I. Cooperation and collaboration in the Region and Beyond
Re-establishment of the management and of the working bodies
The Regional Association VI, at its sixteenth session, held in September 2013 in Helsinki, re-established the Management and the Working Bodies. This structure, as listed below, established at the fifteenth session of the Regional Association proved to be successful.
- RA VI Management Group (Resolution 8 of RA VI-16),
- RA VI Working Group on Technology Development and Implementation (Res. 9 of RA VI-16),
- RA VI Working Group on Climate and Hydrology (Resolution 10 of RA VI-16) and
- RA VI Working Group on Service Delivery and Partnership (Resolution 11 of RA VI-16).
Vice-president of RA VI
Mrs. Vida Auguliene
Permanent Representative of Lithuania with WMO
Mrs. Vida Auguliene, Permanent Representative of Lithuania with WMO, was elected Vice-president of RA VI, replacing Prof. Ostojski, the Permanent Representative of Poland with WMO, who was elected by Congress-16 as second Vice-President of WMO. Read more here.
Mrs. Maria Germenchuk (Permanent Representative of Belarus with WMO) was replaced by Dr Alexander Frolov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation.
RA VI Task Team on the Strategic and Action Planning was re-established with the following composition:
- Maria Hurtola, Leader of the Task Team;
- Jane Wardle, member;
- Axel Thomalla, member;
- Justinas Kilpys, member;
- Carmen Rus, member;
- Bernard Strauss, member;
- Filipiak Janusz, member.
Following the decision of the RA VI Management Group at its second meeting held in Tallinn, Estonia on 14 and 15 May 2014, the core-membership of the Working Groups of RA VI was approved. The list of core-members of the RA VI Working Groups is available on the web page of the WMO Regional Office for Europe and can be accessed here.
The Northern Europe Aviation Meteorology Consortium (NAMCon)
In order to meet the challenges of a changing operating environment, the National Meteorological Services (NMSs) of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Norway and Sweden have signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing the Northern Europe Aviation Meteorology Consortium (NAMCon). The cooperation and consortium are built on the concept of equal partnership, improved efficiency and high quality of aviation weather services.
As a model for regional service provision, NAMCon was built on the understanding that the NMHSs cannot survive alone in the future aviation weather service delivery market. A collaborative regional service provision had been initiated and a plan for future consolidation is put in place. This includes provision of certain service by one of the NAMCon Members on behalf of a group of countries, but also cross-border coordination and interoperability.
As of 1 September 2013, the consortium is operating a virtual office composing the aviation weather services managers in its Member states and managed by the NAMCon Consortium Manager. NAMCon will deliver harmonized, coordinated and mutually backed-up aviation weather services regardless of national borders to all civil and general aviation users.
Common briefing web portal has also been established. The NAMCon governance and cost recovery mechanisms would serve as a good practice in the future regionalization of services envisaged by the GANP and ASBU.
Establishment of a Network of Regional Climate Centers in RA VI
The operation of RA VI RCC Network (Resolution 3 - RA VI) will be guided by the RA VI Working Group on Climate and Hydrology, with oversight by the president of RA VI and the RA VI Management Group and in close consultation with the Commission for Climatology and the Commission for Basic Systems. The final step to the official launch is the approval by the upcoming WMO Congress, planned for May 2015.
The expansion of the RCOF mechanism to the Mediterranean sub-region
The further development and implementation of additional RCOFs was discussed and recommended by the RA VI Working Group on Climate and Hydrology and the RA VI Task Team on Regional Climate Outlook Fora. In January 2012 in Algiers during the Scoping Workshop on Seasonal Climate Prediction for North Africa (PRESANORD 02), most of the participants expressed the potential benefits and their agreement to a possible extension of the existing RA I PRESANORD Outlook Forum to the Mediterranean Region involving RA I and RA VI. In January 2013, latest PRESANORD meeting clearly showed the determination of the involved countries to cooperate for the promotion of coordinated seasonal forecasting activities in the region. The State Agency for Meteorology of Spain has developed over the last years different activities related to seasonal forecast involving both research and operational aspects. From the research side AEMET has explored, in the context of the recent EU projects DEMETER and ENSEMBLES, the role played by different downscaling techniques to further improve the predictability provided by global models. From the operational side, AEMET delivers on monthly basis estimations of seasonal perspectives using all available information generated from different operational systems. Finally, AEMET expressed interest in coordinating this initiative, composed of the following countries members:
RA I: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, and
RA VI: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Malta.
