World Meteorological Organization (WMO

WMO World Meteorological Organization

Avenue de la Paix 7bis, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland

https://www.wmo.int

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations that co-ordinates international co-operation on weather, climate, and water. The organisation, which boasts a membership of 193 countries and territories, assists national meteorological and hydrological services by co-ordinating services, fostering the exchange of information and early warnings, and providing research and training in the fields of meteorology, climatology, and hydrology.

As part of its mandate, the WMO tackles a number of focus areas, namely, energy, environment, oceans, public health, urban cross-cutting, and polar and high mountain regions, ultimately ensuring the well-being and safety of citizens worldwide. The WMO’s work is particularly essential for agriculture, transport (aviation and shipping), energy, and civil protection.

Digital activities

Data is in the DNA of the WMO. Data is gathered from one of the most diverse data-gathering systems worldwide, consisting of more than 10 000 manned and automatic surface weather stations, national radar networks, ocean observing stations, and weather satellite constellations. Data is essential for the delivery of all WMO core functions from weather forecasting to climate forecasting and detection.

The WMO also explores the role of new technologies and their relevance for public weather services including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) approaches. AI will complement complex numerical weather prediction algorithms that process vast amounts of data and calculate the behaviour of weather patterns, providing short-term weather forecasts and long-term climate predictions.

Digital Policy Issues

Legal and Regulatory basket

Data governance

Building on the experience of its predecessor – the International Meteorological Organization (founded in 1873) – the WMO is a big data organisation in the truest sense of the word. In fact, data, and more precisely the gathering and exchange of information, has been explicitly stated as one of the main purposes of the WMO in the convention establishing the organisation in 1947.

Today, the WMO’s data policy is governed by three principal documents:

• Resolution 40, adopted in 1995, sets forth the fundamental principle of free and unrestricted exchange of meteorological and related data. • Resolution 25, adopted in 1999, focuses on the exchange of hydrological data and products. • Resolution 60, adopted in 2015, covers the exchange of climate data and products as part of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).

Despite the fact that all three resolutions endorse data exchange, Resolution 40 is the only document that stipulates the obligation of member states to share essential data. It has also developed a prescriptive policy framework under Annex 1 that specifies the types of data that should be exchanged. Resolution 40 also includes a set of regulatory documents: The Manual on the Global Observing System (GOS), the Manual on the Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS), the Manual on Global Data Processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS), and the Manual on the WMO Information System (WIS).

At present, the WMO is in the process of updating its data sharing policy in order to

support its holistic ‘Earth System’ approach that reflects the interdependence between data describing different components of the world’s climate (atmosphere, oceans, land, ice, biosphere, etc.). A fourth document titled ‘Resolution 42’ is expected to be adopted in 2021 by the WMO. Resolution 42 will maintain the current two-tiered approach that distinguishes between types of data:

• Essential data that shall be exchanged internationally (data that should forecast seamlessly and accurately weather, climate, water, and other environmental conditions) and • Additional data that should be exchanged internationally (data that can facilitate co-operation in WMO-related activities).

In this context, the precise formulation and shared understanding of the difference between essential and additional data will be crucial for future co-operation regarding data in the WMO’s activities.

Resolution 42 should also respond to the increasing demand for: Data generated by the WMO system, more robust implementation and monitoring mechanisms, and flexible review processes that can address some of the anticipated fast technological changes in the field of data.

In addition to data sharing, the overall importance of data has been further highlighted by the WMO’s Guidelines on Climate Data Rescue, published in 2004. The document tackles why data rescue (i.e. preservation of vast amounts of collected climate data and digitalisation of current and past datasets for easy access) is crucial. The document explains that practitioners of data rescue might encounter obstacles such as the high cost of data rescue operations as well as the lack of digital skills and competences to use the necessary tools in the process of data preservation. The Guidelines were updated in 2016 to reflect the changes in digital technologies that have occurred since they were first published. The Guidelines now outline some of the necessary steps in the data rescue process such as creating digital inventories and digitising data values.

