EC-WG/WIGOS-WIS-4/Doc. 4.5, APPENDIX B

World Meteorological Organization / / RA II/MG-4/Doc. 3
REGIONAL ASSOCIATION II (ASIA)
MANAGEMENT GROUP
FOURTH SESSION / Submitted by / Secretariat
Date: / 24.II.2012
Agenda item: / 3
Doha, 29 February – 2 March 2012 / English only

Review of the activities of the RA II subsidiary bodies

including three pilot projects established during the fourteenth session of RA II (Tashkent, Uzbekistan, December 2008) and

two pilot projects established during the thirteenth session of RA II (Hong Kong, China, December 2004)

SUMMARY

ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL IMPLICATION:

None

ISSUES TO BE DISCUSSED:

Activities of the RA II subsidiary bodies including pilot projects and measures to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the RA II subsidiary bodies
DECISIONS/ACTIONS REQUIRED:
The MG-4 is invited to review the activities of the RA II subsidiary bodies including pilot projects, and give guidance on the enhancement of efficiency and effectiveness. In this connection, the Group is invited to consider the future mechanism of the RA II subsidiary bodies under agenda item 7
REFERENCE:
1.  Abridged final report of fourteenth session of Regional Association II (Asia) (Tashkent, December 2008)
2.  RA II/MG-4/INF. 5 - Draft report of the meeting of the RA II Working Group on WMO Integrated Observing System and WMO Information System (WG-IOS/WIS), November/December 2011
3.  RA II/MG-4/INF. 6 - Report of the Meeting of the RA II Sub-Group on Climate Application and Services (WGCAA-CAS, November/December 2010
4.  RA II/MG-4/INF. 7 - WG Report of the session of the RA II Working Group on Hydrology (WGH), November 2010.
CONTENT OF DOCUMENT:
Appendix for inclusion in the Final Report:
Appendix A - Draft text for inclusion in the General Summary of the Report of RA II MG-4
Appendices for Information:
Appendix B – Reports of RA II subsidiary bodies

RA II/MG-4/Doc. 8, APPENDIX A, p. 3

DRAFT TEXT FOR INCLUSION IN THE GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE RA II MG-4

3. Review of the activities of the RA II subsidiary bodies including three pilot projects established during the fourteenth session of RA II (Tashkent, Uzbekistan, December 2008) and two pilot projects established during the thirteenth session of RA II (Hong Kong, China, December 2004 (agenda item 3)

3.1  The RA II MG-4 reviewed the activities of the RA II subsidiary bodies including three pilot projects established during the fourteenth session of RA II (Tashkent, Uzbekistan, December 2008) and two pilot projects established during the thirteenth session of RA II (Hong Kong, China, December 2004). [The activities and work plans of WG-IOS/WIS, WGCAA-CAS and WGH are presented in RA II/MG-4/INF. 5, RA II/MG-4/INF. 6 and RA II/MG-4/INF. 7, respectively. Summary reports on the recent activities of WGCAA-CAS and WGDRS as well as five pilot projects are given in Appendix B.]

3.2  The Group ……………

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RA II/MG-4/Doc. 3, APPENDIX B, p. 15

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Reports of RA II subsidiary bodies including pilot projects

Annex I Working Group on Climate Services, Adaptation and Agrometeorology (WGCAA)

Sub-group on Climate Applications and Services (WGCAA-CAS)

Annex II Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and Service Delivery (WGDRS)

Pilot projects established at the thirteenth session of RA II (Hong Kong, China, December 2004)

Annex III Pilot Project on the Provision of city-specific NWP products to developing countries via the Internet

Annex IV Pilot Project to Develop support for developing countries in Aeronautical Meteorology Programme

Pilot projects established at the fourteenth session of RA II (Tashkent, Uzbekistan, December 2008)

Annex V Pilot project To Enhance the Availability and Quality Management Support for NMHSs in Surface, Climate and Upper-air Observations

Annex VI Pilot project To Develop Support for NMHSs in Numerical Weather Prediction

Annex VII Pilot project To Develop Support for NMHSs in Satellite Data, Products and Training

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RA II/MG-4/Doc. 3, APPENDIX B, p. 15

Annex I

Working Group on Climate Services, Adaptation and Agrometeorology (WGCAA)
Sub-group on Climate Applications and Services (WGCAA -CAS)

RA II Sub-Group on Climate Application and Services (WGCAA-CAS) held its meeting in Daegu, Republic of Korea from 30 November to 2 December 2010. In this meeting, the Sub-Group adopted its Action Plan as shown in Annex.

