Chairperson: Gerard van der Schrier
Credible climate information, products and services are important elements in the decision-making matrix for effective climate risk management and support to adaptation options, particularly in the context of climate change, which threatens many facets of planetary inhabitability and human well-being. Operationalizing the provision of climate information services requires standards and a well-coordinated end-to-end institutional system that begins with monitoring and generating climate information of high quality and ends with a community level response. Furthermore, agile approaches are required to translate research into operational services and inform decisions that can account for climate risks and opportunities.
This presentation outlines the World Meteorological Organization strategy for implementing the climate services information system (CSIS) at regional and national scales, highlighting linkages with research and operationalization efforts such as objective climate prediction approach that enable enhanced generation of regionally relevant climate information and tailored products, and emphasizes the importance of sustaining these efforts. The EU-funded Intra-ACP Climate Services Programme (ClimSA) is used to showcase how 79 members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) work with WMO and partners to implement the climate services value chain in priority climate sensitive sectors. CSIS is WMO primary mechanism to routinely collate, store, process information about past, present, and future climates and make it available from global to regional and national levels to support climate services around the world. It is supported the by development of global and regional systems infrastructure, mainly through WMO Global Producing Centres for Long Range Forecasts (GPCs-LRF), GPCs of Annual to Decadal Climate Prediction (GPCs-ADCP), Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), and Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs).
How to cite: Moufouma-Okia, W. and Hovsepyan, A.: The World Meteorological Organization climate services information system: Opportunities and challenges for co-developing climate services and tailored products addressing national and regional user needs, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-707, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-707, 2022.
Reliable weather observations are an important basis for climate change assessments and climate services. Compared to other regions of the world, long time series of weather observations are sparse in many African countries. Various activities at national or international level are ongoing to improve the availability and quality of climate databases. In this presentation, we will provide examples from international data centers hosted at Germany's national meteorological service DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst). The international exchange of monthly climate reports (CLIMAT) is monitored within the Monitoring Centre of the GCOS Surface Network (Global Climate Observing System). In that context the data is also quality controlled and made publicly available.
Such recent climate observations can be complemented by digitization of historical hand-written weather observations which are available in distributed archives. DWD houses huge archives of historical handwritten journals of weather observations originating also from the activities of his predecessor organizations. These archives do not only comprise observations from Germany, but also of the oceans and land stations in many parts of the world. International observations are part of the marine archive (located in DWD's branch office in Hamburg) which contains (among others) the collections of the German Naval Observatory, “Deutsche Seewarte,” a predecessor of DWD that existed from 1868 to 1945 in Hamburg. It includes meteorological data records from ships, as well as from land stations in many parts of the world (e.g., from former German colonies).
International data centers, such as the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), collect international data. They perform quality-control of these observations and provide derived products in support of global and regional climate assessments. These activities can also contribute to the improvement of national climate databases, as e.g., demonstrated in a cooperation among selected countries with the SASSCAL initiative (Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management). Satellite-based observations are an additional source that can provide climatological information for selected parameters. In particular, the METEOSAT satellite series provides valuable data for the African continent. The Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF) provides high resolution climate data covering the last decades derived from observations of such meteorological satellites.
Reference:
Kaspar, F., Andersson, A., Ziese, M., Hollmann, R. (2022). Contributions to the Improvement of Climate Data Availability and Quality for Sub-Saharan Africa. Front. Clim. 3: 815043. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.815043
How to cite: Kaspar, F., Andersson, A., Ziese, M., and Hollmann, R.: Contributions of DWD’s Data Centres to the Improvement of Climate Data Availability and Quality for Africa, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-684, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-684, 2022.
Following previous missions in 2015 and 2016 to assess the warning capabilities of DMH (National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHS) of Myanmar), ZAMG was commissioned by WMO- in 2019 to jointly develop a Meteoalarm-type impact-oriented, colour-coded Early Warning System (EWS) with DMH. This task also included training for operational meteorologists and hydrologists to operate the EWS in collaboration with Gerald Fleming. Challenging framework conditions, such as poor internet connectivity, the COVID pandemic, withdrawal of an implementing partner and the military coup in February 2021 forced the team to conduct most activities online. Thanks to the commitment of all parties involved, the system successfully went live in early April 2022. This contribution focuses on challenges, success stories and lessons learned from this project, which could be of interest to development agencies working with other NMHSs.
