Copy

WORDS INTO ACTIONS

RA VI Newsletter no.6

September 2016

Covering the period from September 2015 to August 2016
This Newsletter is launched by the Regional Office for Europe to raise the awareness of RA VI Members of the actions taking place in the Region and Beyond.

The Newsletter provides information about the implementation of the WMO Strategic Plan in the Region and Beyond through the inter-agency, inter-regional and sub-regional collaborative mechanisms.

All RA VI Members and regional partner organizations are welcome to provide the Regional Office for Europe (nberghi(at)wmo.int) with inputs to the Newsletters.  
Table of Contents:

I. Cooperation and collaboration in the Region and Beyond, including:
  • The development of infrastructure, in support of
  • The capacity building actions
II. News from the Members
III. Coming soon
I. Cooperation and collaboration in the Region and Beyond
 
South-Eastern European Meteorological Training Network (SEEMET)

Following the initiative of the Directors of the South-East European NHMSs, supported by EUMETSAT, a Group of SEE NMHSs has established a South-Eastern European Meteorological Training Network, focused on the training needs with regard to the use of the satellite data and products for the operational forecasting. 

In this framework, SEEMET, supported by EUMETSAT, Eumetcal and WMO will conduct a series of courses on a biannual basis in order to regularly train operational staff of the South-Eastern European Meteorological and Hydrological Services.

The first advanced South-Eastern European MET (SEEMET) training  course was organized in Ljubljana from 19 – 21 April 2016 and hosted by
ARSO, as a response of training needs in the region of South-Eastern Europe. The course was held in English.

The course covered the topics of floods and flash floods from meteorological and hydrological forecasting and nowcasting point of view. Training was on SEVIRI satellite data and H SAF products, but also on radar data, NWP models, microwave products, hydrologic models and ground observations. Participants were meteorological forecasters and hydrological forecasters from countries of South-Eastern Europe.

The program included lecture stile as well as practical part, so participants worked in pairs with their laptops. 

The following learning needs were covered:

  • Forecasting heavy precipitation episodes with regards to flooding
  • Forecasting and monitoring dangerous weather phenomena with regards to flash flooding
  • Forecasting water levels in rivers and asses flooding danger
  • Communicating forecast output to relevant authorities, media, public, etc.

There were all together 52 participants, out of which 36 participants from 10 countries and in addition 16 presenters from 11 countries. From ECMWF there was one on-line presentation (using WebEx).

All presentations of the SEEMET 2016 course have been stored in the “EU Course platform”, maintained by Eumetcal. For additional information and queries to access the material (some restrictions may apply), please contact Ms Mateja Iršič Žibert (ARSO) and Eumetcal management team at info@eumetcal.eu.

RA VI network of international advisers

The establishment of INTAD-6 network was approved in 2005 at the Fifteenth session of the Regional Association VI (Europe) with the approval of the RA VI Strategic and Action Plan 2005-2007 (Objective 9.2, the Strategy 9). The main goal of the RA VI network of international advisers is to facilitate the cooperation, via the informal channels, where this is possible. This approach helps to speed up the process of communication among the stakeholders, bringing to the fast positive end the matters relevant for the NMHSs’ activity and development. Building the capacity of the RA VI International Advisers to the Permanent Representatives with WMO is a way to improve the regional collaboration towards a successful implementation of the RA VI Regional Strategic Plan. In this regard, a Workshop on External Relations and Capacity Development Strategies was conducted in Antalya, Turkey from 27 to 30 September 2015.

Meteorology for Aviation in Europe

At its 16th Session held in Helsinki in September 2013, the WMO Regional Association VI (Europe) considered the vigorous developments towards a more efficient organization of the air traffic management (ATM) in the Region as formulated in the European ATM Master Plan endorsed by the European Council as a key element of the European Single European Sky (SES) initiative. The Association noted that the SES regulations, and their recent extension SES 2+, would have a major impact and would require changes in the way meteorological services are provided as part of the air navigation services by most RA VI Members (both EU and non-EU Members). It was understood that these changes were industry-driven based on the demand for capacity and efficiency and would require all air navigation stakeholders to align their services due to increasing pressure for more competitive and efficient service provision. The Association underlined that these trends need to be carefully monitored and discussed, given the importance of assuring aviation safety and service quality, and sustaining fair and equitable cost recovery mechanisms.

It was agreed on the need to gain a greater understanding of these issues to better inform future discussions and requested the WMO Secretariat to organize a regional conference that would also build on the outcomes of the WMO/ICAO Conjoint MET Divisional Meeting, 2014.

