper-air Observations for RA I. Representatives of the Association of HMEI delivered lectures, conducted practical lessons and provided additional ground receiving and processing stations together with some consumables for the practical demonstrations. Similar training workshops are also planned in other WMO Regions in 2005 and 2006 and the participation of the HMEI is very much welcomed.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Meteorological and hydrological instruments are very important elements. In addition to the well-known Global Observation System of the World Weather Watch, and the Global Climate Observing Systems, many new fields and applications for instruments have emerged in recent years. I would just like to mention a few examples; urban meteorology, air chemistry studies, air quality monitoring, oceanographic monitoring programmes, long-term measurement campaigns in the polar regions, and monitoring environmental parameters in connection with storage of goods and industrial production processes. The long-term accuracy and stability of measurements for climatological studies is another important aspect.

I wish to invite HMEI and its members to consider working closely with WMO, especially in the following areas:

(a) Guidance on the implementation of instruments and systems in varying environmental conditions;

(b) Improvement of the quality and reliability of instruments and monitoring systems;

(c) Development of low-cost, good quality meteorological and hydrological observing systems that are robust enough to operate in harsh environment in developing countries and in the polar regions;

(d) Setting-up fabrication facilities for conventional instruments in developing countries;

(e) Coordination and protection of radiofrequencies for ground based observing systems;

(f) Organization of technical conferences, training seminars and similar events;

(g) Development of specific proposals to assist developing countries in achieving a reduction in the cost of instrument operation; and

(h) Organization and evaluation of various instrument intercomparisons.

As regards the WMO instrument intercomparisons, CIMO has an ambitious plan to organize and conduct a number of intercomparisons in this intersessional period. This includes WMO Laboratory Intercomparisons of Rainfall Intensity (RI) gauges, the WMO Field Intercomparisons of RI Measuring Instruments, the WMO Intercomparison of Thermometer Screens/Shields in conjunction with Humidity Measurements, WMO Intercomparison of High-quality Radiosonde Systems and International and Regional Pyrheliometer Comparisons.

I wish to stress the role of the HMEI Association in facilitating the close collaboration of individual companies and their experts with WMO in the common work alongside the mentioned areas to the benefit of all parties involved and more importantly to the benefit of the user community.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

WMO is at the forefront in developing and setting standards and defining methods of observations in all these application areas. I truly believe that a close co-operation between WMO and the HMEI Association will be beneficial for both communities. Not only will you learn early of WMO plans and intentions, WMO will also benefit from views and advice the industry has to offer. It is very important, for instance, that WMO experts are made aware of potential engineering or cost implications a newly conceived observing methodology might have on the instrumentation.

In conclusion, I would like once again to congratulate you and assure you of WMO's continuous collaboration. I wish you a successful continuation of your deliberations here in Seattle.

Thank you for your attention.