Terms of reference

EXPERT TEAM ON EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIVITIES

The following is taken from Section 3.1 of the Report of the Meeting of the CBS Expert Team on Emergency Response Activities (ET-ERA), College Park, MD, USA, 21-25 October, 2013:

Outcomes of CBS-15 (2012) and EC-65 (2013), including DPFS structure and ET-ERA Terms of Reference

The WMO Secretariat provided background related to outcomes of WMO Constituent Bodies, particularly focused on the fifteenth session of the Commission for Basic Systems (CBS-15) and the sixty-fifth session of the WMO Executive Council (EC-65), relevant to ERA. There were a number of issues related to ERA discussed at and/or requested by CBS-15 and EC-65 that need attention by ET-ERA. These include:

(a) The major revision of the Manual on the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS).

(b) The need to keep the reference materials (WMO-No. 485 and WMO-TD. 778) consistent to ensure the secure provision of the ERA service.

(c) The increasing need to provide meteorological information for general public interest as well as special user applications (i.e. the need to strengthen activities to address the issue of dissemination of ERA-related information to the public, including the representation of the output from the dispersion models). CBS/DPFS to further address these aspects in WMO-TD. 778, as appropriate, in order to assist users in the interpretation of ERA-related products and the application of them for their own purposes.

(d) The need for capacity building activities, recognizing the increasing sophistication of the atmospheric transport models used in the RSMCs, and the importance of full and correct interpretation of this information by forecasters in NMHSs. CBS-15 requested Members who host RSMCs to consider the provision of appropriate training courses in the use and interpretation of their guidance and products.

(e) The continued development and testing by RSMCs of different parameters and formats for charts, including for the forecast time-range of standard products, and for longer time ranges up to 10 days as well as geo-referenced information.

(f) The need to finalize the revision of the outdated WMO Technical Note 170, entitled: ''eteorological and Hydrological Aspects of Siting and Operations of Nuclear Power Plants'' A task Team was established involving several WMO programmes and technical commissions; CBS/DPFS coordinates the overall revision of the publication.

(g) The need for the development of operational procedures for significant non-nuclear incidents, where a NMHS could request and receive ATM support from an RSMC.

(h) The need for developing global and regional arrangements for weather, climate, water and environmental emergencies to assist humanitarian agencies, based on the lessons learnt from the ERA programme.

__________

The ET-ERA also continues to

(i) Test and improve the collective ability of all RSMCs, the IAEA, the RTH Offenbach and NMHSs in the ERA to fulfil the operational requirements specified in global and regional arrangements for nuclear emergencies, according to adopted standards and procedures.

(j) Implement and explore further improved distribution/access methods for specialized products to NMHSs, and the IAEA in collaboration with the IAEA and other relevant organizations.

(k) Collate the individual capabilities of RSMCs to produce enhanced products in support of nuclear emergencies, including ensemble techniques.

(l) Develop concepts of operational arrangements for atmospheric transport modelling backtracking products.

(m) Test and evaluate the operational arrangements with CTBTO.

Updated 5 May 2014

Top