The followings are the major activities taken in accordance with the above Action Plan.

1 The North Eurasia Climate Center (NEACC) submitted a letter of intent to establish an RCC to President of RA II and formally started the one-year pilot phase on 1 December 2010. After examining whether its functions and activities meet the criteria for RCC mandatory functions, the Sub-Group will prepare a document on the result of the examination of the eligibility to be submitted to President of RA II.

2 The Joint Meeting for the Seasonal Prediction of the East Asian Winter Monsoon regularly being held in November every year is expected to be formally recognized as an RCOF in the future based on a consensus among the participating four countries China, Japan, Mongolia and Republic of Korea in the Twelfth Joint Meeting held in Tokyo, Japan from 10 to 11 November 2011.

3 As a cooperation mechanism between operational climate service providers and research sectors, the Eighth Session of the Forum on Regional Climate Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction for RA II (FOCRAII) was jointly held with the WCRP Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) Project’s Asian-Australian Monsoon Panel (AAMP) from 6 to 10 April 2011. After the Session, Dr Takano drafted “Consensus on WCRP/CLIVAR AAMP and WGCAA-CAS cooperation to strengthen Research and Operations Linkages for Enhancing the use of the Climate Information in Asian Region” and asked persons concerned for comments.

Annex

ACTION PLAN of WGCAA-CAS

General

·  Members of WGCAA-CAS should keep close contact.

·  WGCAA-CAS manages a list of Focal points of NMHSs in RA II and updates it every year.

·  NMHSs are requested to prepare annual activity reports on such occasions as FOCRA II.

·  Annual activity report of WGCAA-CAS should be produced, reported and circulated and published in website.

CLIPS including RCCs and RCOFs

RCC activities

·  To support NMHSs, continued activities of RCCs are encouraged.

·  Improvements of RCC products to meet NMHSs’ requirements are encouraged.

·  It is encouraged that RCCs contribute to information exchange not only between NMHSs and RCCs but also among NMHSs through HP and training activities.

Designation process of RCCs

·  Designation process of RCC should be carried out smoothly.

·  The designation process of RCC should be in accordance with the WMO Technical Document ‘How to Establish and Run a WMO Regional Climate Centre (RCC)’ (WCASP-No. 80, WMO-TD No. 1534).

·  All candidates are encouraged to join the pilot phase of RA II RCC group to demonstrate their capabilities as soon as possible. BCC and TCC will help four applicants launch the pilot phase.

·  IMD-NCC and NEACC are requested to submit their letters of intent to establish RCC to the president of RA II by Jan. 2011 and send a copy to WMO Secretariat and WGCAA-CAS.

·  The pilot phase period will be one to two years. Further assessment of their capabilities will be made based on their operation in the pilot phase during the period.

·  After the pilot phase, WGCAA-CAS will examine the eligibility of institutions which have intention to serve as RCCs in RA II, i.e. IMD-NCC, IRIMO-NCC, NEACC and PME, and prepare a document on the result of the examination of the eligibility to be submitted to President of RA II.

Extension of Sub-regional RCOF

·  Continued activities of FOCRA II and SASCOF will be encouraged and WGCAA-CAS should be informed.

·  “Joint Meeting for the Seasonal Prediction of the East Asian Winter Monsoon” is recommended to function as a WMO RA II sub-regional RCOF after obtaining consensus among the participating countries.

·  Further establishment of sub-regional RCOFs is encouraged to target different sub-regions having similar climate information/outlook needs. VCP funding as well as other projects for RCOF operations may be pursued.

Climate Applications and User Liaison

·  Dialogue with users is encouraged in national and regional levels using the opportunity of RCOF and National COF.

·  A session of user interface is recommended to be set up in the next FOCRA II and user representatives such as agriculture and hydrology be invited to the session.

·  Dialogue with users will be focused on agriculture and hydrology as a first step. For this purpose, WGCAA-CAS proposes to establish an appropriate coordination mechanism with the Sub-Group on Agrometeorology (WGCAA-AgM) and the Working Group on Hydrological Forecasts and Assessments (WGH).

·  It is encouraged to exchange good practices in the application of climate information and to strengthen user-provider interaction. RCOF and RCC-homepage may be used for this purpose.

·  A short document on concept of the National COF should be developed by WGCAA-CAS and the document be disseminated to NMHSs in RA II and call for pilot projects on NCOF.

Climate Monitoring, Climate Watch and Climate Change

·  RCCs should support activities relevant to Climate Watch by NMHSs.

