WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
INTER-COMMISSION COORDINATION GROUP
ON THE WMO INTEGRATED GLOBAL OBSERVING SYSTEM
TASK TEAM ON THE PLAN FOR THE WIGOS PRE-OPERATIONAL PHASE (TT-PWPP-2)
Second Session
Geneva, Switzerland, 15-17 September 2015
FINAL REPORT
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ICG-WIGOS/TT-PWPP-2, CONTENTS
Table of Contents:
Agenda
Executive Summary
General Summary
Appendix I (List of Participants)
Appendix II (Development Timeline for WIGOS Regulatory Material)
Appendix III (Development Timeline for WIGOS Information Resource)
Appendix IV (Development Timeline for the WIGOS Data Quality Monitoring System)
Appendix V (Development Timeline for the concept for Regional WIGOS Centres)
Appendix VI (Development Timeline of the National Implementations of WIGOS)
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ICG-WIGOS/TT-PWPP-2, AGENDA
Agenda
1.ORGANIZATION OF THE SESSION
2.REVIEW OF OUTCOMES FROM TT-PWPP-1 AND ICG-WIGOS-4
3.GUIDANCE FROM CG-17 AND EC-67
4.PLANNING THE PRIORITY ACTIVITIES FOR THE WIGOS PRE-OPERATIONAL PHASE
4.1.National WIGOS implementation
4.2.WIGOS Regulatory Material complemented with necessary guidance material to assist Members with the implementation of the WIGOS technical regulations
4.3.Further development of the WIGOS Information Resource (WIR), with special emphasis on the operational deployment of the OSCAR databases
4.4.Development and implementation of the WIGOS Data Quality Monitoring System
4.5.Concept development and initial establishment of Regional WIGOS Centres
5.REVIEW AND WAY FORWARD
5.1.Deliverables to ICG-WIGOS-5 and EC-68
5.2.Governance and Management Structure; Communication and Outreach, Capacity Development, Funding Mechanisms needed to be in place
5.3.Review of linkages with other WMO Priorities (GFCS, DRR, and Polar Activities)
6.FUTURE WORK PROGRAMME AND ACTION PLAN OF TT-PWPP
7.ANY OTHER BUSINESS
8.CLOSURE OF THE SESSION
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ICG-WIGOS/TT-PWPP-2, EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive Summary
The Second Session of the Inter-Commission Coordination Group on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (ICG-WIGOS) Task Team on the Plan for the WIGOS Pre-operational Phase (TT-WPP-2) was held at the WMO Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, from 15 to 17 September 2015. The session was chaired by Dr Sue Barrell (Australia), Co-Chair of ICG-WIGOS and Vice President of CBS, and Prof Bertrand Calpini, Co-Chair of ICG-WIGOS and President of CIMO.
The Session reviewed the outcomes from ICG-WIGOS-4 (February 2015) and decisions and guidelines from Cg-17 and EC-67.
The session further discussed each of the five key priority areas for the WIGOS Pre-operational Phase (2016-2019). Concise timelines with deadlines and deliverables for each of the priority areas were developed ( Appendices II - VI).
Based on these discussions, TT-PWPP-2 formulated the way forward for the WIGOS development work and agreed on a number of deliverables to be presented to ICG-WIGOS-5, with a view to subsequent submission to EC-68 for approval.
Finally, the session reviewed the linkages between WIGOS and other WMO priority areas and provided its recommendations on how to improve the exploitation of the synergies between them.
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ICG-WIGOS/TT-PWPP-2, GENERAL SUMMARY, p. 1
General summary
1.ORGANIZATION OF THE SESSION
1.1.Opening of the meeting
1.1.1.The Second Session of the Inter-Commission Coordination Group on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (ICG-WIGOS) Task Team on the Plan for the WIGOS Pre-operational Phase (TT-WPP-2) was opened by Dr Sue Barrell (Australia), Co-Chair of ICG-WIGOS and Vice President of CBS, at 9:00 hours on Tuesday 15 September 2015, at the WMO Secretariat in Geneva.
1.1.2.Dr S. Barrell, welcomed the participants to the meeting, and extended her wishes for a successful session.
1.1.3.In his opening remarks, Mr. J. Lengoasa, Deputy Secretary General of WMO, extended his personal welcome to the participants to Geneva. He reminded the participants of the task ahead and of the fact that the expectations for WIGOS expressed during Congress had been very high indeed. He also emphasized the need to prioritize the efforts planned, since any new resources that could be applied to the further development of WIGOS were likely to be modest. Finally, he expressed his gratitude to the participants for their willingness to help with this important task and wished everybody a pleasant stay in Geneva.
1.1.4.The list of participants is given in Appendix I.
1.2.Adoption of the agenda
1.2.1.TT-PWPP-2 adopted the Agenda for the meeting, which is reproduced at the beginning of this report.
1.3.Working arrangements
1.3.1.TT-PWPP-2 agreed on its working hours and adopted a tentative work plan for consideration of the individual Agenda Items.
2.REVIEW OF OUTCOMES FROM TT-PWPP-1 AND ICG-WIGOS-4
2.1.Dr Sue Barrell, provided an overall introduction to the current status of WIGOS and the specific task of this meeting, which was to develop a Plan for the WIGOS Pre-operational Phase for submission to EC-68. The plan should build on the existing momentum of WIGOS and should be seen as a living document that would evolve over the course of the period.Dr Barrell also reminded the Task Team members of why a Pre-operational Phase was needed, namely that it was primarily driven by the need to have WIGOS implemented and ready at the national level in 2019. Finally, she reminded the members of the five priority areas agreed to by Cg-17, and emphasized that these should be seen as strongly linked, rather than as a list of separate activities.
2.1.1.During the discussion the issue of communication, outreach and training were raised by several members. It was pointed out that while nearly all Permanent Representatives had been strongly supportive of WIGOS during the deliberations at Congress-17, additional communication to the PRs regarding both the implications and the benefits of WIGOS was probably still needed. However, several Task Team members emphasized the need for WIGOS to also engage directly with the senior management in the NMHSs at this point. This is due to the increasing amount of technical work required in the next phase of the WIGOS development, in particular as concerns OSCAR/Surface.
2.2.Dr L.P. Riishojgaard, PM/WIGOS, briefed the participants on the outcomes from TT-PWPP-1 and ICG-WIGOS-4 regarding the expected further development and implementation of WIGOS during the next financial period.
2.2.1.The output from TT-PWPP-1 was expressed in terms of the following characteristics of the desired end state of WIGOS by the time of Congress-18 in 2019:
•The WIGOS framework will have been completed, encompassing:
•Regulatory Material (WRM) – complete, supported by guidance material (Guides to WIGOS, etc.)
•Metadata standard – completed and implemented
•WIGOS Information Resource, including all tools (OSCAR, SORT, etc.) – fully implemented and used routinely by Members
•WIGOS Station Identifiers – technical issues resolved and new system adopted, policy for issuing IDs defined, adopted by members and implemented;
•Observational data quality monitoring practices and procedures defined, incorporated in the WIGOS Regulatory Material and implemented;
•RBON concept implemented and RBSN/RBCN retired;
•Regional WIGOS Centres defined and established in Pre-operational mode;
•Operational online catalogue replacing Vol. A. including information (WIGOS metadata) on all observing systems, platforms, etc. (OSCAR/Surface).
•WIGOS Guidance Material on the lifecycle management of data developed (acquisition, data policy, sharing, quality management, dissemination, archiving, reprocessing, etc.)
•Methodologies/guidance for incorporating observations across all WIGOS component observing systems (WMO and partners),
•Monitoring system to record WIGOS network performance (both as concerns availability and quality of data) with associated feedback and fault management mechanisms developed and implemented
•Design capability developed to help identify gaps in global, regional and national observing systems in context of user needs, issues, etc.
•Procedures for using the design capability to address gaps, develop guidance on network evolution taking into account e.g. emerging and obsolescent technologies, capacity development needs, donor opportunities etc.
•Demonstrated and known impact of WIGOS on other WMO strategic priorities.
2.2.2.During ICG-WIGOS-4, the input from TT-PWPP-1 had been translated into a set of five priority areas for the Pre-operational Phase:
•WIGOS Regulatory Material, supplemented with necessary guidance material, focusing on providing Members with those technical details that are required for the implementation
•WIGOS Information Resource (WIR), including the OSCAR and SORT databases
•WIGOS Data Quality Monitoring System (WDQMS)
•Regional WIGOS Centres
•National WIGOS implementation, coordination and governance mechanisms
3.RELEVANT DECISIONS AND GUIDANCE OF CG-17 and EC-67
3.1.Dr L.P. Riishojgaard briefed on the decisions and guidance of Cg-17 and EC-67.
3.1.1.At Cg-17, the WIGOS pre-operational Phase had been approved based on the initial list of priority areas listed above (par. 2.2.2), and EC had been tasked with overseeing the further development of WIGOS.
3.1.2.EC-67 had re-established ICG-WIGOS with new Terms of Reference, and had requested the group to develop a Plan for the WIGOS Pre-operational Phase and submit such a document to EC-68 for approval.
3.1.3.EC-67 had furthermore requested the ICG-WIGOS Co-Chairs and the EC focal points in ICG-WIGOS to develop a recommendation to EC-68 on how to strengthen the role of the Council in the governance of the WIGOS Pre-operational Phase. This would be discussed in an ad hoc meeting immediately following the TT-PWPP-2 Session. A separate note from that meeting will be made available.
4.PLANNING THE PRIORITY ACTIVITIES FOR THE WIGOS PRE-OPERATIONAL PHASE
4.1.National WIGOS implementation
4.1.1.Dr S. Barrell introduced Doc. 4.1 on national implementation and noted that while all countries are different and therefore will take need to take different approaches in their implementation of WIGOS, a common thread is the central role that the NMHS need to play in order to make WIGOS a success. The need for guidance material, information material regarding partnership arrangement with non-NMHS entities was highlighted by several Task Team members.
4.1.2.Dr Riishojgaard introduced Doc 4.1(2) as an example of a simple “step by step” guide to national implementation efforts related to two of the priority areas of the Pre-operational Phase, namely OSCAR/Surface and WDQMS. While the Task Team would not necessarily want to see a cookbook approach to the overall WIGOS implementation imposed on all WMO Members, the idea of developing a step-by-step guide to these two systems in particular was found to be very useful. This will be further developed in the Guidance material.
4.1.3.It was recognized in the discussion that beyond the technical aspects involving OSCAR/Surface and the WDQMS (discussed separately under agenda items 4.2 and 4.3, respectively), the biggest issue facing the WMO Members in their national implementations have to do with partnering with external (non-NMHS) data providers. On one hand this is one of the primary drivers behind WIGOS, since it allows for a more efficient expenditure of national resources by exploiting the synergies between observing systems operated by different government agencies, research institutions and commercial entities. On the other hand it has profound and sometimes not immediately obvious implications for the NMHSs, both policy-wise and financially. It was agreed that there would be value in the development of a set of partnership principles, with nationally relevant examples, to assist Members. The idea of establishing a Task Team on Data Partnerships was discussed, and it was recommended that ICG-WIGOS-5 establish such a team.
4.1.4.It was agreed that successful national WIGOS implementation requires well-targeted communication at all levels (to ministers, permanent representatives, observing system managers, external partners, etc.), in order to stimulate the uptake of WIGOS among the Members. Observing system managers were seen as an especially critical target audience, both for helping the permanent representatives give priority to WIGOS implementation and partnerships, and for providing the essential technical and managerial leadership. It was further agreed that development and deployment of effective e-learning materials addressing technical and management aspects of WIGOSwill be essential to help prepare Members for being WIGOS Ready by Cg18. The 'jump start' concept, which had been successfully applied in the implementation on WIS, was cited as a good model to incorporate in the training.
4.1.5.The breakout group on National WIGOS Implementation discussed the concept of WIGOS readiness levels, and tasked the Secretariat with developing this further for discussion and approval at ICG-WIGOS-5. The lowest level of readiness would include (i) registration in OSCAR/Surface, with complete metadata, of all stations for which observations are exchanged internationally; (ii) implementation of new Station IDs, and (iii) development of a national process for receiving and acting on quality problem information from the WDQMS. All Members would be expected to have reached at least this level by the end of the 2016-2019 financial period, with many expected to be well beyond this stage, with well-developed national partnerships in place.
4.1.6.A detailed timeline for some of the main activities in support of National WIGOS Implementations is included as Appendix VI.
4.2.WIGOS Regulatory Material complemented with necessary guidance material to assist Members with the implementation of the WIGOS technical regulations
4.2.1.Dr Riishojgaard briefed the participants on the main issues concerning regulatory and guidance material for WIGOS.
4.2.2.Concerning the regulatory material, the initial versions of both the WIGOS text for the WMO Technical Regulations (WMO No. 49, Vol. I) and the Manual on WIGOS had recently been approved by Cg-17, and while an incremental update may be proposed to the Executive Council in either 2016 or 2017, the next major update is foreseen to be submitted to Cg-18 in 2019.
4.2.3.The 2019 edition of the Manual on WIGOS is planned to include (i) a full integration of the existing Manual on the Global Observing System, the existing version of which will be retired at that point, and (ii) new text on the Regional Basic Observing Networks (RBON), which will replace and expand upon the existing Regional Basic Synoptic Networks (RBSN) and Regional Basic Climate Networks (RBCN).
4.2.4.The participants expressed their support for this plan, but emphasized that accelerated development work especially concerning the RBON concept would be critical, due to the need to introduce this concept to all Regional Association Sessions during the upcoming financial period.
4.2.5.A detailed timeline for the development work required in order to meet the two main goals laid out in par. 4.2.3 was developed during discussions in a break-out group and is included here as Appendix II.
4.2.6.Concerning the plans for the Guide to WIGOS, the participants were briefed on the need to have material available for Members by July 1 2016, which is the date on which the Manual on WIGOS takes effect. Guidance is most urgently needed in the following areas:
- OSCAR, Metadata, Station IDs and Quality monitoring;
- Regional WIGOS Centres, AWS, National partnerships;
- National observing strategy, RBON, and integration of space-based observations.
4.2.7.Theguidance material for the areas listed under item 1 in par. 4.2.6 is needed in the initial version of the Guide to WIGOS, and the material for those listed under 2 and 3 should be developed in subsequent steps.
4.2.8.The initial Guide to WIGOS would be drafted by the Secretariat, and presented to ICG-WIGOS-5 in 2016 for review prior to submission to EC-68.
4.2.9.Concerning the plans for a more complete Guide to WIGOS to be developed during the remainder of the financial period, the participants discussed the pros and cons of the previously adopted “thin layer” approach. It had become clear that even under this approach, a substantial amount of new material will have to be developed, e.g. regarding OSCAR, Metadata Standard, Station identifiers, etc. A further drawback that a thin layer approach merely adds another layer of references on top of material already full of long chains of references, some of which have been identified as dead ends.