RA V/TCC-16/Doc.5.2, p.2
WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION______
RA V TROPICAL CYCLONE COMMITTEE FOR THE SOUTH PACIFIC AND THE SOUTH-EAST INDIAN OCEAN
SIXTEENTH SESSION
HONIARA, SOLOMON ISLANDS
29 AUGUST-2 SEPTEMBER 2016 / RA V/TCC-16/Doc.5.2
(27.VII.2016)
______
Item 5.2
ENGLISH ONLY
REVIEW OF THE TECHNICAL COMPONENTS
Hydrological Component
(Submitted by the Secretariat)
SUMMARY AND PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT
This document provides the session with information primarily on on-going relevant programme activities of the Hydrology and Water Resources Programme, progress made in the WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative, and regional hydrological activities of WMO RA-V (South-West Pacific), which are of particular relevance to the RAV Tropical Cyclone Committee.ACTION PROPOSED
The Committee is invited to review the information to be presented by the chairperson of the RAV Working Group on Hydrology at this session and make proposals and recommendations concerning future activities as amendments and/or additions to the draft text attached to this document.
______
RA V/TCC-16/Doc.5.2, p.2
DRAFT TEXT FOR INCLUSION IN THE DRAFT REPORT OF THE SIXTEENTH SESSION
OF THE RAV TROPICAL CYCLONE COMMITTEE
5.2 Hydrological component
WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative
5.2.1 Notable progress had been made in the implementation of the Flood Forecasting Initiative including establishment of an overarching Advisory Group for the Flood Forecasting Initiative (FFI-AG), as decided by Congress (Resolution 15 (Cg-XVI), aiming to ensure adequate monitoring, evaluation and guidance with respect to the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan on the Flood Forecasting Initiative. RA-V had encouraged Members to further develop national and regional projects that would contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the initiative. The Regional Association felt in particular that priorities include: strengthened institutional capacities; use of state-of-the art observation platforms; upgraded monitoring networks; use of modeling approaches; and joint development of requirements-driven forecasting products including urban floods.
5.2.2 An initial Planning Meeting of the Southeastern Asia-Oceania Flash Flood Guidance (SAOFFG) project took place in Jakarta, Indonesia on 2-4 February 2016. Representatives of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Singapore attended. Participants agreed on the development and implementation of the SAOFFG project, stressing that the project will enable participating National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to issue timely and accurate flash flood warnings. Participants also appreciated the advanced features of the Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS) such as Urban Flash Flood Early Warning, Landslide Acceptability Mapping, Multi-Model Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPF) ingestions, and Riverine Routing. Because FFGS is currently the most advanced flash flood guidance tool available, its implementation in other countries in RA-V region would contribute considerably to saving lives and preventing economic damage.
5.2.3 Efforts are under way to establish closer links between the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project-Southeastern Asia-Oceania (SWFDP-SAO) and the SAOFFG to improve flash flood forecasting.
5.2.4 Further, a CHy draft report on the Intercomparison of Flood Forecasting Models developed by a Task Team, has been prepared for the development of a methodology to improve the effectiveness of flood forecasting services.
WMO Quality Management Framework for Hydrology
5.2.5 The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have agreed to increase their cooperation in the development of international standards related to meteorological and hydrological data, products and services. The recognition of WMO as an international standardizing body for technical standards provides a valuable opportunity to further emphasize the role and benefits of applying the Quality Management Framework–Hydrology and providing Members with the necessary guidance on technical standards from data collection through to service delivery.
5.2.6 A draft publication: “A Practical Guide for the Implementation of a Quality Management System for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services” is available at
http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/amp/aemp/documents/QM_Guide_NMHSs_V10.pdf. It represents the most authoritative blueprint for WMO Members to follow in pursuing a quality management approach to the delivery of such services.
5.2.7 The following publications are seen as of particular interest for the RAV TCC, namely: the Manual on Estimation of Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) (WMO N° 0145), the Manual on Stream Gauging (WMO N° 1044), the Manual on Flood Forecasting and Warning (WMO N° 1072), the Guidelines for the Assessment of Uncertainty of Hydrometric Measurements, the Technical Report on Climate and Meteorological Information Requirements for Water Management (WMO N°1094), the Technical Report on Water Quality Monitoring, and the Technical Report on Technical Material for Water Resources Assessment (WMO N°1095). All these publications are available online at http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/index_en.php.
RA V Working Group on Hydrological Services-Ninth Session
5.2.9 The WG-HYS met in November 2015 in Brisbane and adopted its work plan for the period 2016-2018 on the following theme areas:
· Disaster risk reduction - water-related disasters;
· Hydrology database management and QMF-H;
· Water and Climate; and
· Training and capacity building in hydrology.
5.2.10 Progress on Work Plan tasks
· An on-line forum (web portal) has been established with the assistance of the Secretariat. Preliminary information has been posted and it has been promoted to WG-HYS members by email. Further information for a “community of practice” and other information is in preparation by TT leaders.
· Assistance was provided to the CHy Task Team on QMS with review of QMS Checklist and Questionnaire reports, and a case study on ISO 9001 QMS from the region was provided.
· Assistance was provided to the Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project by recruiting a new OPACHE (Open Panel of Commission for Hydrology Experts) member to serve as an expert representative for WMO on two proposed projects in the region (Fiji and Indonesia). Dr Graeme Smart has attended two project meetings as an alternate to the co-chair of the Project Steering Group.
· The WMO/IGRAC (International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre) workshop“Advancing Groundwater Monitoring in Small Island Developing States in the Pacific” is being held in Suva in the last week of August 2016.
· A distance learning course for Pacific Island hydrology technicians using the Moodle framework and modules from COMET, ICAR and NIWA is currently planned to start in early 2017.
· A concept proposal for providing appropriate hydrological database software to NHSs in small and developing countries has been submitted to the Secretariat for comment.
5.2.11 A concept note for a Pacific-HYCOS Phase 2 project was drafted in conjunction with SPC, with a focus on providing relevant water resources and water-related DRR products for the Pacific Island countries. The next major steps are to seek feedback on the concept from the countries, and subsequently canvas and encourage potential donors for their feedback. The concept note is presented to this meeting as a separate document.