The MET Divisional Meeting held conjointly by ICAO and WMO in July 2014 was an important milestone in the development of enhanced meteorological service provision to civil aviation in response to the new global ATM Concept. It gave clear directions for the future of aviation meteorology, in particular the need for full integration of the MET information and services in the global framework presented in the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) and its Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBU) methodology. The MET Divisional Meeting adopted 29 recommendations that mark the future performance improvements of the MET services throughout the ASBU time blocks with horizon 2028 and beyond. The WMO will be a key stakeholder in the coordinated follow-up action on those recommendations, in particular in providing the necessary scientific and methodological backgrounds for those improvements and organizing respective capacity development with its Member countries.

An European Conference on Meteorology for Aviation was held on 13 and 14 October 2015 in Vienna, Austria, as an opportunity to coordinate the European response to the MET DIV 2014 and promote a regional cooperation approach. More info on the Conference is available here.
 
Climate services in the North-Eurasian countries
 
Integrated efforts of experts from NMHSs in the region with users of climate information from the priority areas of the GFCS have been undertaken for the purpose defining priorities for more effective production and use of global, region and national climate and forecasting information by all interested parties in climate-sensitive sectors in all North-Eurasian countries: a Regional Consultation meeting on climate services in the North-Eurasian countries was held in Sochi, Russian Federation on 19-20 October 2015. It resulted in: (i) enhanced understanding of the needs for climate services in different user sectors; (ii) clear understanding of capacity development needs to implement the GFCS at regional and national levels; (iii) strategic guidance on institutional arrangements, partnerships and processes required to operationalize the GFCS at the regional and national level.

More info on the Consultation meeting is available
here.
 
The Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative
 
At the Sendai Conference, to enhance discussions on the adopted Framework, France proposed a simple target: to mobilize the international community to help the most vulnerable countries to set up Climate Risk Early Warning Systems (CREWS). The aim is simple: to strengthen and broaden the work of the international community in supporting early warning systems in vulnerable countries, and to mobilize additional financing to support and enhance the ongoing actions, in order to try to fully cover the global population exposed to extreme climate events by 2020.

GFDRR, in partnership with France, Norway, the World Bank, WMO, and UNISDR, has launched the CREWS Initiative to finance weather stations, radar facilities, and early warning systems in poor and vulnerable countries where weather data is unreliable or lacking. CREWS aims to mobilize more than US$30m by July 2017 and US$100m by 2020.  

“The increase in global temperatures is being accompanied by more extreme weather events. In addition to the need for climate change mitigation, there is a very strong need for climate change adaptation. Early warning systems are a very powerful way to adapt to climate change. The CREWS initiative will lead to concrete action that mitigates economic losses and saves lives,” said WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas. The G7 recently stressed the importance of this initiative and of strengthening insurance systems in order to tackle climate risks in the poorest countries.

 
WIGOS implementation in the Region
 
Technology Development & Implementation related matters were considered from 14 to 18 September 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey at the RA VI Working Group meeting. 

The central message from the president of WMO RA VI, Mr. Ivan Cacic, that the WMO Members of the Region should now take lead in implementing WIGOS in their countries, was anonymously agreed.

In this regard, a Workshop on WIGOS in RA VI was held in Belgrade, from 24 to 27 November 2015. The meeting concluded that RA VI should with no delay proceed with the preparations for setting up of the regional WIGOS centers, presumably as a virtual Centre with distributed roles and responsibilities among different NMHSs and/or Data Collection or Production Centres (DCPCs).

WIGOS related matters were also considered in Belgrade, Serbia from 6 to 7 June 2016 by the relevant RA VI Task Team. The main topic on the agenda of the meeting was the application of the concept of Regional WIGOS Centres to RA VI, but it also included a review of the priorities of the WIGOS Pre-Operational Phase and the update of the Regional WIGOS Implementation Plan for RA VI, as well as an introduction to the Global Cryospheric Watch. The results of the request for RA VI Members to use and fill in the WIGOS self-assessment checklist were presented and discussed.  Two draft concepts of the establishment of a Regional WIGOS Centre in RA VI were developed to be submitted to the next RA VI session.  

The RA VI Task Team on WIGOS agreed to run an experiment named RA VI Regional WIGOS Centre in a nutshell with the objectives of testing and demonstrating the practical implementation in RA VI of the two mandatory functions for Regional WIGOS Centres  (WRCs) (as approved by EC-68):
  1. Regional WIGOS metadata management  (OSCAR/Surface) and 
  2. Regional WIGOS performance monitoring and incident management.
  3. One more function of the Centre is related to the expansion of the E-AMDAR Program to non-EUMETNET countries of RA VI.
The experiment will be led by the Chairperson of the Working Group on INF, while the first function will involve representatives from Lebanon, Turkey and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Northern Ireland, the second function will involve representatives of EUMENET, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey. 