Lessons learned include that lack of qualified ICT staff and appropriate ICT infrastructure as well as challenging framework conditions favour cloud-based solutions/external hosting of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)-based warning systems. CAP editing tools need to be flexible enough yet user-friendly and be capable of accommodating requirements given by country-specific legislation and organizational structure of NMHSs. To successfully bridge the last mile of warning dissemination to end users, APIs need to be designed to meet the requirements of re-users, such as Google, IBM and others, in order that the warnings can be ingested into their systems. The WMO Register of Alerting Authorities plays a central role in registering and making authoritative sources of warning information discoverable. The paradigm change from simple text bulletins containing „What the weather will be” to issuing CAP alerts „What the weather will do“ takes energy and time. Stock phrases for damage descriptions and instructions (e.g. IFRC PAPE messages) could help to speed up this process. It is important to involve stakeholders such as DRM authorities from the beginning. Deriving warning criteria needs to be done in close collaboration with the NMHS in order to increase the acceptance of subsequent Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs). It is important to emphasize that it is better to start easy and upgrade at a later stage. In terms of zoning of warnings, geocodes (e.g. regions or districts) were preferred over drawing polygons, since they reflect administrative responsibilities of regional and local Civil Protection Authorities (CPAs). For the long-term uptake of CAP-enabled tools, not just technical help, but also training on warning concepts/how to populate CAP elements is needed (on-the-job training). This was successfully carried out in the monsoon season 2021 through daily briefings and guidance in the warning decision process. Feedback from meteorologists and hydrologists was collected and used to further customise the interfaces and functionalities of the warning system.
How to cite: Kaltenberger, R., Fleming, G., Spitaler, T., and Markl, Y.: Establishing a colour-coded, impact-oriented Early Warning System at Myanmar DMH – Lessons Learned, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-708, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-708, 2022.
Severe weather and climate change take a high toll on the most vulnerable population of Tajikistan. Every year, droughts, flooding or avalanches and non-optimal management practices cause food insecurity and affect the lives of exposed rural communities. Weather, Water and Climate Services (WWCS) that support agronomic decisions and early warning systems can greatly reduce socio-economic and environmental impacts on vulnerability and well-being. However, a lack of resources and local capacities have so far inhibited their development. In response to this urgent need, a consortium of Swiss federal institutions, the WMO and ICARDA, led by CARITAS Switzerland and with co-funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, support governmental and private sector partners in Tajikistan to develop WWCS. The project improves the observational database by deploying a large number of low-cost automated weather stations complemented by citizen observations in remote areas. These stations enable post-processing of forecasts and thereby the development of reliable services tailored to local user-needs. The underlying hardware and software developments follow a strict open-source policy and combine technical expertise in sensor development and statistical post-processing. The approach enables therefore replicability and scaling of the services at minimal costs. Comparative measurement studies show promising accuracy and stability of the data retrieval in comparison to more standard approaches. Post-processing of ECMWF ensemble predictions, which are now publicly available at a resolution of 0.4° (~40km), proved efficient to develop reliable air temperature forecasts. Pilot WWCS based on citizen observations have already helped to increase agricultural yield at a test site.
How to cite: Bellprat, O., Spirig, C., Flubacher, M., Grandjean, J., Roulet, Y.-A., Moret, L., Bavay, M., Fiddes, J., Orlowsky, B., Kassam, S., Kalandarov, H., Yatimov, S., Akmal, A., Strohmeier, S. M., Sharma, R., Haddad, M., Govind, A., Fatih, K., and Berod, D.: A low-cost approach to develop Weather, Water and Climate Services (WWCS) in rural areas of Tajikistan, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-476, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-476, 2022.
Cooperation between the NMHSs of the Ibero-American Community has been carried out since 2003 through the Conference of Directors of Ibero-American NMHSs (CIMHET), which develops, by means of the Ibero-American Meteorological Cooperation Program (PCMI), several action plans approved at its annual meetings on three strategic lines: Institutional strengthening and resource mobilization, provision of meteorological, climatic and hydrological services and training. During these years, different activities have been carried out within the strategic lines indicated.
The experience accumulated during all these years shows several important factors for the success of the different projects carried out, among others that all priorities and activities have been approved within the framework of the annual meetings of the CIMHET, the intense horizontal cooperation among NMHSs, the adoption of common positions and coordinated actions in regional and global forums, the great involvement of WMO, with active participation in the meetings of the Conference and development of activities, the promotion of dialogue with users, so that many of the activities planned in the Program are focused on contributing to the socio-economic development of the countries, or also the coordination with other Ibero-American networks, like CODIA and RIOCC, with proposal for common projects, which makes it easier to access financing mechanisms.
The main problems to achieve the stated goals include the lack of personnel in the NMHS, both technical to carry out their objectives and managerial to propose and implement development projects, the lack of continuity in the implementation of the projects, especially due to the change in management levels, the lack of political relevance and institutional representation of many NMHSs or the lack of sustainability of some of the systems implemented as a result of the lack of human and budgetary resources.
As challenges to be addressed to ensure a better use of the cooperation and projects developed, it is worth highlighting the increase in coordination between the different cooperation initiatives in the region, designing projects with other sectoral networks, having teams that allow monitoring the projects and carrying out the necessary actions for their implementation and ensuring their sustainability, increase the presence of NMHSs in national climate change policies, increase visibility in financing institutions and contribute significantly to the development of the Ibero-American Environmental Agenda approved by the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Ibero-American Community.
How to cite: Tamayo, J.: Meteorological cooperation in Ibero-America. Lessons learned and challenges, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-714, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-714, 2022.
ENANDES “Enhancing Adaptive Capacity of Andean Communities through Climate Services” is a regional project funded by the Adaptation Fund and implemented by WMO in coordination with the national hydro-meteorological services of Chile, Colombia, and Peru together with CIIFEN as the regional climate centre for Western South America. ENANDES aims at enhancing the provision of “climate services” at the national and regional levels focusing on the full-service value chain through activities ranging from service design, participatory user engagement and socio-economic benefit analyses. Indeed, the timely production, translation, and delivery of climate information for decision making, will support both climate risk management and adaptation plans, addressing three priority sectors: agriculture and food security, water, and energy. The goal of the project is to strengthen the capacity of society and communities in Chile, Colombia, and Peru to adapt to climate variability and change. The project started in February 2021, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it is succeeding in promoting, supporting, and generating regional dialogue and articulation aiming to exchange and scale up best practices in addressing data management, climate monitoring and adaptation planning. During the first year, the project focused on the design, production and communication of climate and water information and services (component 1), and the institutional coordination to facilitate the targeting of information, products, and services to user needs (component 2). Intending to pursue these objectives, ENANDES efforts are focused on capitalizing national successful experiences such as the Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (Mesas Técnicas Agroclimáticas or MTAs in Spanish and herein LTACs) and the Technical Roundtable on Energy set up by the Meteorological Directorate of Chile (DMC) and the Chilean Ministry of Energy.
Colombia is a reference country regarding LTACs, having local committees in several departments, including Cauca, where ENANDES demonstration areas are located. LTACs have become essential platforms to support decision making processes on adaptation strategies, where representatives from multiple sectors and institutions exchange knowledge on agro-climatic sensitive practices to open the analysis and debate on how to cope with impact scenarios. Conversely, Peru and Chile are implementing LTACs with a view to align them as in Colombia, for which ENANDES is an opportunity to advance and strengthen the multilevel articulation of LTACs in these countries.
To address and collect information on the energy sector needs, participatory platforms are also to be considered a successful and priority tool. In Chile and Colombia, national hydro-meteorological services have already set up a dialogue mechanism to assess the kind of information that may be provided or processed for guaranteeing business continuity to energy utilities and distributors.
ENANDES strategy builds on regional cooperation among countries, exchanging and replicating experiences and tools to consolidate local capacities and expand project benefits beyond its national borders.
How to cite: Polato, R., Rodriguez, L., Avalos, G., Saavedra, H., Vega Riquelme, C. P., Nieto, J. J., and Fiallo, E.: Replicating national participatory platforms and committees to co-develop climate services value chain, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-710, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-710, 2022.
Weather, water and climate (hereafter “WWC”) information and knowledge is critical to support decisions-makers at multiple levels to design adaptation actions in order to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience to hydro-climatic hazards. Access to WWC information is important in the Andean region of South America, as its climatic and environmental characteristics make it especially vulnerable to extreme weather events and climate variability and change. However, the production, access and dissemination of WWC services and information is insufficient in the region. Consequently, strengthening the capacity of the responsible institutions to provide WWC services is an urgent need. A sustainable approach to capacity development should take place along the entire value chain of WWC services. This ensures that users have timely access to information that responds to their needs in support of their decision-making process.
To meet the need to improve both the capacity to provide relevant and timely WWC services and its use to inform decision-making, risk management, and the design of adaptation interventions, two complementary development projects – ENANDES and BRAVA – are being developed jointly in the region. ENANDES is ongoing since 2021 and includes three national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHS) (IDEAM Colombia, SENAMHI Peru and DMC Chile) and the WMO Regional Climate Centre for Western South America (CIIFEN), BRAVA, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, includes three additional NMHSs (INAMHI Ecuador, SENAMHI Bolivia and SMN Argentina) and other WMO regional centers (the Regional Climate Centre for Southern South America, and Regional Training Centers in Peru and Argentina). This institutional complexity, together with the diversity of activities involved in the two initiatives, will require a highly innovative coordination, as well as agile ways of transferring knowledge and experience among the involved partners.