MEDCOF activities are led by the Management Team with the coordination of the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development and the existing regional initiatives like MEditerranean climate DAta REscue. However, optimal exploitation of all available sources of seasonal forecast information is done. The consensus based outlook integrates information generated by the NMHSs of RA I and RA VI, by WMO Regional Climate Centres of both regions, by the ad hoc created WMO Lead Centres for Long Range Forecast Multi-Model Ensemble and for Standard Verification System of Long Range Forecasts and by other relevant institutions/projects.
The Meteoalarm expands over the Western Balkans
In February 2014, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined EMMA Meteoalarm. The Federal Hydrometeorological Institute of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Republic of Srpska start operationally to produce weather related warnings for general public from February 19th 2014. This increases the number of participating European countries with their official National Weather Services to 34. Meteoalarm is also a portal to the national warning systems: click on the logo of individual national meteorological weather services to visit their websites for additional regional information.
The WMO’s Regional Specialized Meteorological Center
for atmospheric sand and dust forecasts for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa
or so-called the Barcelona Dust Forecast Center.
The Barcelona Dust Forecast Center was inaugurated in June 2014. It is hosted by Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. It issues daily forecasts which are freely available on its website and prepares regional forecasts throughout the year. The model consists of a numerical weather prediction model incorporating on-line parameterizations of all the major phases of the atmospheric dust cycle. It covers the main dust source areas in Northern Africa and Middle East, as well as the main transport routes and deposition zones from the equator to the Scandinavian Peninsula.
Mediterranean Climate Outlook Forum-1
Southeast European Climate Outlook Forum-10 and
the Training Workshop on long-range forecasting
The tenth session of the Southeast European climate outlook forum was held from 27 to 29 November 2013. It has been conducted in Belgrade, Serbia, on the kind invitation of the Permanent Representative of Serbia with WMO. This session was focused on the winter climate of 2013-2014. As it was one of the IPA Project activities, the participation of the IPA Project beneficiaries was financed by the budget of the IPA project: “Building resilience to disasters in Western Balkans and Turkey”, while the participation of other countries from the sub-region was supported by the World Meteorological Organization as a contribution towards the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services. Based on the recommendations of the Scoping meeting on Mediterranean Climate Outlook Forum, the tenth session of SEECOF was conducted following the first session of the Mediterranean Climate Outlook Forum, which provided regional inputs to the production of climate outlook for the South-East European’ sub-region. As part of capacity-building component of the Climate Services Information System, the participants of SEECOF and MEDCOF were trained to do the long-range forecasting. The training was held prior to the MedCOF-1 and SEECOF-10. Their conduction in a consecutive way of all three events, which addressed climate services related issues common to the experts and users of all countries of the Mediterranean Region, was a great example of how to leverage the human, technical and financial resources, at the same time, contributing to an enhanced cooperation towards a common goal. The meeting related materials, including the consensus-based climate Outlook for the winter 2013-2014 as well as the conclusions and recommendations for the way forward, can be found at the web site of the virtual Climate Change Centre for the South-East Europe and can be accessed here.
The Hydrometeorological Services in Tirana, Banja Luka and Pristina installed
the Meteorology, Climatology & Hydrology Database Management System
The open source Meteorology, Climatology and Hydrology data management system (MCH), originally developed in Spanish has been translated into English and French and installed in several countries among which the Institute of Geosciences, Energy, Water and Environment of Albania (October 2013), Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina (February 2014) and in the Hydrometeorological Service in Pristina (June 2014).