Horizon 2020 EU’s new research and innovation programme

Hellenic Meteorological Service, Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service, Norwegian Meteorological Institute joined a Consortium of 20 leading European research/academic institutions, governmental organizations, industries and SMEs from the climatology and critical infrastructure protection domains to implement a EU-CIRCLE project. EU-CIRCLE is a research project funded by Horizon2020 EU’s new research and innovation programme, with an aim to assess the resilience of interconnected and interdependent critical infrastructures to climate change. The project was launched in June 2015 for a duration of 36 months (1 June 2015 – 1 June 2018) with a total budget of 7.3 Million Euros.

More information on EU-Circle can be found on the
Horizon 2020 website.

 

Cooperation in the Field of hydrometeorology of the Caspian Sea

The Agreement on Co-operation in the Field of hydrometeorology of the Caspian Sea entered into force on 31 January 2016. It was signed at the Summit of the Caspian Littoral States on 29 September 2014.

The entry into force of the Agreement on Co-operation and the elaboration and implementation of the stipulated Integrated Intergovernmental Programme on Hydrometeorology of the Caspian Sea opens new opportunities not only for information exchange, but also for the interaction in other fields of hydrometeorology ranging from carrying out of observations to forecasting of weather and climate.

The final output of this co-operation is ensuring the safety of navigation and other activities in the water area and on the coast, which depend on changes of weather and climate. Everyone working in the Caspian Sea needs accurate hydrometeorological forecasts, timely storm alerts and the information required to design hydraulic structures. Alongside with this, hydrometeorological information is essential for environmental protection, conservation of Caspian Sea biodiversity and efficient use of its natural resources. Now hydrometeorologists and ecologists will interact more closely: due to the signing of the Agreement there emerged a legal basis for the co-operation with the Tehran Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea.

All in all, the entry into force of the Agreement means that CASPCOM motto “Co-operation in the field of meteorology for mutual security and benefit of the people and the sea” has received another impetus which might be the most important for its implementation.

Operational weather prediction in South-East Europe

A South-East European Consortium for Operational weather Prediction (SEECOP) was established in March 2015, at the first Consortium meeting, following the interest of several countries in the region to collaborate in the field of operational numerical weather prediction and corresponding technical and scientific support. The SEECOP Consortium Agreement was approved by Members in October 2015.

The major objective of SEECOP is to provide its Members with a state-of-the-art NWP system based on the application of the Non-hydrostatic Multi-scale Model on the B grid (NMMB model) developed by NCEP (major developer: Dr. Zavisa Janjic), both for research and development activities and for operational usage in meteorological and hydrological forecasting, other applications driven by the atmosphere, and corresponding warning services.

SEECOP Members, represented by their organizations dealing with NWP, are the following:

  • the Republic of Albania,
  • the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (with two entities: Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska),
  • the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
  • Montenegro and
  • the Republic of Serbia.

Following the principle of seamless predictions (https://www.wmo.int/media/content/seamless-prediction-minutes-months), SEECOP was formed by extending the activities of the South-East European Virtual Climate Change Center (SEEVCCC), using the same modeling system for different time/space scales, from local/mesoscale to climate scales. SEEVCCC, hosted by the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia (RHMSS), was established at the UNECE Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe” (Belgrade, 10-12 October 2007) with the aim of bringing together scientists from different areas of climate research to perform climate monitoring, long-range forecasting, and monthly/seasonal forecasting. More about the SEECOP Consortium and its principles of cooperation is available on the SEECOP website

 The SEECOP was presented to the European Numerical Weather Prediction community as a new Short Range Numerical Weather Prediction consortium during the 37th European Working Group on Limited-Area Modeling (EWGLAM) and 22nd Working Group on Short Range NWP (SRNWP) meetings held from 5 to 8 October 2015 in Belgrade, Serbia. The South East European Consortium for Operational Prediction (SEECOP) held its session on 27th June 2016 in Bar, Montenegro.
 
MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE OUTLOOK FORUM
 
The MedCOF-5 forum being mainly focused on the production of the consensus large scale climate outlook for the winter 2015-2016, has released a large scale seasonal forecast for the whole Mediterranean region, which was further refined by sub-regional COFs (PRESANORD and SEECOF) for their respective areas. The consensus-based climate outlook for winter 2015/2016 has been produced. Fatima Driouech was nominated as a Vice-chair for MedCOF Management Group (MG). The discussions have also allowed agreeing on some features relevant for the design of the future COFs.