·  WGCAA-CAS facilitates climate monitoring in NMHSs and lists up status reports on climate monitoring in NMHSs

·  To facilitate Climate Watch activity, WGCAA-CAS considers the possibility of relevant pilot projects.

·  Extreme events and climate change monitoring information is encouraged to be provided by RCCs and NMHSs.

Climate Research

·  Cooperation between WGCAA-CAS and WCRP/CLIVAR regional Panels should be strengthened.

·  Joint workshop with research communities at RCOF is encouraged.

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Annex II

Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and Service Delivery (WGDRS)

Background

1. WGDRS was established in XIV-RAII for the purpose of coordinating with the Executive Council Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and Service Delivery and with WMO technical commissions in the development of capacity for RA II Members to deliver weather-, climate- and water-related services.

2. The work of WGDRS, led by Mr. Edwin S.T. Lai (Hong Kong, China) and supported by a team of designated experts, was developed and coordinated under the three subgroups of Disaster Risk Reduction (WGDRS-DRR), Service Delivery (WGDRS-SD) and Aeronautical Meteorological Services (WGDRS-AeM), each with its own team of theme leaders and supporting experts.

Progress up to February 2012

3. A small WGDRS planning meeting was held at Daegu, Republic of Korea on 1 - 3 Dec 2010. An abridged implementation plan was drafted for short-term follow-up actions with target completion dates leading up to mid 2012. Progress review of the plan is yet to be finalized.

4. Despite the initial establishment of contacts at the Daegu meeting, the barriers that restrict communication effectiveness among the subgroup coordinators, the theme leaders and the supporting experts are yet to be overcome. In this respect, there is a clear and present need to create a forum, comprising the key and functional players working in the subject areas related to the three sub-groups, to map out long term strategies to integrate and focus various RA II initiatives under the WGDRS implementation plan, as well as to synergize with the expected results under the Strategic Plan for the Enhancement of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in RA II.

5. At the Daegu meeting, it was also agreed that the work of WGDRS would be more effective if effort was focused on a few selected DRR aspects, and subsequent consultation was undertaken with WMO DRR programme to discuss the way forward. Some known capacity-building and DRR-related initiatives in RA II that may be relevant to the work of WGDRS are highlighted and summarized below for future reference.

Specific Capacity-building and DRR-related Initiatives in RA II

6. The Aviation-weather Disaster Risk Reduction (ADRR) website, a pilot project under WGDRS-AeM, was officially launched on 18 Apr 2011. The project serves to demonstrate to aviation stakeholders the benefits of weather information in the planning of airport operations and collaboration decision making with common situational awareness, thereby enhancing aviation safety. By February 2012, there are more than 72 users, covering NMHSs, aviation communities and international organizations.

7. Two WMO/CBS Severe Weather Forecast Demonstration Projects (SWFDP) under the GDPFS and PWS programmes are currently being planned in RA II. The first one targets four countries in SE Asia (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam) with the first workshop held in Hanoi in February 2010. Further planning meetings followed in Tokyo (September 2010) and Hanoi (October 2011), and a preparatory training workshop was organized in Hong Kong in July 2011. The tentative plan is to start the 1-year demonstration phase in mid 2012, to organize a second training workshop in July 2012 and to arrange for forecasters' attachment training to RSMC Tokyo. The other SWFDP, funded by UNESCAP through RIMES/WMO cooperation, targets six countries in the Bay of Bengal region (Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand). The first project development and planning workshop was held in New Delhi in January 2012.

8. The RA II project on the Provision of City-Specific NWP Products to Developing Countries via the Internet was declared operational on 7 July 2011. A launching ceremony was held in Hong Kong, China, officiated by Dr. Tokiyoshi Toya, Director of Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific of WMO. By February 2012, 21 RA II Members have joined the project. After the recent addition of more city forecasts for Bangladesh and Cambodia, city-specific forecast time series for 233 cities are provided via the Internet twice daily.

9. Development of the “Asian Consortium for NWP Forecasts” (ACNF) website was underway to provide online resources and information to access existing NWP products from RA II Members, including, among others, Hong Kong, China and the Republic of Korea. China Meteorological Administration and Japan Meteorological Agency have kindly agreed to provide their NWP models as ACNF community models. Documentation, source code, tutorials and discussion forum on using the models will be made available in the ACNF website by late 2012. Launch of the website for registered access by RA II Members would be made in mid 2012. A training workshop on the use of community models and NWP products on the ACNF website will be organized in Hong Kong near the end of 2012.

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Annex III

Pilot Project on the Provision of city-specific NWP products to developing countries via the Internet