WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
COMMISSION FOR BASIC SYSTEMS
THIRD MEETING OF THE INTER-PROGRAMME TASK TEAM
ON FUTURE WMO INFORMATION SYSTEMS
FINAL REPORT
LANGEN, GERMANY, 25 - 29 JUNE 2001
DISCLAIMER
Regulation 42
Recommendations of working groups shall have no status within the Organization until they have been approved by the responsible constituent body. In the case of joint working groups the recommendations must be concurred with by the presidents of the constituent bodies concerned before being submitted to the designated constituent body.
Regulation 43
In the case of a recommendation made by a working group between sessions of the responsible constituent body, either in a session of a working group or by correspondence, the president of the body may, as an exceptional measure, approve the recommendation on behalf of the constituent body when the matter is, in his opinion, urgent, and does not appear to imply new obligations for Members. He may then submit this recommendation for adoption by the Executive Council or to the President of the Organization for action in accordance with Regulation 9(5).
CONTENTS
PagesAgenda / ii
Executive summary / iii
General summary of the work of the session / 1-13
Appendix - Vision of the Future WMO Information System / 14-18
List of participants / 19-21
List of acronyms / 22
AGENDA
1. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING
1.1 Opening remarks
1.2 Adoption of the agenda
1.3 Working arrangements
2. PROPOSED VISION OF FUTURE WMO INFORMATION SYSTEMS
3. REVIEW OF RELEVANT DECISIONS OF CBS-XII AND EC-LIII
4. REVIEW OF TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS APPLICABLE TO FUTURE WMO INFORMATION SYSTEMS
5. PILOT PROJECTS AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
6. CLOSURE OF THE MEETING
Executive Summary
The third meeting of the Inter-programme Task Team on Future WMO Information Systems was held 25-29 June 2001 in Langen, Germany.
The task team considered the guidance on Future WMO Information Systems provided by CBS-XII and EC-LIII. It felt that the functions of the three levels of centres developed at its previous meeting were in line with the guidance it had received and that no major changes were required. However, it clarified and expanded the presentation of these functions in a revised description of the Future WMO Information System included in the appendix to this report.
The experts dedicated considerable discussion to the requirements and capabilities of less developed versus more developed NMHS. They noted that NMHS span a range of capabilities and developed a proposed path to improved capabilities that NMHS could follow as WMO migrates to its future information system. It felt that small and developing NMHS with few resources should be able to deliver and receive all required information through inexpensive PC-based systems relying upon satellite broadcast and dial-up connections to the Internet. Although e-mail does not guarantee timely delivery of data, it is an extremely inexpensive solution for many small NMHS and should be recognised as a legitimate mechanism for small and/or developing NMHS to provide data to their RTH for injection into the GTS and the Future WMO Information System.
The experts reviewed current and emerging technologies that could have an impact on development of the Future WMO Information System. This included the rapid proliferation of the Internet and its associated technology, low cost satellite communication systems, and Extensible Mark-up Language (XML). Regarding open-source software, the team felt that WMO could benefit from the experience the open-source community has gained in the collaborative development of software and recommended increased efforts to involve the university and research communities in collaborative software development.
The team considered steps that should be taken to further develop the Future WMO Information Systems and reviewed possible mechanisms to conduct and evaluate pilot studies. It developed proposals for the following pilot projects.
· Use of the Internet Data Distribution system from Unidata to disseminate U.S. satellite data from Bracknell to other NMHS in Europe. The Russian Federation and South Africa will also investigate the possibility of running pilots using the IDD.
· Investigation of promising software systems that could lead to an inexpensive system that can display and manipulate meteorological and related data and products in small NMHS including: METGIS from South Africa, METCAP from Turkey and the EMWIN custom browser from the USA.
· UNIDART had the possibility to provide an important component of the future request/reply capability and the system should ensure it is compatible with the WMO metadata standard that is being developed in parallel.
The task team agreed that development should continue along three parallel paths: development of the catalogue of products, proof of concept through pilot tests and upgrade of the GTS. It developed an outline of the highest priority tasks along with estimated target dates.
The catalogue should be the highest priority since it is essential for the implementation and maintenance of a modernized WMO communications system. The WMO directory-level metadata standard should be developed by the end of 2001, followed by a implantation of pilot catalogue by third quarter of 2002.
The experts felt that it is not necessary to standardise the physical links and protocols to be used between WMO centres. Instead, there should be a number of standard protocols available that could be agreed on a bilateral basis. Approved technologies for routine dissemination for the Future WMO Information System should be selected by 2004. The target for beginning phased implementation of the Future WMO Information System would be 2006.
i
Inter-programme task team on future WMO information systems III, p. 14
1. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING
1.1 Opening remarks
1.1.1 The third meeting of the Inter-programme Task Team on Future WMO Information Systems opened at 0900 on Monday 25 June 2001 at the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) Training and Conference Centre (BTZ) in Langen, Germany. Prof. G-R. Hoffmann (Germany), chair of the team, opened the meeting. Mr S. Mildner, on behalf of the Permanent Representative of Germany to WMO welcomed the participants to BTZ and Germany and wished them a productive and successful meeting. Mr D. McGuirk welcomed the participants on behalf of the Secretary-General and briefly outlined the objectives of the meeting.
1.2 Adoption of the agenda
1.2.1 The meeting adopted the agenda as reproduced in the beginning of this report.
2. PROPOSED VISION OF FUTURE WMO INFORMATION SYSTEMS
2.1 The experts carefully reviewed the vision of the Future WMO Information System developed at their previous meeting. During this discussion the team considered the role of the information system as a whole and which aspects of the WMO Information System were within its remit and which were not. The team agreed that collection of information and dissemination of products within national boundaries were beyond the scope of its terms of reference and these issues were not discussed in detail in further deliberations of the meeting.