A project dedicated session revealed the collaboration in the region on seasonal forecasting. 

 
Copernicus Climate Change Service project
 
Focused on the seasonal component of the service, the service will be built around a multisystem forecasting framework, starting with three components at the beginning of 2016 and expanding to five components by 2017. The potential contributors have been identified, but formal awards of the contracts are yet to be made. The current project covers a proof of concept phase, during which the 3 core contributors will provide forecast data and work together on defining and developing the multi-system products and additional contributors will set up their systems so they become able to comply with the requirements for full contribution by 2017. This is followed by a pre-operational phase planned to run through 2017. Data from these forecast systems will be made available to the community, free of charge, from the beginning of the service.

SPECS project

Funded by the European Union's 7th research and innovation funding program (FP7), the project runs from November 2012 until January 2017.

The main goals of the project are:
1) to deliver a new generation of European climate forecast systems, including initialized Earth System Models (ESMs) and efficient regionalization tools;
2) to produce quasi-operational and actionable local climate information over land at seasonal-to decadal time scales with improved forecast quality;
3) to focus on extreme climate events;
4) to provide an enhanced communication protocol and services to satisfy the climate information needs of a wide range of public and private stakeholders.

Under the umbrella of the project, new systems were developed, research on predictive skill and extreme events was conducted and R-based packages for verification and downscaling were produced.

The main dissemination products generated by the project were:
i)
SPECS empirical seasonal forecasts (KNMI);
ii)
Earth System Grid Federation portal (SPECS);
iii) ECMWF System 4 Seasonal Forecasts:
Solar Radiation and Temperature (ENEA);
iv)
EUROBRISA seasonal forecast products at CPTEC (INPE);
v)
Multi-model decadal forecast exchange (Met Office).

Finally, also a very useful collection of dissemination fact sheets were generated (see web page):

i) Tropical Cyclone Forecasts,
ii) How detectable are improvements in forecast quality?,
iii) Climate prediction with multiple sources of information,
iv) Climate forecast reliability,
v)What is a decadal prediction?,
vi) What is a seasonal prediction?

EUPORIAS project

Focusing on the role of the users in climate service design, the EUropean Provision Of Regional Impact Assessment on a Seasonal-to-decadal timescales (EUPORIAS) project - running from November 2012 to January 2017- is financed by the European Commission through the Seventh Framework Programme for Research (Theme Six, Environment).

The project started by assessing users’ needs with regard to S2DCP based on a survey with 80 interviews and 450+ responses. The survey was mainly made among private companies & government organisations and larger companies working at the national and international level.

Key findings were: i) few users of seasonal forecasts in the energy, water, transport, health, agriculture, and insurance sectors; no use of decadal climate predictions; ii) perceived barriers linked to lack of reliability but also tradition of performing historical analysis and difficulty in integrating into existing operational models; lack of awareness and accessibility by some end-users. A great effort has been put in translating our climate knowledge into something more directly relevant and understandable by the users.

This includes: i) going beyond specialist jargon; ii) look at relevant variables and spatial scales (indices, downscaling e.g. CORDEX, etc.). In spite of an often extraordinary effort the general approach was still based, in most cases, on a liner model which implicitly assume all the knowledge in on one side of the climate service interface.

Outcomes of the project were climate information indices, downscaling of global seasonal forecasts, validation of river flows, water resource management services, food security and early warning services, supporting transport stakeholders decision-making ahead of winter, minimization of uncertainty for future wind power generation, etc. As main conclusions he mentioned: i) there is a urgent need to develop knowledge and services which are scientifically sound, trusted, robust, usable and used; ii) we have come a long way but more effort is needed to bridge the gap that still divides climate service providers and users; iii) more effort has been put on the translation than on the co-production of knowledge; iv) within EUPORIAS a few principles of climate service development have been identified but much more effort is needed (e.g. on the mediation) to re-think the way in which climate-related knowledge can be co-developed and made relevant to decision-makers; v) climate services is a new area and we are bound to make errors, it is hoped that we can all learn from those. 

 Capacity building of the NMHSs from the Mediterannean sub-region in seasonal forecasting


Group photo, Madrid, Spain, October 2015

A Workshop on seasonal forecasting for the NMHSs of the Mediterranean sub-region was conducted in Madrid, Spain from 26 to 30 October 2015. Experts from RA I, RA III, RA IV and RA VI supported the theoretical and practical sessions on monitoring of the climate system, visualization, verification, predictability at seasonal timescale, as well as interpretation of seasonal model outputs.  

