Ra I Implementation Coordination Meeting on Strategy for Enhancement of the Www Basic Systems

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

REGIONAL ASSOCIATION I

RA I IMPLEMENTATION COORDINATION MEETING ON STRATEGY FOR ENHANCEMENT OF THE WWW BASIC SYSTEMS

FINAL REPORT

Nairobi, Kenya, 8-12 April 2002

1. OPENING OF THE MEETING

1.1At the kind invitation of the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), the Implementation/Co-ordination Meeting on the Strategy for Enhancement and Improvement of the WWW Basic Systems in RA I was held in the Windsor Golf and Country Club in Nairobi, 8-12 April 2002. Dr Mukabana, Permanent Representative of Kenya with WMO and Director of KMD opened the meeting and extended a warm welcome to the participants. He expressed his appreciation to WMO for having selected Kenya for this important meeting. He noted that WWW is a core WMO programme and the outcome of the meeting would have significant impact on the improvement of the Global Observing System (GOS), Global Telecommunication System (GTS), Global Data Processes System (GPDS) and Public Weather Service (PWS) in Africa. He called for the collaboration of all the NMHSs in Africa and the development partners for the success of the operation of WMO World Weather Watch Programme.

1.2Dr. Mukabana referred to the WMO Annual Global Monitoring and the Special Main Telecommunication Network Monitoring which indicated that the availability of data in RA I was far from satisfactory and this had contributed negatively to the implementation and efficiency of the GOS and GTS in the region. There was also need to improve the GDPS and PWS in the region. Further, Dr. Mukabana recalled that the recent WMO surveys had shown that Africa was slow in catching up with the rapid technological developments. He noted that the deficiencies in the WWW System in RA I affected not only countries in Africa but, the entire globe. Dr. Mukabana wished the meeting successful deliberations

1.3Mr Evans Mukolwe, Director Co-ordinator for Scientific and Technical Programmes, on behalf of Professor G.O.P. Obasi, Secretary General of WMO, thanked Dr Joseph Mukabana, Director of the Kenya Meteorological Department and Permanent Representative of Kenya with WMO for agreeing to host this important meeting, in these magnificent facilities. He recalled the decision of the 12th session of the Regional Association I (Africa), which was held in Arusha, Tanzania from 14 to 23 October 1998, to develop and implement a strategy for the enhancement of the World Weather Watch Basic Systems in Africa. He noted that this meeting was unique, in that it was, for the first time expected to document the shortcomings of the entire WWW Basic Systems i.e. the GOS, GTS, and GDPS as one entire system. It was also to review proposed solutions as integrated continental level solutions with the African Sub-regions as the basic units. He noted that such a review would be based on detailed results of field surveys, in several selected countries across the various Sub regions of the continent, as conducted by knowledgeable African Experts.

1.4Mr Mukolwe pointed out that prior to the field missions, the RA I Working Group on Planning and Implementation of the WWW, had developed, at its fourth session in March 2001 in Cairo, a Strategic Plan for RA I. The plan was reviewed by the RA I Advisory Working Group in Nairobi, 19-20 April 2001, which gave the necessary orientation for further developments of this strategy, including the need for a detailed survey.

1.5Mr, Mukolwe invited the meeting to analyse the detailed expert reports, identify weaknesses and gaps and the reasons for those weaknesses and gaps and propose solutions based on the existing and potential infrastructures. He invited the meeting to propose solutions that will combine existing and new and upcoming technologies available or that could be made available to Africa, when implementing the proposed Strategic Plan. He noted that proposals should be realistic and flexible and should be based on requirements of the different African sub-regions and what is achievable. He noted that Africa is littered with pilot projects and that the implementation of this strategy should avoid similar trends. He emphasized that the meeting should identify areas for major project proposals sellable to donors interested in the development of Africa and which will place meteorology in the forefront in the fight for poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

1.6Mr. Also Idrissa, Vice President RA I, addressing the Opening Ceremony, welcomed all participants and warmly thanked the Government of Kenya, through Dr. Mukabana, Permanent Representative of Kenya with World Meteorological Organization, for accepting to hold this meeting in Nairobi. Mr. Also added, in his speech, warm congratulations and welcome from all participants to Mr. Konare (Mali) on his appointment as the Director of the Regional Bureau for RA I. He underlined that he should be the main partner of NMHSs in the future for the implementation of the strategy for Africa on meteorological issues. Mr. Also supported the initiative to provide Africa with a relevant strategy in Meteorology matters for the enhancement of basic systems so that the NMHSs of the Region have capability to achieve their mission.

2ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING

2.1Mr. Also Idrissa, Vice President RA I, chaired the meeting. The Agenda of the meeting, as adopted by the meeting, is given in Appendix III.

2.2The meeting agreed on its working arrangements. There were 23 participants as indicated in the list given in Appendix IV.

3.CURRENT STATUS AND PROPOSALS TO ADDRESS SHORTCOMINGS

3.1Background and purpose

3.1.1The meeting received, with appreciation an overview presentation of the background and purpose of the strategy for improvement and enhancement of the WWW in RA I

3.1.2The meeting was made acutely aware that there were countries that had significant deficiencies in operation of the WWW basic system leading to inefficient provision of meteorological services by national, regional and world centres. The centres provided inadequate response and services in terms of forecast skill for the benefit of safety and sustainable development of global communities as the input observational data was inadequate or the centre lack other necessary facilities

3.1.3The meeting was very much aware the economies of Member States in Africa were very sensitive to extreme weather and climate events and that the region often experienced loss of life and property from such events. It was further noted that rural communities lived under dire poverty since agriculture on which they depended had become more sensitive to increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events and further increases as projected by the IPCC were a threat to survival of humankind in the region. However skilful and timely weather and climate forecasts could help governments and countries in the region to mitigate the negative impacts of extreme weather and climate events. The skills depended on the quality and quantity of data used in the forecast models.

3.1.4The data availability in the region had not been satisfactory and non-availability of data and products was attributed to the deficiencies in the operations of the basic systems. These deficiencies not only affected the meteorological services of the region but, the entire globe with regard to safety, climate monitoring, disaster reduction, poverty alleviation and economic growth. The interdependence of global weather and climate patterns require international effort in monitoring, as uneven distribution of observational data lead to bias in model results and erroneous weather and climate simulation and forecasts

3.1.5In today’s global village, the entire community was exposed to risk due to deficiencies in the collection and re-transmission of meteorological data and products in countries with weak economies as was the case in Africa. It was important that the availability of data and products from countries with weak economies get a collective international attention. The meeting agreed that the best support for the region and for the benefit of the entire global community was to rehabilitate and improve the meteorological observing and transmission system, data processing and forecasting systems, public weather services and data management. This would improve the quality of data and products available at national, regional and world centres accessible to user communities.

3.2Review of the synthesis of survey reports

3.2.1The meeting was presented with and took into account the results and proposals to address identified shortcomings in the field survey reports..

3.2.2It noted that the causes of inefficient operations of the GOS and GTS, were mainly due to issues of gaps in technological, economic, scientific innovations, environmental factors, financial, technical human resources, infrastructure, communications tariffs, nonbinding service contracts and civil strife.

3.2.3The meeting noted the causes of deficiencies in the GDPS, DM and PWS as lack of capabilities in facilities and scientific human resources and related scientific innovations in relevant software development and maintenance.

4.STRATEGIES

4.1The meeting reviewed, updated and endorsed the synthesized and integrated WWW strategic plan for improvement of infrastructure and services of meteorological services, as given in Appendix I. The plan focus on identified gaps, proposed solutions and justifications and is based on the strategic plan developed at the Cairo meeting and field survey reports. The meeting re-emphasised the fact that addressing these deficiencies would not only improve the meteorological services of the region but, the entire globe with regard to safety, climate monitoring, disaster reduction, poverty alleviation and economic growth. The meeting agreed that the strategies for providing sustainable solutions must focus on:

• Implementation of automatic stations in remote areas and in existing stations not operating at night;
• Use of satellite data and products and their applications;
• Rehabilitation of current station networks;
• Production of basic equipment and consumables and establishment maintenance facilities;
• Implementation and improvement of telecommunication facilities;
• Provision of internet facilities of observatories close to rural communities;
• Provision of GDPS capabilities to NMCs for NWP R&D and operational NWP weather, climate and water resources forecasts:
• Improvement of LRF using regional NWP models;
• Enhance R&D facilities and capacity of regional, sub-regional centres and NMCs;
• Build capacity for GDPS, PWS and DM including systems for data processing and forecasting, product interpretation, verification and use of NWP model output, presentation and data management;

4.2The meeting strongly endorsed the view that the WWW basic system and PWS have to be taken as an integrated entity because a failure of any component would affect the entire system. Furthermore deficiencies in the system affect the communities in the region and the global community as a whole with regard to safety of life and property, and weather and climate monitoring and prediction for the benefit of social economic activities.

4.3The meeting endorsed the strategic vision that solutions that include implementation and improvement of the basic system and PWS at national and regional level need national, regional and global attention to ensure enhanced safety and sustainable development of humankind.

4.4The meeting reviewed and further developed, where appropriate, analyses of current deficiencies of the components of the basic systems, public weather services and data management systems and proposed solutions and strategies for implementation to address identified gaps and enhance the systems. It considered the need to open up the scope of GOS but, noting that the current GOS includes GCOS networks and takes into account requirements to support other application programmes but have significant deficiencies needing urgent attention through installation of AWSs. It emphasized the need to improve data collection, quality control, processing and information exchange and dissemination up to the user communities through overall GTS improvements and use of dissemination systems based on strengthening the existing resources and IP techniques and cell phone technologies. It emphasized the need for legally enforceable type of service agreements with TSPs assuring fulltime service availability, in particular, for the last mile (i.e. between the TSP and the point of presence).

4.5The meeting updated and endorsed the strategies for improving GDPS, PWS and DM. These focus on automation of processing and forecasting functions and integration of IT facilities using LAN and WAN, provision of facilities for R&D and NWP operational forecasting, climate modelling, data rescue and implementation of databases, intensive use of satellite data and products and ICT for efficient service delivery to end users.