A password protected forum for the users has been established to share experience and developments on MCH DMS as well as all needed tutorials and material to use and develop it.
Satellite nowcasting applications
The Data Access for Western Balkans and Eastern Europe (DAWBEE) Satellite Nowcasting Applications workshop was held on 17-21 March 2014, at the premises of EUMETSAT HQ in Darmstadt, Germany. The workshop focused on MSG SEVIRI imagery and RGB products for nowcasting (rapid) cyclogenesis, severe convection and fog detection with a special focus on the analysis of satellite images in terms of conceptual model such like synoptic fronts, deformation zones, jets, potential vorticity anomalies, convection and other meso-scale features. The meeting gathered experts in synoptic and mesoscale meteorology with minimum basic knowledge in visible, water vapor and infrared satellite imagery.
Assistance in calibration and maintenance of hydrometeorological instruments
A series of missions to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Pristina undertaken by the representative of the WMO Regional Instrument Centre located in Ljubljana, Slovenia, were successfully finalized in January 2014.
Informal Conference of the South-East European NMHSs Directors
The South-East European NMHSs Directors convened in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in a meeting that was attended by the representatives of 8 member institutions and the representatives of other specialized institutions, as listed below:
(1) the Drought Management Center for SEE,
(2) the WMO Regional Instrument Center,
(3) the SEE Virtual Climate Change Center,
(4) the KEP Project,
(5) the IPA Project: Building resilience to disasters in Western Balkans and Turkey,
(6) the CIMA Research Foundation,
(7) the EMMA Programme,
(8) the Sava River Basin Commission and
(9) the WMO Secretariat.
One of the permanent items of the agenda of ICEED sessions is the review and update of the ICEED principles. The meeting also followed with a review of the follow up actions from the previous twelfth session and discussed the diverse human, technical and institutional issues of NMHSs in the subregion as well as the capacity building possibility. The meeting documents and presentations are available on the ICSEED dedicated web page hosted and operated by the Turkish State Meteorological Service.
The Blue Peace –Water Security Project in the Middle East
Observations and monitoring in Lebanon
A National Workshop on observations and monitoring was hosted by the Lebanese Meteorological Department in Beirut, Lebanon from 20 to 21 November 2013. The event was organized as part of the project “Strategic Management of Hydrological & Meteorological Data and Information Product Generation” implemented by WMO in partnership with the Swiss Development Agency. The workshop objective was to help the key national stakeholders to improve their procedures and practices in managing the hydrometeorological data and to enhance the regional cooperation in the Middle East in the area of water management and adaptation to climate change.
RA VI Management Group
The first meeting of RA VI Management Group was held on 16 September 2013, in Helsinki, Finland, as a side-event to the sixteenth session of RA VI. It was attended by ten members of the RA VI Management Group, three international advisers and two officers of the WMO Secretariat. The meeting discussed the organization of the regional activities in the coming months.
RA VI Task Team on Regional Operating Plan (RA VI TT ROP)
The first meeting of the RA VI TT ROP was held at the WMO Headquarter in Geneva 17 – 18 January 2014. It was attended by six members of the RA VI Task Team on Regional Operating Planning and four officers of the WMO Secretariat. The meeting reviewed the progress and the structure of the new WMO Strategic Plan (2016-2019). It is a living document, which is expected to be finalized by the end of 2014. Based on the actions required by the sixteenth session of RA VI, the list of regional priorities was developed to be first of all reflected in the RA VI Operating Plan and in the WMO Strategic Plan 2016-2019. It was agreed that as soon as the work programmes of the RA VI WGs are ready, the existing RA VI OP will be reviewed what concerns 2014 – 2015 years. The initial planning for the new OP 2016 – 2019 will also start. The main emphases for RA VI for the new OP will be on 2016 –2017. The meeting documents are available on the web page of the WMO Regional Office for Europe and can be accessed here.