Service Delivery and Partnership
 
In February 2016 in Offenbach, Germany, the RA VI Working Group on Service Delivery and Partnership met to revise the progress since its establishment and to bring forward to the Management Group of RA VI and RA VI Members few recommendations. A particular recommendation of the Working Group was to establish a certification (sort of voluntary incentive) based on the successful implementation of the Service Delivery Progress Model.  

It was also agreed that the Task Team on Warning will develop a concept note on mentoring for warning services describing the expectations from both sides – mentoring institute as well as the receiving institute. This should also include the necessary follow up actions on after care.

In this regard, the RA VI Rapporteur on EU and partnership will advise in the negotiation with the Joint Research Center in order to secure funding for the mentoring project. Moreover, the RA VI Task Team on Service Delivery, Media and Communication will provide an estimation of resources needed for establishing communication mentoring projects based on the experience from a bilateral assistance activity between Slovenia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

 
RA VI Management Group


 
RA VI Management Group met in April 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal to follow up on agreed actions and to make relevant decisions in support of the regional institutional, technical and scientific developments.

Thus, few decisions have been made with regard to the establishment of the Regional WIGOS Centers. it has been decided to present the draft concept (with the ToRs) of the RA VI Regional WIGOS Centers Network to the next MG meeting with further submission to the WMO Commission for Basic Systems as well as to the Regional Association VI, for consideration and endorsement.  

The Management Group  endorsed the proposal to replace the WG CH' co-chair on Hydrology and the RA VI Hydrological Adviser, Dr Dominique Berod (Switzerland) with Mrs Cristina Alionte Eklund (Sweden), who will undertake both functions. This replacement is due to the promotion through the ranks of Mr Berod, who has got the position of Chief of the Basic Systems in Hydrology Division of the WMO Climate and Water Department.  

The MG was reminded that the Congress 17 through its Resolution 9 decided to standardize characterization and cataloguing and assignment of unique identifiers to extreme events. In this connection the Executive Council Working Group on DRR decided to establish a WMO Inter-Programme Task Team on Cataloguing Extreme Weather, Water and Climate Events (IPTT-CWWCE) as an organization-wide coordination mechanism for the implementation of Cg-17 Resolution 9. The Management Group encouraged the RA VI Working Groups to collaborate on this.


Eastern European Flash Flood Guidance System
 

A Follow up Operational Workshop on Flash Flood Guidance System for Eastern Europe was conducted from 9 to 13 May 2016 in Zagreb, Croatia. It will ensure continuous training of operational forecasters and enhance flash flood forecasting and early warning capabilities. The information about the status of the Project Trainings is available here.  The Black Sea and Middle East Flash Flood Guidance System (BSMEFFGS) User Guide provides detailed description of the FFGS products.


Integrated Drought Management Programme
 

WMO/EUMETSAT Training on use of satellite data and products for drought monitoring and agricultural meteorology, 16-20 May 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Satellite data and products play a key role into the development of agrometeorological information and into the provision of effective services on food security and enhanced food production. From the end of the nineties, the two generations of Meteosat geostationary satellites over Europe have provided monitoring of clouds and an increasingly number or data and products to estimate rainfall, vegetation cover, radiation and soil properties. Modern geostationary satellites provide a high data and product flow for a wide range of users. For the sake of resources optimization in Europe, EUMETSAT jointed efforts with WMO and the Georgian Hydrometeorological Service to organize a training course on the use of satellite products for agrometeorological applications.

This activity has a specific objective, which is the capacity building at the National Meteorological Services to provide more and better products and services in agrometeorology based on the use of remote sensing data and products derived from the satellite on board instruments. That information has to be coupled with other tools as seasonal forecasts, crop models and geographical information systems.

A better use of satellite products on vegetations evolution monitoring, soil moisture evaluation, radiative balance and rainfall estimations.  It is expected an improvement into the agrometeorological bulletins by including relevant products based in satellite information as vegetation status changes or mixed satellite and ground based rainfall estimations at every participant country. A permanent dialog among EUMETSAT as data provider and the NMHS with the support of WMO as users will be establish.

 

Quality Management Framework for Blue Peace in Lebanon and Jordan
 

Regional training on Quality Management Framework for Blue Peace in Lebanon and Jordan, 23-25 May, Beirut, Lebanon.