4.6 The meeting reviewed the results of the survey on procurement contracts for equipment and services in member states of west and central Africa.

This initial study revealed that, despite the existence of a significant potential market, procedures for the procurement of equipment, materials and consumables, including service contracts, were poorly coordinated and are becoming more and more difficult for NMHSs in Africa. The meeting supported the proposal of setting up of a common bulk procurement policy for meteorological equipment and consumables for NMSs. Sub-regional economic groupings (EAC, ECOWAS, CEMAC, IOC, IGAD, SADC etc) and institutions (WMO, ACMAD) could act as procurement centres for member states irrespective of the source of funding. The meeting also considered and included, in the strategy, a project area on Procurement, manufacture, maintenance, repair and calibration facilities, to increase the quality and quantity of observations.

4.7The meeting reviewed, considered and proposed capacity building strategies. These focus on training in operations and maintenance of systems, use of new procedures and techniques, provision of post graduate training in modelling and facilities for R&D, and operational running of NWP, use of GIS, and climate modelling, weather and climate services presentation to end users and the public.

4.8ON-GOING PROJECTS

4.8.1The meeting reviewed and took note of relevant ongoing projects to ensure that there is no overlap in the strategy proposed project areas. The meeting was informed, through a presentation, on progress in implementation of EU funded Meteorological Transition in Africa (PUMA - Preparation for Use of METEOSAT Second Generation (MSG) in Africa) project for provision of MSG ground satellite receiving systems covering supply of equipment, training and networking with end users. It was noted that Internet connectivity was essential for the industry for remote maintenance of this ground receiving equipment, thus emphasising the need for all MNHSs in the region to have Internet connectivity.

4.8.2The meeting was also informed, through a presentation, on developments of ASECNA SATCOM Project. It was noted that the project, in addition to upgrading the RMTN in Western and Central Africa, procurement of VSAT, router and mini switch, could effect programme of exchange of data and products between ASECNA and non-ASECNA centres. Feasibility of Radiosonde data collection by mini earth station has also been demonstrated. The meeting recommended that ASECNA be a full partner in the strategy, establish an awareness campaign for its member states and non members in the relevant sub-regions on its SATCOM project and establish a plan of action for implementation of facilities and human resources.

4.8.3AMDAR (Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay) provides automated observations (wind & temperature) from commercial aircraft, using a character based code (FM 42) to exchange data on GTS. AMDAR uses on board sensors and avionics, with an aviation industry standard system for transmitting in-flight data to the aircraft operating company. Modern aircraft are fitted with the sensors as standard. Addition of a software package enables generation of messages and transmission to the airline offices from where they are sent to the GTS. Over 200 aircraft are currently reporting, and over 10 million observations are expected in 2002. The airlines provide the service under repayment contracts; 14 European NMSs jointly fund the EUMETNET AMDAR project.

Evaluation (by KNMI) established that:

• 64% of reports are received within 15 minutes;
• Temperature: observation - model differences are typically +/- 0.5 deg K (no significant differences between ascent/descent and level flight);
• Wind speed: observation - model differences are typically +/- 0.3 m/s (no significant differences between ascent/descent and level flight);
• Wind direction: observation - model differences typically +/- 10 degrees in level flight +/- 20 degrees in ascent / descent.

Advantages:

• high quality air temperature and wind data
• covers data sparse areas
• available in near real time
• valuable profile data
• further potential possible disadvantages:

• No humidity values (yet!)
• little data around 00Z
• limited to routes and destinations of AMDAR equipped fleets (new airlines)
• profile data (Ascending/Descending) not as vertical as sondes or wind profilers

Recent developments include contacting cargo operators in an effort to increase “night time” coverage, new software to reduce communication charges, and development of a humidity sensor.

There is a need to enable access to the AMDAR data for NMHSs in RAI, but also allowing them to select only the data relevant to their areas.

4.8.4F. Duvernet, from Meteo-France, presented the RETIM - AFRICA project, that France proposes to NMHSs of RA I. The purpose of this project is to implement a satellite data distribution system, which uses IP through DVB (Internet Protocol through Digital Video Broadcast) technology. This system uses general public television channels, which allows both high bit rates (up to several Mb/s) and low cost for the channel and for the reception systems.

4.8.5RETIM-AFRICA will allow distribution of all kinds of meteorological data. It could be particularly well suited for local and provincial stations of the meteorological services. It is both a complement and a support to GTS, to PUMA project, to RANET and to ICAO. The implementation of this system would be decided by XIII - RA I. A demo could be made in 2002 and the operational implementation could start in 2003. In a first stage, the uplink would be fed from Toulouse. In a second stage, one or several African centres could fulfil this tasks. With respect to funding, France offers to fund at least five years of the uplink, and a small number of reception stations (about 10). Supplementary funding should be found in order to fully deploy the system in Africa. It would be useful, for instance, to install a RETIM reception station in all stations, belonging to Regional Basic Synoptic Network of Africa (i.e. about 600 stations).