One of the main challenges of the ENANDES / BRAVA initiatives is to build a South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) to facilitate and intensify regional cooperation and to foster exchange of knowledge and experiences to finally enable mutual development. The mechanism envisioned within the initiatives to establish sustainable SSTC is the so-called “regional core of expertise” (NUREX). The NUREX will be a virtual entity in which all involved partners actively participate. It will serve as an intermediary or “broker” to manage, reconcile and balance technical knowledge needs and capacities among all partners. Our contribution will present the NUREX concept, its set-up, governance and mechanisms that enable the beneficiary NMHSs to effectively collaborate. However, as the development of such an entity is still in its early stages, we believe it will benefit greatly from the discussions and exchange of experiences at EMS2022.
How to cite: Pache, A., Podestá, G., Avalos, G., Boscolo, R., Campetella, C., Cóndor, A. L., Flubacher, M., Gubler, S., Lechthaler, F., Polate, R., Rocha Quispe, W., Rossa, A., Sjaavik, L., Varro, G., and Bellprat, O.: Setting up a regional core of expertise in the Andean Region , EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-334, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-334, 2022.
The expert services of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has been working over fifty years internationally in improving of the services provided by the different national hydro-meteorological services (NHMS’s) worldwide. The cornerstones of the cooperation with different institutes have been formed around improved disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change. So far, the assistance and transfer of know-how has reached more than 100 countries worldwide, mainly concentrating on the developing countries. The main objective of the projects has been to improve the quality, dissemination and effectiveness of the hydro-meteorological forecasts and warning services for the societies to first decrease number of fatalities related to natural disasters and to decrease the economical losses related to the same events.
One of the most tangible results of the FMI projects in improving the service delivery of the NHMS’s in developing countries has been the international installations of the FMI-built weather forecast and early warning production system “SmartMet”. The license fee-free and partly open-source software is already installed in some 30 countries world-wide, and the number is constantly increasing. The SmartMet system has the capabilities to create and disseminate weather and early-warning products to multiple end-users and platforms such as newspapers or the Internet. To tackle the challenge of reaching the last mile and to further improve the dissemination of weather and early-warning information FMI has developed a universal mobile weather and early warning application. The application works everywhere, where SmartMet system is installed, and it is integrated seamlessly into the local SmartMet system. This means it also utilizes and displays local data and early-warnings. The SmartMet mobile phone application is based on the FMI’s own mobile application in Finland and therefore it will be constantly developed and updated. This improves the sustainability of the system and application also internationally. The application will be published for iOS and Android operating systems.
How to cite: Eerikäinen, M.: Improving the weather and early-warning information dissemination - FMI open source mobile weather application, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-479, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-479, 2022.
The International Climate Assessment & Dataset (ICA&D) contributes to the provision of climate services in regions across the world. ICA&D contributes both to the provision of climate data and to climate monitoring, thereby supporting the WMO Regional Climate Centres in carrying-out their mandatory functions.
In WMO Regional Association VI (Europe and the Middle East), the European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA&D) fulfills this role and from this the ICA&D concept is derived. ICA&D has already been implemented in Indonesia as the Southeast Asian Climate Assessment & Dataset (SACA&D).
ICA&D facilitates the sharing of daily meteorological surface observations from countries in a given region with meteorological services in that region and with scientists worldwide, and deriving climate monitoring products from these observations. Examples are the climate indices of extremes, such as the number of warm or dry days, which can be monitored over time in view of climate change. ICA&D complements national meteorological databases in having only a daily resolution and containing information from multiple countries in the region in the same format.
With support from the EU-funded ClimSA project, under which WMO is implementing a EUR 5.5 million grant, ICA&D will be implemented in the Caribbean, the Pacific and 5 sub-regions in Africa. ICA&D will be set-up in selected Regional Climate Centres that form part of the WMO institutional network. Within the ClimSA project, the ICA&D website has seen an upgrade and has been made more user friendly. Furthermore, e-learning modules are being developed to aid the ICA&D maintainers in the region in updating their ICA&D database and website.
How to cite: van den Besselaar, E., van der Schrier, G., van der Schee, M., Verver, G., Baddour, O., Jepsen, L.-A., Suwondo, A., and Allen, T.: ICA&D: Climate services across borders, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-443, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-443, 2022.