Over the years, the WMO has also engaged in the following data governance developments: • Co-operation on data in scientific circles through co-operation between the International Science Council (ISC) and the WMO World Data Centers, as well as discussion on data at the World Conference on Science. • Co-operation with the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC), whose Resolution 6 specifies that ‘member states shall provide timely, free, and unrestricted access to all data, associated metadata, and products generated under the auspices of IOC programmes.’ • Tensions with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the, later abandoned, proposal for a treaty on trade in databases. • Discussion with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on WMO datasets and competition provisions in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). • Establishment of the Intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in 2003 to derive data policies for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems on the basis of the WMO system of data exchange.

Infrastructure basket

Artificial intelligence

To make use of its gathered data, the WMO, via an observation system such as the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), makes weather-related predictions. At a time when more attention is being paid to AI, the WMO’s decades-long experience with the NWP can help in understanding both the potential and limitations of AI in dealing with nature, which is in itself the most complex logical system.

Digital Standards

The WMO maintains one of the most comprehensive standardisation systems with a detailed explanation each step of the way in the data cycle. The WMO’s guidelines range from issues such as the position or the type of surface (e.g. grass) over which weather observation stations should be placed to uniform and structured standards on data sharing.

Development basket

Sustainable development

As one of the pioneers of digitalisation, the WMO has explored the opportunities and challenges of the Internet and new technologies with regard to communication of weather information since the early 2000s. Its report ‘Weather on the Internet and other New Technologies’ published in 2001 sought to align the policies of national meteorological services with the use of the Internet so as to ensure, among other things, the availability, quality, and credibility of weather information.

A year later, in 2002, it further explored the role of new technologies, namely, high performance computing, the Internet, and mobile communication systems in its ‘Guide on the Application of New Technology and Research to Public Weather Services’. The Guide highlights that the world wide web, file transfer protocols, and email are of primary importance to public weather services.

Digital technologies have also played an important role in the advancement of the World Weather Watch, a flagship programme of the WMO that allows for the development and improvement of global systems for observing and exchanging meteorological observations. The programme has evolved thanks to developments in remote sensing, private Internet type networks, and supercomputing systems for data analysis, as well as weather, climate, and water (environmental) prediction models. The World Weather Watch consists of the following main building blocks:

• National Meteorological Services, which collect data on land, water, and air worldwide. The process of data collection and transmission is co-ordinated by the WMO

Information System (WIS) through its centres at the national, regional, and global levels. • Regional organisations that also act as global hubs include for example the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the European

Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

To produce a successful weather forecast, it is essential to ensure the timely delivery of observational data from as many stations worldwide as possible in the shortest possible amount of time. Below is an example of the Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) showing a map of observation stations worldwide.

Source: https://wdqms.wmo.int/nwp/synop/six_hour/availability/pressure/all/2020-1107/18

The Global Telecommunication System (GTS), as part of the WIS, carries data from observation stations to national, regional, and global actors. Most of the data is exchanged via the GTS in real time. Given the critical relevance of this data in dealing with crisis situations, the GTS must be highly reliable and secure.

Capacity development

The WMO is also involved in capacity development from a digital perspective. In 2007,

it published a document entitled ‘Guidelines on Capacity Building Strategies in Public Weather Services’, which addresses the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that have contributed to the dissemination of weather information and forecasts.

Digital tools

The WMO established the WMO Community Platform, which consists of several digital tools that allow for the cross-analysis and visualisation of information from all WMO member states regarding weather, climate, and water in order to provide better insights into the work and needs of the community and to contribute to greater participation in good governance. The WMO e-Library is another tool that gathers and maintains different publications, including reports and WMO standards.

Future of Meetings

Any reference to online or remote meetings

Any reference to holding meetings outside HQ Yes. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most WMO meetings have been moved to the online setting.

Yes. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most WMO meetings have been moved to the online setting. To illustrate, the Executive Council, which is the executive body of the WMO, held its 72nd session online.