Our ref.: WWW/WDM/ET-ADRS GENEVA, 11 April 2007

Annex: 1 (available in English only)

Subject: Nomination of an expert for membership of the CBS/OPAG-ISS Expert Team on the Assessment of Data Representation Systems (ETADRS)

Action required: Send the filled in form back to the Secretariat, preferably in the electronic form, as soon as possible but before 14 May 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

The fifty-eighth session of Executive Council (June 2006) requested the Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) to address the data representation requirements of the user community, in view of the demand for the use of modern industry standards, such as XML.

The extraordinary session of CBS (Seoul, Republic of Korea, November 2006) agreed to study the implications of using data forms, such as XML or NetCDF, for meteorological data, especially in operational meteorological real time exchanges, and to assess the development efforts and resources that would be required. CBS requested its Management Group to establish an Expert Team within the OPAG-ISS for assessing advantages and disadvantages, including implications (need for defining standardization, data processing development and integration, costs and benefits: flexibility, compression, feasibility of implementation, etc.), of different data representation systems (e.g. BUFR, CREX, XML, NetCDF, HDF) for use in real time operational international exchanges between NMHSs and in transmission of information to users outside the NMHSs. The Expert Team should develop recommendations on the most appropriate system depending on the type of exchange applications and report on the possible impacts of its findings on the migration to table-driven code forms. All WMO Technical Commissions should be invited to participate in this Ad-Hoc Expert Team.

In order to facilitate the selection process of experts of the new expert team by the CBS Management Group, the Secretariat was requested by the president of CBS to seek nominations of experts for the expert team.

To: Permanent Representatives (or Directors of Meteorological or Hydrometeorological Services) of Members of WMO (PR-6278)

Directors of ECMWF, EUMETSAT

cc: Hydrological Advisers to Permanent Representatives )

Presidents and vice-president of technical commissions ) (for information)

Chairman of the OPAG-ISS )


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I would like to invite you to consider the possibility for your country/organization to nominate an expert for the CBS/OPAG-ISS Expert Team on the Assessment of Data Representation Systems (ET-ADRS).

In this regard, I should like to draw to your attention that the nominations of experts imply that these experts will indeed be able to spend the time required to undertake their tasks. You are therefore invited to indicate in the nomination form the efforts and time the expert would be able to commit to the activities of the team. Details of the qualifications and professional experience of the proposed expert should also be provided in the form in order to identify adequate available expertise ensuring an optimum composition of the core team.

The experience gained by your Service/organization in the use or planned use of data representation systems (e.g. BUFR, CREX, XML, NetCDF, HDF) would be of major interest for the activities of the expert team. I would like to invite you to share any available information on this subject, directly or through your expert.

I would like to invite you to send the filled in nomination form back to the Secretariat as soon as possible but before 14 May 2007; you may wish to use, preferably, the electronic form on our Web site at: http://www.wmo.int/web/www/Questionnaires.html and to send it back to MrPierreKerhervé at: , copy Ms Sary Vargas at: .

Yours faithfully,

(Hong Yan)

for the Secretary-general