2.2 It was noted that the Future WMO Information System will continue to rely upon the WMO communication system to provide highly reliable and timely delivery of data and products. Currently, this requires a private network but this may change as public communications services evolve. Today's WMO communication system is the GTS and its evolution is being considered by the Expert Team on the Enhanced MTN.
Collection of information
2.3 The meeting dedicated considerable discussion to the requirements and capabilities of less developed versus more developed NMHS. Regarding the collection of information from less developed NMHS, the group felt that this consisted of relatively small data volumes, mostly of observational data and metadata as well as text-based forecasts and warnings. Although small in volume, these were primarily time-critical data.
2.4 The meeting noted that it is increasingly difficult to maintain slow analogue dedicated lines, particularly in more developed countries. In most cases where this has been a problem, the receiving RTH, was the first to experience a problem since these lines were considered to be obsolete by its telecommunications supplier. At the same time a great many NMHS now have connections to the Internet, although many, particularly in developing countries, rely upon relatively slow dial-up connections. The group noted that there are a number of major international efforts aimed at improving access to the Internet from developing countries. Therefore, it expected the connectivity of NMHS to the Internet to continue to improve.
2.5 The group was informed that a significant number of small NMHS now provide their observational data to their responsible RTH via e-mail over the Internet. This mechanism has proven to provide reliable and, for the most part, timely delivery. For small NMHS in some Regions, this currently provides the most cost-effective mechanism, in terms of technology and communications costs, to exchange their data and products with other NMHS. The experts agreed that the use of e-mail is greatly facilitated where the observations within the messages are encoded according to WMO standards. They furthermore noted that e-mail can support transmission of binary data (such as BUFR) as attachments. Use of e-mail could, therefore, contribute to the migration to table-driven binary data representation forms.
2.6 Although it must be remembered that e-mail does not guarantee timely delivery of data, it is an extremely inexpensive solution for many small NMHS. With this in mind the group had the following recommendations:
· E-mail should be recognised as a legitimate mechanism for small and/or developing NMHS to provide data to their RTH for injection into the GTS and the Future WMO Information System
· Observations sent via e-mail should be formatted in accordance with WMO standards. Where possible, BUFR format via attachments to e-mail messages could be used.
2.7 The meeting noted that more developed NMHS require a higher volume of information and products to be delivered in both real and non-real time. It agreed that these centres would likely rely upon both public and private network services to meet these requirements. These NMHS need a system that guarantees timely, reliable delivery of information, such as the current GTS. Any future system should also be flexible enough to accommodate collection of real-time data from all WMO Programmes and non-operational systems, such as research experiments, when relevant.
Dissemination of information
2.8 It is expected that less developed NMHS would require character-based data and products, graphics, and a limited amount of binary data, especially gridded model output. The experts felt that current and planned satellite broadcasts would meet the needs of the majority of small or less developed NMHS for the near future. It was expected that any additional requirements would consist of a small volume of information that could be disseminated via e-mail.
2.9 Currently, virtually all NMHS in Regions III and IV receive the necessary information via ISCS STAR4 systems and Region V and western sections of Region II are covered by EMWIN and SADIS. Within a few years, Region I will be covered by the MSG and the PUMA project as well as SADIS. The meeting recommended that NMHS that rely upon these systems should utilize the Internet as a backup delivery mechanism. Therefore, it suggested that all of the products delivered via these satellite broadcasts should also be made available via the Internet. It was pleased to note that all EMWIN products were already available and access to WAFS products is available for backup purposes.
Summary of communication strategies
2.10 The meeting concluded that small developing NMHS could rely upon e-mail for delivery of their own information to WMO and satellite broadcast and e-mail for collection of their required products. Thus,
· Small and developing NMHS with few resources would be able to deliver and receive all required information through inexpensive PC-based systems relying upon satellite broadcast and e-mail. Thus, initially not requiring operation of a GTS message switch.
2.11 The experts agreed that larger and more developed NMHS would require larger products, particularly model output and satellite products, which would require higher capacity communications. In general, existing satellite broadcasts (SADIS/ISCS, MDD) would not be sufficient and delivery via additional mechanisms would be required. These centres would require a permanent connection to the WMO communication system and/or a high-speed Internet connection and would require operation of a message switch or system with similar functionality.
WMO Catalogue of Products
2.12 The meeting emphasized that a WMO catalogue of products is essential for the implementation and maintenance of a modernized WMO communications system. The catalogue will be a core system for data product discovery, request-reply systems, and will facilitate near real-time configuration of current and future message switching and routing systems.
2.13 Noting that a catalogue of WMO products that could be searched on-line via the Internet is an essential component of the Future WMO Information System, the experts considered the required contents and capabilities of this catalogue. They agreed the catalogue should:
· Contain descriptions of all products (including data sets) routinely disseminated by the Future WMO Information System
· Contain descriptions of all other products available for exchange
(National Centres would not be expected to contribute descriptions of the products they offer to their own users although they may find the structure of the WMO catalogue could be applied to their requirements)
· Be viewable via a Web Browser (e.g. Netscape or Internet Explorer)
· Support queries and replies in multiple official WMO languages
· Be on-line and available 24 hours per day, every day
· Be available at multiple centres so there is not a single point of failure
· Be updated and maintained in a timely manner.
2.14 The experts further agreed that for each product (including data sets) the catalogue should include:
· An abstract of the product, including the general type of data it contains
· A unique standard WMO product identifier and mapping to current GTS abbreviated headers where applicable
· The physical parameters or variables contained in the product
· The area covered by the product
· The time period covered or validity time and date
· The level of quality control / validation applied
· Whether the product can be delivered routinely (subscribed to), and whether particular authorization is required for this subscription