1. SOT-4 – Geneva – 16-21 April 2007 Pierre Blouch E-SURFMAR Programme Manager

2. Introduction VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

3. E-SURFMAR  Surface Marine Observation Programme EUMETNET  E-SURFMAR is an optional programme of the ground based EUMETNET Composite Observing System (EUCOS)  EUMETNET is the Conference of European National Meteorological Services (21 members in Jan. 2007)  16 countries are participating in E-SURFMAR: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom  E-SURFMAR includes Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS) and Data Buoys activities  E-SURFMAR represents ~45% of the " active " VOS in the World but 54% of the VOS observations (Sea Level Pressure) SOT-4 – Geneva – 16-21 April 2007

4. Objectives and funding  Present main objectives  E-SURFMAR: to co-ordinate, optimise and progressively integrate the surface marine observation activities within the operational EUCOS framework  EUCOS: to optimise the ground observing system to improve short range forecasts over Europe (NWP) Although the improving of short range forecasts over Europe is the main objective, VOS observations carried out by EUMETNET VOS outside the North Atlantic and its adjacent seas are also supported by the E-SURFMAR Programme (e.g. as a contribution to the WWW) SOT-4 – Geneva – 16-21 April 2007  Funding  E-SURFMAR: is funded through contributions from participants  The share is based on the respective GNI of each participating country

5. VOS Technical Advisory Group (1)  Established in 2003  4th meeting last week : Geneva, 12-13 April 2007  Chair: Sara North (UK Met Office)  Vice-Chair: Volker Weidner (DWD) VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

6. VOS Technical Advisory Group (2) VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007  Terms of Reference (extracts)  Develop strategies to optimise the receipt of observations from VOS  Develop strategies to optimise and co-ordinate the ship recruitment and inspection regimes  Evaluate and develop future strategies for the use of automatic observing systems and electronic coding software  Investigate the possibility of establishing a more equitable means of distributing transmission costs  Discuss and agree on financial arrangements to enable equitable funding  Optimise method of collection of metadata in accordance with WMO document n°47  L iase closely with JCOMM activities

7. Data Availability VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

8. Network Overview SOT-4 – Geneva – 16-21 April 2007 Surface Marine Observations in the EUCOS area Feb. 2007

9. VOS Ships Conventional VOS Automated VOS (AWS) E-SURFMAR Number of active ships into the EUCOS area VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007 In 2006, EUMETENET VOS represented 48% of the world fleet (55% of the shipborne AWS)

10. VOS Observations Conventional VOSAutomated VOS (AWS) E-SURFMAR Data Availability Average number of daily reports from the EUCOS area VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007 In 2006, EUMETENET ships data represented 55% of the whole GTS reports (76% into the EUCOS area of interest)

11. Automation VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

12. AWS in operation SOT-4 – Geneva – 16-21 April 2007 CMR AutoMet Serpe MINOS Axys AVOS M-F BATOS Vaisala MILOS M-F Mini-BATOS OthersTotal Denmark 11 France 747256 Germany 17320 Ireland 11 Norway 33 Spain 11 UK 15118 EUCOS 44 Total 112153192694

13. Developments VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

14. New basic AWS  Baros station (under development)  New simple AWS almost ready to be tested aboard a ship  Based on a barometer, a GPS and an Iridium SBD transmitter  Autonomous and easy to install VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007 External look - a 0.40 x 0.40 x 0.40 box - with 4 solar panels and - topped with a barometer port (air intake) Pre-production should be allocated to E-ASAP ships not yet equipped with AWS (put on the roof of the container)

15. Ship Masking Scheme  E-SURFMAR supports the MASK method which consists in replacing ITU call signs by unique identifiers for GTS purposes  E-SURFMAR supports the idea of using a more secured method (ENCODE) when BUFR is fully operational  A trial is performed further to Resolution 3.4.4/2 (WMO EC-58)  A normalized format (TTTCCnn) is used to mask the call signs  True (ITU) call signs are given in Pub No47.  Suggestion: a repository of the cross-reference list of ship masks vs IMO Ids at JCOMMOPS (available through a restricted access)  Presently tested on Danish, French and UK ship borne AWS (48 units)  Also tested on manned ships reporting half compressed data (6 units)  Makes VOS management easier (e.g. for monitoring, for compensations…) VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

16. Metadata Database (1) VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007  E-SURFMAR Management Team needs the most recent metadata  To monitor the EUMETNET VOS data on a day-to-day basis  To evaluate the performances of the VOS network  To provide WMO with consolidated metadata  To compute compensations for observations and communications…  Present situation  National databases (or files) exist  WMO Pub 47 is not often updated although it is probably the lone available on the Web  Constraints  Exchange of XML files (since 1st July 2007)  Expensiveness of the DWD database

17. Metadata Database (2) VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007  The development of a metadata database is planned. Characteristics:  Simple: management of the Pub 47 metadata only + a few additional parameters if necessary  Available on the Web to VOS operators (in reading and writing)  Based on open source softwares (e.g. MySQL and PHP)  Able to manage XML files: import/export from/to other databases (national and WMO)  Developped through the present E-SURFMAR Management Budget (no extra fund required)  Used later to build FM96 BUFR reports from the raw VOS data (half compressed Inmarsat reports, Inmarsat Data Reports, Iridium…)

18. Communications VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

19. Communications for conventional VOS  Half Compression Technique  Implemented on TurboWin v4 by KNMI  Data processing developed and operating at Météo-France  Communications are 60% cheaper than through SAC 41 (0.40 €/report)  Six ships (two Dutch and 4 French) are participating in a successful trial  Deployments onboard ships may continue now  Deployment of the processing software to other NMSs than Météo-France should be possible soon VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

20. Communications for AWS VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007  Full data compression  Full data compression and use of Inmarsat-C Data Reporting => 0.15 €/report (0.17 €/report) - 34 BATOS operating  Full data compression and use of Iridium SBD => 0.07 €/report (0.08 €/report) - 2 BAROS under development  Geostationnary Met. Satellites  DCP (Geostationnary Meteorological Satellites) => 0.00 €/report (0.07 €/report) - 18 MILOS operating Cost figures include monthly fees if applicable Figures in brackets include an amortization of the transmitter over 10 years

21. Compensations VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

22. Compensations for observations VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

23. Compensations for communications VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

24. Data Quality and Data Monitoring VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

25. Quality of SLP measurements Conventional VOSAutomated VOS (AWS) Data Quality RMS of differences between observations and model outputs VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007 Quality of SLP reported by conventional VOS is still worse than this from shipborne AWS but improvements are expected

26. Blacklist of dubious ships data VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

27. E-SURFMAR VOS Monitoring VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

28. Conclusion VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007

29. E-SURFMAR benefits  Increased level of co-operation between participating EUMETNET Members leading to…  Reduced duplication of effort and optimisation of resources resulting in…  A more efficient and cost effective European VOS network, that meets EUCOS requirements VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007 http://www.eucos.net/

30. Questions ? VOS-TAG4 – Geneva – 12-13 April 2007