1. 1 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 WMO perspective on how BGS can be most helpful Thomas C. Peterson, Ph.D. President, WMO Commission for Climatology Principal Scientist, National Climatic Data Center, NOAA Asheville, NC, USA

2. 2 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 2 Overview Less on how BGS can help WMO – More on how we can help each other Brief background on – WMO – Commission for Climatology

3. 3 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 3 The World Meteorological Organization WMO or OMM Headquartered in Geneva Part of the United Nations It is essential – Yet it doesn’t do anything

4. 4 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 WMO Does not: – Do any science – Take any observations – Write any peer-reviewed journal papers – Make any forecasts – Issue any storm warnings Does: – Coordinate international exchange of data required for all these things – Coordinate the Global Observing System to make sure holes get filled and avoid costly redundancy – And many other coordination activities

5. 5 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 5 Working with WMO Is a quest for win/wins – A win for global weather or climate understanding Often with a focus on less developed countries – A win for the volunteer scientists Saying you’re from WMO opens doors Journal article or some other metric – Win for the institution paying the volunteer’s salary Proud of the contributions that help other countries Raise international awareness of their institution

6. 6 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 6 WMO has 8 Technical Commissions Basic Systems Instruments and Methods of Observations Hydrology Atmospheric Science Aeronautical Meteorology Agricultural Meteorology Oceanography and Marine Meteorology Climatology (CCl)

7. 7 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 7 WMO Commission for Climatology Established in 1929 – As part of the International Meteorological Organization With advent of the United Nations – WMO was incorporated in 1950 – CCl was originally the Commission for the Special Applications of Meteorology and Climatology (CoSAMC)

8. 8 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 Early Presidents include C. Warren Thornthwaite, 1 st President Helmut Landsberg, 6th President

9. 9 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 9 Organized into 5 Panels OPACEs O stands for Open – New teams can be added – New team members can be added

10. 10 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 Commission for Climatology

11. 11 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 OPACE 5 Teams

12. 12 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 12 Expert Team on Training and Education Ms CHEMAIYO Pascaline (Kenya) Mr PALLATH Pradeep Kumar (India) Mr ITA Niceforo (Perú) Mr ARNDT Derek (USA) Mr ABAWI Yahya (Australia) Mr AGUILAR Enric (Spain)

13. 13 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 13 Expert Team on Training and Education Terms of Reference Advise on education and training aspects of capacity development in climatology and further develop already existing competency standards for core job-tasks in climate services across the other four OPACES and with other WMO Technical Commissions and bodies such as WCRP and GCOS and with the WMO Education and Training Programme (ETRP); Identify guidance material that would help build capacity in NMHSs. If subject matter is in the domain of one of the other OPACES, encourage that OPACE to develop the guidance. If the material crosses OPACES or is not in another OPACE’s domain, undertake the development of the guidance material in collaboration with experts worldwide.

14. 14 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 14 Team on the Guide to Climatological Practices Mr HAJJEJ Mohamed (Tunisia) Mr SRINIVASAN Govindarajalu (India) Mr MEJIA Raúl (Ecuador) Ms STEPHENSON Tannecia (Jamaica) TBD (RA V) Ms BALDI Marina (Italy)

15. 15 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 15 Team on the Guide to Climatological Practices TOR Identify key reviewers across four other OPACEs to assist in keeping the Guide to Climatological Practices up to date and state of the science; Review sections of the Guide according to the existing time table which calls for rapidly evolving areas to be reviewed more frequently than slowly evolving parts, coordinate the update those sections of the Guide as appropriate; Develop a new model for the Guide for ease of updating (e.g., CIMO’s Guide is a series of chapter pdfs, each of which can be updated without impacts to any of the other chapters); In collaboration with the Secretariat, review the climate relevant parts of WMO standards and technical regulations and propose updates where appropriate.

16. 16 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 16 Summary CCl would be delighted to work with the AMS BGS – Avoid duplication of effort – Seek synergy and win/wins Our mission is broad – But fairly well defined So the project would have to fit well with our plans – Alternately, other Commissions would likely be interested

17. 17 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 Thank you

18. 18 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 18 Additional background details From a presentation a couple years ago when we only had 4 OPACEs.

19. 19 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 19 Panel I highlights Developing a data rescue portal Climate Database Management Systems – Improving functionality – Guidelines for incorporating data and metadata Guiding development of Normals – To make them more useful in an era of changing climate Shepherding World Weather Records

20. 20 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 20 Assessing and monitoring Can you easily put the current drought into accurate historical context? Are you actively monitoring climatic developments in real time? These are the domain of Panel II: Climate Monitoring and Assessment

21. 21 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 21 Panel II highlights Indices of extremes from daily data Regional Climate Change workshops Internationally coordinating national climate monitoring products Defining extreme weather and climate events Official source of world weather and climate records wmo.asu.edu

22. 22 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 22 Climate predictions Do seasonal forecasts predict lessening or worsening of the drought? Can you quickly get access to the most reliable forecast products and disseminate them to your key stakeholders? – These are the domain of Panel III: Climate Products and Services and their Delivery Mechanism Regional Climate Outlook Fora

23. 23 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 23 Panel III highlights Guiding the evolution of Climate Information and Prediction Service (CLIPS) Guiding the development of Global Seasonal Climate Updates – Consensus-based seasonal forecasts Foster, coordinate and guide Regional Climate Centers

24. 24 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 24 Adapting to climate risks Can you assess the risk of the drought continuing? Can you adapt and plan for the relevant risks? – These are the domain of Panel IV: Climate Information for Adaptation and Risk Management Relationship between temperature and excess mortality. Warning systems can prevent mortality above certain thresholds.

25. 25 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 25 Panel IV highlights Preparing a document defining Climate Risk Management Developing socio-economic sector-specific climate indices – Links with CAgM and CHy Improving user participation in Climate Outlook Forums Finalizing Heat Waves and Health: Guidance on Warning System Development

26. 26 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 26 Additional CCl activities Finalized the Guide to Climatological Practices – Developing an update schedule so it will stay current Fostering Quality Management for Climatology Developing cross-panel strategies for Capacity Development for Climate Services

27. 27 American Meteorological Society Board on Global Strategies, State College, PA, August 14, 2014 27 Volunteers are the life blood of CCl 215 volunteers from 54 WMO Member States Keeping volunteers engaged and active is a challenge – To help, CCl set up a CCl Facebook page