World meteorological organization regional association I
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| 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
1.1 At 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. 1.2 Dr. 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 1.3 Mr 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. 1.4 Mr 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. 1.5 Mr, 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. 1.6 Mr. 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.
2.2 The 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 3.1 Background and purpose 3.1.1 The 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 3.1.2 The 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 3.1.3 The 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. 3.1.4 The 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 3.1.5 In 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. 3.2 Review of the synthesis of survey reports 3.2.1 The meeting was presented with and took into account the results and proposals to address identified shortcomings in the field survey reports.. 3.2.2 It 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. 3.2.3 The 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 4.1 The 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:
4.2 The 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. 4.3 The 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. 4.4 The 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). 4.5 The 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. 4.7 The 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. 4.8 ON-GOING PROJECTS
4.8.3 AMDAR (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:
Advantages:
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. 4.8.4 F. 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. 4.8.5 RETIM-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). 4.8.6 During the discussion, many experts stressed the interest of the system for Africa. It was also noted that this system would help the collection of observations while facilitating their redistribution. For instance, it was noted that RETIM-Africa is well adapted for the redistribution of DCP data. It was also noted that this system had a role similar to MDD, but could serve a considerably greater number of reception points. PROPOSED PROJECT AREAS 4.9 The meeting reviewed and agreed on the project area as given in the strategy. The essential elements are:
For each of the above project areas, the activities would be formulated into projects in line with the formats of targeted funding partners.
Delivery of cost-effective and applicable products directly to users by NMHSs. This will improve the timeliness and quality of products and services by close integration with end users’ business needs. This assumes that end users or intermediaries have access to email. The project will also use the existing observation network of the NMHSs to extend access to these email products and avail e-mail and Internet facilities to rural communities to reduce the digital divide, and enhance the visibility of NMHSs.
Web sites of the NMHSs are essential to make available attractive, culturally relevant products, including use of languages. This links to other efforts to bridge the “Digital Divide”.
Improved forecasting skill due to ability to select relevant model products. Also leads to feedback for improved quality of observation reports and model products.
Using common carrier technologies, in conjunction with existing methods, to collect meteorological and other environmental data should lead to more reliable, timely and affordable transmission.
Should lead to better availability of systems (e.g. MSG receiver system) and increase the skills of NMHSs staff .
For the preceding two project areas, project proposal formulation outline of goals, specific objectives, decision indicators and support implications are given in the annex to this paragraph. This would be useful guidance in formulation of projects in line with the formats of targeted funding partners. 4.9.5 Project specific to the IOC Countries:
4.10 The meeting considered and identified a short list of institutions and organizations that could be interested as potential partners in these initiatives (EU, WB, GEF, UNDP, Commonwealth and National Aid and development Agencies). It supported the vision and expectation that recourses mobilization efforts be coordinated though the African sub-regional economic groupings ((EAC, CEMAC, ECOWAS, IGAD, IOC and SADC) and COMESA). 4.11 The meeting reviewed and updated detailed NOTES for proposed sub-regional specific activities and inputs for use in development of project proposals for implementation of the strategic plan as given in Appendix II. 5. IMPLEMENTATION ACTION PLANS 5.1 The meeting developed and agreed on the following action plan for implementation of the strategy: (a) Circulation of the Strategy to the AWG of RA-I --- 15-May, 2002; (b) Approval of the Strategy by the President of RA I --- 15 June, 2002;
(e) Resource mobilization and commencement of implementation of projects as funds become available --- August 2002; and (f) Report progress on the strategy to XIII-RA I --- October/November 2002.
The meeting was closed on Friday 12 April 2002. |