Initially, the workshop was intended for hydrological services personnel but it ended up being a training for covering a variety of disciplines but all with a close link to the Lebanese Meteorological Department. Identification of customers, present and potential was used to set the scene. The importance of quality data as the basis of quality products became the cornerstone of the importance of implementing QMS even if the products or services are given free of charge. A good example was research outcomes that end up in scientific journals and/or in Government offices and there is no payment for their use.

There were two participants from Jordan and eight from Lebanon. Two of the Lebanese participants were from Litani River Authority, two from Lebanese Meteorological Department, two from National Committee for the Scientific Research and two from Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute. This mixture dictated that the lectures were to be as generic as possible to enable participants to relate them to their sectors areas of expertise. The example of how competency assessment (CA) of personnel was done in aeronautical met services created a lively debate and was seen as very important for the other disciplines of service provision. Generally, participants found the presentation enriching and promised to introduce it in their service provision, fully agreeing with the importance that QMS attaches to customer focus and the need for user feedback.

 As follow-up action, a twinning arrangement between Lebanon and a neighboring country with a mature QMS has been considered.  It was agreed that Lebanon twins with a suitable Member, in particular Jordan or Morocco who have a mature QMS to assist it in kick starting QMS and CA activities immediately. Lebanese Meteorological Department has not done anything so far as QMS or CA is concerned.

QMS requires regular re-calibration of instruments and equipment in use at all observational points. It would be desirable for LMD to make use of the Regional Calibration facilities (RIC) as an initial step towards QMS implementation. It is important to train technical staff to do regular maintenance of equipment.

Climate system of the Pannonian basin

2nd PannEx Workshop on the climate system of the Pannonian basin was conducted from 1 to 3 June 2016 in Budapest, Hungary.

PannEx is on its way to become a Regional Hydroclimate Project (RHP) of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project (GEWEX). GEWEX aims to observe, understand and model the hydrological cycle and energy fluxes in the Earth's atmosphere and at the surface. It proceeds by means of an integrated program of research, observations and science activities that focuses on the atmospheric, terrestrial, radiative, hydrological, coupled processes and interactions that determine the global and regional hydrological cycle, radiation and energy transitions, and their involvement in climate change. The almost closed structure of the Pannonian basin makes it a very good natural laboratory for the study of the water and energy cycles, focusing on the physical processes of relevance.

The initiation workshop of PannEx for exploration of the main scientific questions to be explored was organized in November 2015 in Osijek. The Workshop aimed to evaluate the potential for initiating an Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project (GEWEX) Regional Hydroclimate Project (RHP) over the Pannonian basin – PannEx. More about the initiation Workshop read
here

This 2nd PannEex Workshop discussed relevant issues for water and energy cycles - such as atmospheric processes, water resources, vegetation-soil-atmosphere interactions and other related topics. The relevant scientific issues (i.e. Flagship Questions (FQ)) to be addressed in PannEx were identified during the 1 st PannEx workshop in Osijek:

FQ1: Adaptation of agronomic activities to weather and climate extremes

FQ2: Understanding of air quality under different weather and climate conditions

FQ3: Toward a sustainable development

FQ4: Water management, droughts and floods

FQ5: Education, knowledge transfer and outreach

In addition, three Cross-cut actions (CC) were also defined:

CC1: Data and knowledge rescue and consolidation

CC2: Process modelling

CC3: Development and validation of modelling tools

In the following months, a PannEx White Book (PWB) will be drafted. It will outline the main science issues on the Pannonian basin. The workshop results will allow to refine the content of the PWB and provide details of each specific FQ and CC. Also, the workshop will provide a good opportunity to create partnerships in the region and increase the visibility of the PannEx initiative.

More about the Workshop read
here

 

The Global Hydrometry Support Facility


The Global Hydrometry Support Facility (GHSF) is a new WMO initiative designed specifically to build operational systems and capacity in hydrometry and water monitoring, expand the base of hydrological data and exchange capabilities, and facilitate free and open data sharing. It will do this through the development and application of innovative monitoring and database technologies, supporting regional and local projects aimed at building sustainable hydrometeorological networks and freely accessible data, and promoting the use of quality management principles.

Importantly, launched in June 2016, the Global Hydrometry Support Facility will provide the institutional mechanism for undertaking action that (1) consolidates national monitoring capabilities and their regional and global integration; (2) develops products and tools that support the analysis of data and information at national, regional, and global levels; and (3) focus on innovation and research leading to improved, fit-for-purpose and sustainable monitoring capabilities globally.  Read more about this
here.

 

II. News from the Members

Republic of Croatia

The Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service  strengthens partnership with the Croatian Hydrographic Institute, the Institute for Oceanography and Fisheries, Geophysical Department at the University of Zagreb, and the Institute Ruđer Bošković to establish a WIS Data Collection and Prediction Marine Meteorological Centre for the Adriatic Sea area. Joint working groups on marine observation and oceanographic modelling were established with agreed terms of reference.

In 2015, the Croatian State Meteorological and Hydrological Service became member of EUROGOOS.
From the 1st January 2016 -Croatia became a full member of ECMWF.

Republic of Moldova

Before the January extreme weather manifested, a valuable partnership between the Hydrometeorological Service of Moldova (SHSM) and the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) ensured that SHSM was able to predict and respond as well as they did. Work to improve early warning systems in Moldova begins with the Hydrometeorological Service.

The Hydrometeorological Service is focused on public weather services, early warnings, and climate services. SHSM understands that there is an urgent need to gather the data for multi-hazard forecasting and establish early warning systems. SHSM also recognizes that getting the data into the right hands at the right time is imperative. That is why Moldova is undertaking a paradigm shift in national and local meteorological services, delivering advanced forecasts and warnings which are impact‐based and risk‐informed.

To advance this shift, the UNDP-supported project "Supporting Moldova's National Climate Change Adaptation Planning Process", recognized the potential value of connecting the expertise of ZAMG with the needs of SHSM. Implemented by Moldova's Ministry of Environment's Climate Change Office, and with funding provided by the Austrian Ministry of Environment via the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the project was able to establish the ZAMG-SHSM partnership, which encourages the sharing of best practices in an environment of mutual assistance supported by disaster risk reduction drills, and explores ways to leverage their partnership's strength to benefit communities prone to climate change-related disasters.

One of the major outcomes of the ZAMG-SHSM partnership is Moldova's membership in EMMA/Meteoalarm and OPERA Programmes of EUMETNET, the Network of European Meteorological Services. Read more here.

Newly designated Permanent Representatives with WMO

Permanent Representative of Cyprus with WMO
 


Ms Keti Savvidou
Acting Director of the Department of Meteorology of the Republic of Cyprus

 
Ms Keti Savvidou is the Permanent Representative of Cyprus with WMO and Acting Director of the Department of Meteorology of the Republic of Cyprus since May 2015.  Ms Savvidou’s career at the Meteorological Service started in 1983, having obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Electronics and Radio Technology. A year later, she started working as a weather forecaster for the Aviation, Marine and General Public at the Larnaca Airport, where she considers her main achievements to be the implementation of a Quality Management System ISO 9001:2008 for the services provided by the Department as well as the National Supervising Authority Certification for service provision to civil aviation in accordance with European regulations.
 
Permanent Representative of Finland with WMO


Prof. Juhani Damski
Director General, Finnish Meteorological Institute

 
In January 2016, Prof. Juhani Damski has been appointed as Director General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Permanent Representative of Finland with WMO. Prof. Damski is also Member of the Arctic Advisory Board in Finland, the Chairperson of the NORDMET Council and the Vice-President of the ECMWF Council since 2016.

He started his career at the the Finnish Meteorological Institute in 1986 with several expert positions, then leading the Ozone and UV Radiation Research Group and the Meteorological Research Unit of the Institute, he was promoted to the position of Director of Weather and Safety, and Deputy Director General. Before appointment Prof. Damski was Director of the Development Unit of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. 

 
Permanent Representative of Estonia with WMO

Mr Taimar Ala
Director-General, Estonian Environment Agency

 
Mr Taimar Ala is the Permanent Representative of Estonia with WMO and the Vice Chairperson of the ECMWF Advisory Committee of Co-operating States.
 
Permanent Representative of Greece with WMO

Brigadier General Ioannis Georgiou
Hellenic National Meteorological Service

 
As of March 2016, Brigadier General Ioannis Georgiou has been appointed Director General to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service and the Permanent Representative of Greece with WMO. 
 
Permanent Representative of Italy with WMO



Colonel Silvio Cau, Meteorological Service

 
Colonel Silvio CAU is currently Head of the National Meteorological Service and in this function, he is the Italian Permanent Representative with WMO and member of WMO Executive Council. He also represents Italy in EUMETSAT and in ECMWF.

After obtaining a degree in physics, he was appointed as a Lieutenant in the Aeronautical Engineering Corps in 1985 where he specialized in Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics. Col. Cau served at the Regional Meteorological Centre of Milano Linate (1985-1991), at 5^ ATAF Met Division (1991-1993), at Flight Assistance and Telecommunication Inspectorate (1993-1999), at Meteorology General Office (1999-2001) and, from 2001 to 2007, he held various senior positions at Italian Joint Operational Headquarters (JOHQ), including the duty as JOHQ representative at the Defense Space Programs Committee.

