1. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING

1.1 Opening remarks
1.2 Adoption of the agenda
1.3 Working arrangements

1.1 Opening remarks

The fourth meeting of the Inter-programme Task Team on Future WMO Information Systems will open at 0900 on Monday 23 September 2002 in the Johannesburg offices of the South African Weather Bureau. Travel information will be available via the WMO Web server at http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/WDM/TT-FWIS-4/documents.html and will be mailed only on request.

CBS, at its twelfth session in November 2000, approved the vision for a future WMO information system that was recommended by the Inter-programme Task Team on Future WMO Information Systems and agreed to re-establish the task team to carry on its work.

The team last met in Langen, Germany in June 2001 and a copy of the final report of that meeting can be found at http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/reports.html#WDM. This meeting will provide an opportunity to further develop the vision outlined by the team at that meeting and to propose actions toward exploration and implementation of the proposed vision.

1.2 Adoption of the agenda

The provisional agenda will be submitted to the session for adoption.

1.3 Working arrangements

The meeting may wish to agree to working arrangements (working hours etc.). It is planned to deal with all agenda items in plenary. The working language of the meeting and documentation will be English.

The meeting is expected to cover complex technical and managerial issues. If possible, working papers on these issues should be prepared in advance of the session so they can be reviewed by all team members prior to the session. Therefore, experts are invited to prepare working papers on issues within their areas of expertise and to send these documents to the WMO Secretariat via mail, fax or electronic mail in ASCII, HTML or MS Word formats. Documents can be sent to the Secretariat by fax to +41-22-730-8021 or by electronic mail to  Morawska_A@gateway.wmo.ch .

The experts will review current and emerging technologies that could have an impact on development of the Future WMO Information System (FWIS). This could include the rapid proliferation of the Internet and its associated technology (TCP/IP, routers, Web browsers), low cost satellite communication systems, including digital radio, portable programming languages (Java), Extensible Markup Language (XML), etc. The team should consider development projects being undertaken that might form the basis of pilot studies, such as Unidart.

The task team will be invited to consider additional guidance on FWIS provided by Executive Council .

The meeting will consider reports on pilot studies that have been undertaken, the lessons learned, and possible impacts on the proposed vision.

The team will be invited to review the FWIS vision developed its the previous meeting in light of any experience gained or additional comments received.

The experts will consider how the transition from the current information system to FWIS could be undertaken, including how existing WWW systems and centres could evolve. The team will also consider seps that should be taken to further develop the FWIS. This might include technical advice and proposals for implementation strategies and pilot projects, particularly in developing countries, to assess promising technologies and techniques. The team will investigate mechanisms to conduct and evaluate pilot studies and will propose a schedule for further development activities.

The meeting will close on Friday 27 September 2002.