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Joint RA II/RA VI Workshop on WIGOS

 

Background

In 2015, the 17th World Meteorological Congress decided that additional emphasis should be given to regional and national activities in the WIGOS Pre-Operational Phase (2016-2019). In addition the following five priority areas were identified:

1. WIGOS Regulatory Material, supplemented with necessary guidance material
2. WIGOS Information Resource, including the Observing Systems Capabilities analysis and Review tool (OSCAR), especially OSCAR/Surface
3. WIGOS Data Quality Monitoring System (WDQMS)
4. Regional Structure; Regional WIGOS Centers
5. National WIGOS Implementation, coordination and governance mechanisms

Following this decision, a series of regional WIGOS Workshops is now being held in support of the activities listed above. Due to the size and diversity of the WMO Regions, these events and subsequent activities tend to be structured along existing  cultural, political and economic boundaries rather than strictly by Regions.  

In RA VI, past efforts have concentrated on the involvement of the EUMETNET members (November 2015 and subsequent EUMETNET meetings). So far, we have had relatively little engagement from the Members in the Eurasian Region.

In order to strengthen and accelerate the implementation of WIGOS in the Regions II and VI, a three-day Joint RA II / RA VI Workshop on WIGOS was held on 12, 13 and 14 September 2017.

 

Group photo

 

It served a threefold purpose: 

(i) to inform the participants about the main technical elements being rolled out during the current Pre-operational Phase of WIGOS, namely OSCAR/Surface and WDQMS, and to strengthen the involvement of the Members in these efforts,

(ii) to explore the possibility of implementing a Regional WIGOS Center in pilot mode in the region, and

(iii) to prepare, as appropriate, input for an update to the Region VI WIGOS Implementation Plan, to be submitted to the forthcoming session of RA VI, planned for 2018.

 

Related documents:

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