From 2007 to 2009 he held the position of Head of Telecommunications Satellite Systems Branch at the 8th Division of the Informatics, Telematics and Advanced Technologies Directorate. From 2009 to 2013 he was Head of Satellite Remote Sensing Office at the Defense General Staff. From 2013 to 2015 he held the position of Director of the Joint Center for Satellite Remote Sensing.

Col. Cau obtained in 2004 a Master Degree in “International Strategic-Military Studies", a Master Degree in "Defense from chemical and biological weapons" and in 2007 a Master degree in" Satellites and Orbiting Platforms".

Permanent Representative of Israel with WMO
 
Mr Nir Stav, Director,  Israel Meteorological Service
 
Nir Stav was appointed Director of the Israel Meteorological Service of the Ministry of Transport, replacing Henia Berkowitch, who held this title for 13 years. Nir Stav has 30 years of experience in the field of meteorology, weather forecasting, technology development and new working methods. Before appointment, he served as director of Operational Meteorology Division at the Meteorological Service, when he led to the reform of aviation meteorological services. During his service in the army, he served as a senior forecaster of the Air Force and commander of the corps in the Forecasting Division.

Anniversaries

Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service

On 30 September 2016, the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service (LHMS) in Vilnius celebrated its 95th anniversary.

The history of the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service goes back to 30 September 1921, when a Central Meteorological Station, the predecessor of the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, was established by the Lithuanian Government Resolution.

But the Lithuanian hydrometeorology has even longer history. The Vilnius University Observatory headed by Martynas Počobutas [Marcin Poczobutt] began to regularly measure the air temperature in 1770; shortly after that rainfall measurements have been initiated. Hydrological observations on the River Nemunas by Smalininkai date back to 1811. Even the great wars did not break meteorological and hydrological observations, owing to staff awareness of the value of continuity of their work and their personal consciousness.

Today, the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service under the Ministry of the Environment celebrates not only its 90th anniversary. This year is also the twenty fifth year since the accession of the Republic of Lithuania to the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization.

Rapid development and new technologies come along with the independence of Lithuania. LHMS represents the Republic of Lithuania in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) as well as in the HIRLAM (High-Resolution Limited-Area Modelling) Consortium. LHMS also participates in the activities of other international meteorological and hydrological organizations.

The Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, taking into account enormous achievements in meteorology and hydrology in recent decades, spares no effort striving to further develop its activities, to enhance the provision of services for state agencies, contractual customers and general public.

III. Coming soon

  • WIGOS Workshop for RA VI with Focus on Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Observing Requirements, September 2016, Split, Croatia
  • RA VI Working Group on Climate and Hydrology, Third Meeting in XVI Inter-sessional Period; Session of the RA VI Hydrology Forum, September 2016, Oslo, Norway
  • Informal Conference of South East European NMHS Directors, October 2016, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Regional Conference on South-East European Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems Project Kick-off meeting, October 2016, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Workshop on Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Implementation, 6-7 October, Zagreb, Croatia
  • WMO Workshop on RA VI RCC Implementation and RA VI RCC-Network, Coordination meeting, Belgrade, Serbia, 11-14 October 2016

  • Regional Stakeholders Workshop to Implement the WMO Strategy for Service Delivery for NMHSs in South-East Europe, Tirana, Albania, 17-21 October 2016

  • Meeting of the RA VI Task Team on Agrometeorology /  Workshop  "Agrometeorologists for farmers in hotter, drier, wetter future", Ljubljana, Slovenia, 9-11 November 2016
  • Pre-COF training, MedCOF-7, SEECOF-16, November 2016, Rome, Italy
  • RA VI Working Group on Service Delivery and Partnership, spring 2017
  • WMO/EUMETSAT Training courses on the use of satellite data and products for drought monitoring and agricultural meteorology for Central Europe and South East Europe, April 2017


The Calendar of the events is available on the web site of the Regional Office for Europe and can be accessed here.

Copyright © *|2012|* *|WMO ROE|*, All rights reserved.


Our mailing address is:
World Meteorological Organization
Avenue de la Paix, 7 bis 
Case Postale 2300, CH-1211
Geneva, Switzerland

unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

 






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
WMO (DRA) Regional EUROPE Bureau · 7bis, avenue de la Paix · Case postale No. 2300 · Geneva 1211 · Switzerland

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp