WMO: World Meteorological Organization

Sea-ice Information and Services, 2024 edition.

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Sea-ice Information and Services, 2024 edition. This publication is intended to provide general information on sea-ice and iceberg observing methods and systems, as well as information on the sea-ice services available worldwide to mariners and other users, supplementing Weather Reporting Volume D – Information for Shipping (WMO-No. 9). This document contains a summarized history of sea-ice information services, as well as a description of the various types of sea ice, the ice observing methods currently being used, and the types of ice information services currently being provided. The sea-ice information services of 17 countries according to region, including information about organization, data acquisition, products and forecasts, publications and contact details, will be available soon on the WMO community website.

Guide to wave analysis and forecasting. 2018 edition.

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Guide to wave analysis and forecasting. 2018 edition. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of numerous maritime countries have been engaged in the provision of ocean wave forecast and hindcast services in support of user requirements across the whole range of maritime activities (shipping, fisheries, offshore mining, commerce, coastal engineering, construction, recreation and so on) for many years. In recognition of this, and of the relative lack of easily accessible guidance material on wave forecasting methodology suitable for use by NMHSs in developing countries, the Guide to Wave Analysis and Forecasting was originally prepared by a group of experts and published in 1988 as WMO‑No. 702. This formal Guide updated and replaced the earlier and very popular Handbook on Wave Analysis and Forecasting (WMO‑No. 446), published in 1976. The 1988 edition of the Guide was subsequently updated in 1998 (second edition). This 2018 version (third edition) represents the latest updates, taking into account the dramatic improvements in wave modelling and observational capability over the last two decades.

Guidelines on Homogenization. 2020 edition.

2020-01-01T00:00:00Z

Guidelines on Homogenization. 2020 edition. This publication provides guidance on homogenization of instrumental land station data. For beginners, the publication describes prerequisites for homogenization (including data rescue, quality control, metadata, parallel measurements etc), explains homogenization practices in detail and provides an overview of homogenization software packages. For advanced users, the history and mathematical theory of homogenization is introduced.

Ocean Buoy Awareness [Training Videos]

2022-01-01T00:00:00Z

Ocean Buoy Awareness [Training Videos] This video, funded by WMO, ECCC Canada, CREWS and KMA shall enhance public awareness and understanding on the value of ocean buoys.

Technical Regulations: Basic Documents No. 2. Volume I – General Meteorological Standards and Recommended Practices. 2019 edition.

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

Technical Regulations: Basic Documents No. 2. Volume I – General Meteorological Standards and Recommended Practices. 2019 edition. World Meteorological Organization 1.The Technical Regulations (WMO‑No. 49) of the World Meteorological Organization are presented in three volumes:Volume I – General meteorological standards and recommended practices Volume II – Meteorological service for international air navigation Volume III – Hydrology. Purpose of the Technical Regulations 2. The Technical Regulations are determined by the World Meteorological Congress in accordance with Article 8 (d) of the Convention. 3. These Regulations are designed: (a) To facilitate cooperation in meteorology and hydrology among Members; (b) To meet, in the most effective manner, specific needs in the various fields of application of meteorology and operational hydrology in the international sphere; (c) To ensure adequate uniformity and standardization in the practices and procedures employed in achieving (a) and (b) above. Types of Regulations 4. The Technical Regulations comprise standard practices and procedures, recommended practices and procedures, and references to constants, definitions, formulas and specifications. 5. The characteristics of these three types of Regulations are as follows: The standard practices and procedures: (a) Shall be the practices and procedures that Members are required to follow or implement; (b) Shall have the status of requirements in a technical resolution in respect of which Article 9 (b) of the Convention is applicable; (c) Shall invariably be distinguished by the use of the term shall in the English text, and by suitable equivalent terms in the Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish texts. The recommended practices and procedures: (a) Shall be the practices and procedures with which Members are urged to comply; (b) Shall have the status of recommendations to Members, to which Article 9 (b) of the Convention shall not be applied; (c) Shall be distinguished by the use of the term should in the English text (except where otherwise provided by decision of Congress) and by suitable equivalent terms in the Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish texts. References to constants, definitions, formulas and specifications: Members should use the definitions, formulas, values of constants and specifications indicated in the relevant Guides published by the Organization.

SIGRID-3 : a vector archive format for sea ice georeferenced information and data. Version 3.0.

2014-01-01T00:00:00Z

SIGRID-3 : a vector archive format for sea ice georeferenced information and data. Version 3.0. This document describes Version 3.0 of SIGRID-3 (Sea Ice GeoReferenced Information and Data), an evolution of the SIGRID series of standards for coding, exchange and archiving of digital ice charts. Version 3.0 retains the essential structure of its predecessor and is backwards compatible with earlier versions of SIGRID-3. The important extension of Version 3 is to incorporate the features, attributes and encoding of the Ice Objects Catalogue for Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs). The purpose of this extension is to facilitate the automatic translation of digital ice charts into S-57 and S-10x ENC formats.

WIGOS metadata standard, 2019 edition.

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

WIGOS metadata standard, 2019 edition. An important aspect of the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) implementation is ensuring maximum usefulness of WIGOS observations. Observations without metadata are of very limited use: it is only when accompanied by adequate metadata (data describing the data) that the full potential of the observations can be utilized.Two complementary types of metadata are required: discovery metadata and interpretation/description or observational metadata. Discovery metadata facilitate data discovery, access and retrieval. They are WMO Information System (WIS) metadata and are specified and handled as part of WIS. Interpretation/description or observational metadata enable data values to be interpreted in context. They constitute WIGOS metadata and are the subject of this WIGOS standard describing the interpretation metadata required for the effective utilization of observations from all WIGOS component observing systems by all users.The WIGOS metadata should describe the observed variable, the conditions under which it was observed, how it was measured or classified, and how the data have been processed, in order to provide users with confidence that the data are appropriate for their application. In the Manual on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WMO-No. 1160), Appendix 2.1, the observing network design principle 10 refers to the need of “Providing information so that the observations can be interpreted” (metadata), while in Appendix 2.2, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Climate Monitoring Principle 2.2.1(c) describes the relevance of metadata as follows: “The details and history of local conditions, instruments, operating procedures, data-processing algorithms and other factors pertinent to interpreting data (that is, metadata) should be documented and treated with the same care as the data themselves.”The WMO Integrated Global Observing System observations consist of an exceedingly wide range of data, from manual observations to complex combinations of satellite hyper-spectral frequency bands, measured in situ or remotely, from single dimension to multiple dimensions, and those involving processing. A comprehensive metadata standard covering all types of observation is by nature complex to define. A user should be able to use the WIGOS metadata to identify the conditions under which the observation, or measurement, was made, and any aspects that may affect its use or understanding, that is, to determine whether the observations are fit for the purpose.

International list of Voluntary Observing Ships Metadata fields & descriptions, exchange formats and code tables. Metadata Format Version 04. (Document Revision 4.2) .

2017-01-01T00:00:00Z

International list of Voluntary Observing Ships Metadata fields & descriptions, exchange formats and code tables. Metadata Format Version 04. (Document Revision 4.2) . WMO maintains a catalogue of ships participating in the global Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Scheme. The catalogue is produced from the national VOS lists submitted by WMO Members. The catalogue, which contains a comprehensive range of ship’s metadata, was originally available as a WMO publication, WMO-No. 47 (commonly referred to as Pub 47). Due to increasing printing and distribution costs, the publication was suspended in the late 1990s. An electronic version of the catalogue became available on the WMO website < http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/ois/pub47/pub47-home.htm > during 2003. Despite the changed method of distribution, the electronic file retains the name of the original publication. Because of changing demands for ship’s metadata, the Ship Observations Team (SOT) formed a Task Team at SOT-II (July 2003, London, UK) to revise the metadata requirements of WMO-No. 47. The proposed changes were subsequently approved at JCOMM-II (September 2006, Halifax, Canada). This document describes the field descriptions, presentation layout and file exchange formats for WMO-No. 47, Metadata Format Version 04, approved at JCOMM-II. These changes come into effect on 1 June 2013. Summary of changes in this version 1. Type of meteorological reporting ships vsslM (Code Table 2202): a. Add new code 80 for manually reporting third party support ship. b. Add new code 85 for AWS-equipped third party support ship. 2. Exposure of the hygrometer hgrE, exposure of the dry-bulb thermometer thmE (Code Table 0801) a. Add new code HH for hand held digital thermometer/humidity sensor. b. Add new code RS for radiation shield (e.g. cylindrical / Gill multi-plate radiation shield). 3. Recruiting country rcnty, country of registration reg (Code Table 1801) a. Add new code ZZ for third party support ships. 4. Change in the location referenced in the XML Schema namespace variable.

Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation. Volume V – Quality Assurance and Management of Observing Systems. 2018 edition.

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation. Volume V – Quality Assurance and Management of Observing Systems. 2018 edition. This chapter is general and covers operational meteorological observing systems of any size or nature. Although the guidance it gives on quality management is expressed in terms that apply to large networks of observing stations, it should be read to apply even to a single station.Quality managementQuality management provides the principles and the methodological frame for operations, and coordinates activities to manage and control an organization with regard to quality. Quality assurance and quality control are the parts of any successful quality management system. Quality assurance focuses on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled and includes all the planned and systematic activities implemented in a quality management system so that quality requirements for a product or service will be fulfilled. Quality control is associated with those components used to ensure that the quality requirements are fulfilled and includes all the operational techniques and activities used to fulfil quality requirements. This chapter concerns quality management associated with quality control and quality assurance and the formal accreditation of the laboratory activities, especially from the point of view of meteorological observations of weather and atmospheric variables.The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 family of standards is discussed to assist understanding in the course of action during the introduction of a quality management system in a National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHS); this set of standards contains the minimum processes that must be introduced in a quality management system for fulfilling the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard. The total quality management concept according to the ISO 9004 guidelines is then discussed, highlighting the views of users and interested parties. The ISO/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 17025 standard is introduced. The benefits to NMHSs and the Regional Instrument Centres (RICs) from accreditation through ISO/IEC 17025 are outlined along with a requirement for an accreditation process.The ISO/IEC 20000 standard for information technology (IT) service management is introduced into the discussion, given that every observing system incorporates IT components.

Guide to the WMO Integrated Global Observing System. 2019 edition.

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

Guide to the WMO Integrated Global Observing System. 2019 edition. This is the second edition of the Guide to the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WMO-No. 1165). The Guide was developed following the decision of the Seventeenth World Meteorological Congress for the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) to proceed to a preoperational phase (2016–2019), as well as the approval by the Seventeenth Congress of the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49), Volume I, Part I, and the Manual on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WMO-No. 1160), with effect from 1 July 2016. In essence, these two publications specify what is to be observed, as well as where, when and how, in order for Members to meet the relevant observational requirements.To complement these activities, the Seventeenth Congress requested the Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to publish a set of guidelines incorporated in an initial Guide, which would be progressively revised and enhanced through the WIGOS preoperational phase. This was formalized in a decision of the WMO Executive Council at its sixty-seventh session to re-establish the Intercommission Coordination Group on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (ICG-WIGOS), which has as one of its terms of reference to complement WIGOS regulatory material with the necessary guidance information and technical guidelines incorporated in the Guide to the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WMO-No. 1165). The first edition of the Guide was approved by the Executive Council at its sixty-ninth session via Resolution 2 (EC-69) – Initial version of the Guide to the WMO Integrated Global Observing System.The initial Guide aimed to assist Members in complying with a number of new regulations that came into effect on 1 July 2016. It was developed by the Secretariat, in particular the WIGOS Project Office, with input from technical experts of the Inter-Commission Coordination Group on WIGOS (ICG-WIGOS) task teams and the lead technical commissions (Commission for Basic Systems and Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation)