1. The WMO Information System
ITU Workshop on
“ICT as an Enabler for Smart Water Management”
(Luxor, Egypt, April 2013)
The WMO Information System
Steve Foreman,
C/DRMM, WMO
Luxor, Egypt, April 2013

2. Contents
Role of WMO
WMO Information System
Exploiting WMO Information System

3. Role of WMO
Need
Data
Analysis
Action

4. World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Specialized agency of UN (1951)
“UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources”
WMO promotes cooperation in the establishment of networks for making meteorological, climatological, hydrological and geophysical observations, as well as the exchange, processing and standardization of related data, and assists technology transfer, training and research.
It also … furthers the application of meteorology to public weather services, agriculture, aviation, shipping, the environment, water issues and the mitigation of the impacts of natural disasters.

5. WMO Technical Commissions
Basic
Systems
(CBS)
Instruments
and methods
of observation
(CIMO)
Atmospheric
Sciences
(CAS)
Aeronautical
Meteorology
(CAeM)
Climatology
(CCl)
Hydrology
(CHy)
Oceanography
& Marine
Meteorology
(JCOMM)
Agricultural
Meteorology
(CAgM)

6. Collect Observations

7. Combine with knowledge
Data + Knowledege =
Analyses and Forecasts 7

8. Disseminate products Observations Forecasts User needs Interpretation

9. WMO Information System

10. WMO Information System aims to…
Increase data visibility
Broaden data access
Simplify data use 10

11. WIS defines
Responsibilities of centres
Telecommunications practices
Data representations
Minimum metadata for discovery
through
WMO Technical Regulations
WMO IPR categories and policies

12. Data Collection or Production Centre Global Information System Centre
WIS
National Centre:
contributes information to WIS
distributes WIS information to national users
National Centre
Data Collection or Production Centre:
Collects, prepares or analyses information, or
Manages sub-regional exchange of information
Data Collection or Production Centre
Global Information System Centre:
Holds catalogue of all information available through WIS
Manages global exchange of information
Global Information System Centre 12

13. Adding data to WIS
WMO Pizza Programme
DCPC 13

14. Discovery, Access, Retrieval
GISC
DCPC
User
Searches catalogue at GISC
Asks GISC/DCPC for product
DCPC
Passes product to user
DCPC
Passes WIS metadata to GISC 14

15. Data representations in WIS
TAC
TDCF
XML
Traditional Alphanumeric Codes
Table Driven Code Forms
Model Driven Representations 15 15

16. Exploiting the WIS

17. Steps to exploiting the WIS
Share your information
through your National Centre or a Data Collection or Production Centre
Use information from others
find the information in the WIS catalogue on a GISC

18. Sharing your information
Create a metadata record
description of content
location
time span
how to get the information
contact/responsibility/IPR information
Publish
routine or on request?

19. Use others’ information

20. WIS Coordinated by World Meteorological Organization
Operated by Countries
Share weather, water, climate
Can be near-real time
Luxor, Egypt, April 2013

21. Questions?