CIMO Newsletters

Meeting of the CIMO Expert Team on New Technologies and Testbeds (First Session)

This first session of the CIMO Expert Team on New Technologies and Testbeds was held from 4 to 7 March 2013 at the WMO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The status and use of (new) remote-sensing technologies was reviewed towards assessing which of them could be considered as mature enough to be used operationally by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. The meeting agreed on actions required to properly reflect and describe these techniques in the CIMO Guide, in IOM reports and on the WMO website.

The meeting reviewed the outcomes of CIMO Testbeds and Lead Centres with a view of cooperating with them on subjects of common interest. It recognized the potential that testbeds and lead centres could have in the implementation of WIGOS to test the performances of instruments and systems prior to their deployment within WIGOS. It therefore decided to develop of proposal for expanding their Terms of Reference and specifying the role they should play in WIGOS for the consideration of the Management Group, and ICG-WIGOS, if appropriate.

The meeting also addressed the matter of the traceability of remote-sensing observations.

Meeting of the CIMO Expert Team on Standardization, First Session (First Session)

This first session of the CIMO Expert Team on Standardization was held from 26 to
29 November 2012 at the WMO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The meeting followed up on the matter of the Siting Classification for Surface Observing Station on Land that was published in the WMO Guide to Meteorological Instruments and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8, CIMO Guide). It agreed on a way to provide clarifications on how to interpret and apply the classification through a question and answer website. It also reviewed the process for further developing this classification as a common WMO-ISO standard and recommended that ISO TC146/SC5 adopt it “as is” through the ISO Fast-track procedure.

The meeting reviewed a number of draft standards, including the Sustained Performance Classification for Surface Observing Station on Land, a draft metadata standard and a draft Classification of Rain Intensity Measurement Instruments Based on their Accuracy under Standardised Calibration Tests.

The meeting also addressed the matter of collaboration with ISO for the update of solar radiation standards under ISO TC180/SC1, which is chaired by one member of CIMO ET-Standardization.

The meeting reviewed draft updates of various CIMO Guide chapters.

Finally, the meeting reviewed its workplan to ensure it supports the development of the WIGOS contributing to the activities listed in the WIGOS Implementation Plan (WIP). It noted that all its activities were clearly linked to one or more activities of the WIP and included an additional action to support the development of the WIGOS regulatory material more explicitly.

Meeting of the International Organizing Committee (IOC) for the WMO Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment (SPICE), Fourth Session

This fourth session of the International Organizing Committee (IOC) for the WMO Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment (SPICE) was held from 17 to 21 June 2013 at the Physikalish-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos – World Radiation Center, Switzerland.

The meeting agreed that each Site Manager is responsible for the configuration of the experiment on their particular site. Prior to the official start of the experiment, it is required that the site configuration is commissioned following a procedure developed and approved by the SPICE IOC. The commissioning report has to be reviewed by the IOC, and the formal acceptance of the report signals the commencement of the experiment.

The meeting reviewed the reports from eleven SPICE sites and discussed the progress of the experiments and common issues like heating configuration, data sharing. The meeting also reviewed the experimental reports on measurement methodologies and instrument tests and intercomparisons.

The meeting reviewed the site commisioning protocols and approved the application to extend experiment to new sites and the application for new instruments.

Finally, the meeting planned, scheduled and coordinated the future SPICE meeting.