The sixteenth session of RA VI
At the kind invitation of the Government of Finland, the sixteenth session of Regional Association VI (Europe) was held in Helsinki from 11 to 17 September 2013 at the Scandic Marina Congress Center in Helsinki, Finland. It was represented by 38 out of 50 RA VI Members. Also there were five invited experts, five representatives of Intergovernmental Organizations and one representative of WMO Members outside Region VI. The RA VI adopted 12 resolutions, awarded the experts for their contribution to regional activities. The president, Mr Ivan Cacic (Croatia) and the vice president, Mrs Vida Auguliene (Lithuania) were re-elected unanimously to a second term. The documents and the information on the organization of the session’ work were posted on RA VI -16 web site in due time, before and during the session. The session report with its resolutions and the list of participants has been translated into Arabic, English, French and Russian and published on-line on the WMO library's web site.
“Challenges and opportunities for European NMHSs”
“Challenges and opportunities for European NMHSs” were discussed in a Regional Conference held prior to the regional session in Helsinki, Finland. It discussed the current issues that affect the operations of NMHSs in the Region and shared the views and the experience in meeting the major challenges related to the growing demand for the high quality products and services to support decision-making in vital socio-economic sectors. The impact of the difficult economic situation in the most part of the Region upon the NMHS’s management and operation raises the need for increasing efficiency and competitiveness. The Conference outlined good practices and promoted opportunities for enhanced regional cooperation, technology advancement and change management. The Regional Conference was handled as a mixture of presentations by invited speakers, discussions in breakout groups and brainstorming session and formulated through consensus a list of top challenges and priorities for the Regional Association VI that guides the planning of the regional activities for the next intersession period 2016 – 2019. It had six sessions as follows:
Session 1: RA VI Panorama (summary of RA VI Survey 2013)
Session 2: Meeting institutional challenges
Session 3: RA VI response to WMO Priorities
Session 4: Sub-regional challenges and priorities (breaking into sub-regional groups)
Session 5: Opportunities and risks
Session 6: Brainstorming: RA VI Priorities for the next intersession period
The outcomes of the Regional Conference, in particular the challenges and priorities for RA VI, were included in the paragraph 7.2 of the final abridged report of the RA VI sixteenth session.
Education and Training
As a part of its Education and Training Programme, WMO organizes, once every four years, a worldwide Symposium on Education and Training (SYMET), which is normally attended by more than 100 educational experts and managers, professors, directors of WMO Regional Training Centres (RTCs), instructors from training units of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), and other institutes involved in meteorological, hydrological and climatological education and training. At the kind invitation of the Government of France, the twelfth symposium entitled "Training with a Purpose" was held from 2 to 6 September 2013 in Météo-France, Toulouse, France. More info on it is available here. The list of the regional events is available on the web site of the Regional Office for Europe and can be accessed here.
II. News from the Members
Anniversaries
On 31 January 2014 the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management of Poland celebrated its 95th anniversary.
On 22 May 2014, the Hydrometeorological Service of Belarus celebrated 90 years since the Meteorological Office was established as the first central body of the nowadays Hydrometeorological Service. More info on the hydrometeorological activities in Belarus is available here.
The newly designated Permanent Representatives of RA VI Members with WMO
Permanent Representative of Switzerland with WMO
Dr. Peter Binder
Director General, MeteoSwiss
Dr. Binder has been working for MeteoSwiss since 1984, became a Member of the Management Board in 2003, and was named Head of the Department Analysis and Forecasting in 2006. He played an important role in the recent strategy development and reorganization of MeteoSwiss. Dr. Binder studied mathematics and physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, where he specialized in atmospheric physics and fluid dynamics, earning a Ph.D. in numerical weather prediction. On 18 December 2013 Dr. Peter Binder was appointed Director General of the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology –MeteoSwiss and as Permanent Representative of Switzerland with WMO.
Permanent Representative of Hungary with WMO
President, Hungarian Meteorological Service
Kornélia Radics
Kornélia Radics was born in Nagykanizsa, Hungary 29 June 1973. She graduated as meteorologist in 1997 and as astronomer in 1999 at the Eötvös Lórant University (ELTE) in Budapest. As soon as she obtained her first degree, she started her studies at the Doctorate Programme for Earth Sciences at ELTE, where she got her PhD degree in 2004 for her dissertation titled “Potentials of the use of wind energy in Hungary: wind climatology, estimation and modelling of accessible wind energy in Hungary”. Since 2001, she was employed at the Hungarian Defence Forces Geoinformation Service, where she became later Vice-head of the Service. At the same time, she held courses at the ELTE University for meteorology students. Dr Kornélia RADICS (Ms) has been appointed as the President of the Hungarian Meteorological Service and as Permanent Representative of Hungary with WMO since 1 November 2013.
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova with WMO
Dr. Anatolie Puţuntica
Director
Dr. Anatolie Puţuntica is doctor in Geography, Associate Professor at the Department of General Geography at the Faculty of Geography of the State Tiraspol University. He did his postdoctoral studies "Eugen Ionescu" at the Faculty of Geography & Geology of the University "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" in Iasi, Romania. The theme of his research was: "Theoretical and methodological aspects for the assessment of the weather & climate related risk". Dr Puţuntica has been appointed as Director of the State Hydrometeorological Service and as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova with WMO since 23 December 2013.
Permanent Representative of Spain with WMO
Mr Miguel Ángel LÓPEZ GONZÁLEZ
President, State Agency of Meteorology
Mr Miguel Ángel LÓPEZ GONZÁLEZ has been appointed as the President of the State Agency of Meteorology and as the Permanent Representative of Spain with WMO since December 2013. He is also an Acting Member of the WMO Executive Council.
Permanent Representative of France with WMO
Mr Jean-Marc LACAVE
Director General, Météo-France
Jean-Marc Lacave took over the function of the President and Director General of Météo-France on 1 January 2014. From 2000 to 2008, he was the Manager of the Port Havre. Then, from 2008 to 2010 he worked for a French container transportation and shipping company (CMA-CGM). From 2011 to 2012 he got the responsibility as director executive for the World Forum Committee. Jean-Marc Lacave is an engineer general in bridges, water resources and forestry. He is 58 years old. He is also an Acting Member of the WMO Executive Council.
Permanent Representative of the Netherlands with WMO
Gerard van der Steenhoven is the new Director-General of Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and the successor of the former DG of KNMI, Frits Brouwer. He started his new job on the 1st of February 2014 and his tasks are the overall management, strategy development, international affairs and Chief Science Officer of Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
Prior to his new appointment at KNMI Van der Steenhoven was Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Twente (UT). Previously, he worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Institute for Subatomic Physics in Amsterdam. Between 2000 and 2008, he served as professor of experimental nuclear physics associated with the University of Groningen. Gerard van der Steenhoven studied experimental physics at the Free University of Amsterdam.
III. Coming soon
| EVENT |
Dates |
Venue |
| IPA Project meeting on the design of the regional MHEWS in Western Balkans and Turkey |
September 2014 |
Dürres, Albania |
| Twenty sixth session of the Interstate Council on Hydrometeorology of the Commonwealth of Independent States |
September 2014 |
Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan |
| First Meeting of the RA VI Working Group on Climate and Hydrology |
September 2014 |
Warsaw, Poland |
| RA VI Hydrology Forum |
September 2014 |
Warsaw, Poland |
| First Meeting of the RA VI Working Group on Technology Development and Implementation |
November 2014
|
Offenbach, Germany |
The Calendar of the events is available on the web site of the Regional Office for Europe and can be accessed here.
