CHy-15/Doc.4.1(3), DRAFT 2APPROVED, p. 2

World Meteorological Organization
COMMISSION FOR HYDROLOGY
Fifteenth Session
Rome, Italy, 7 to 13 December 2016 / CHy-15/Doc.4.1(3)
Submitted by:
Chairperson
12.XII.2016
APPROVED

AGENDA ITEM 4: SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES VALUE CHAIN

AGENDA ITEM 4.1: MEASURING, MONITORING AND INFOSYSTEMS

DATA OPERATIONS, MANAGEMENT AND EXCHANGE

SUMMARY

DECISIONS/ACTIONS REQUIRED:

(a) Adopt draft Resolution 4.1(3)/1 — Data Operations and Management;

(b) Adopt draft Recommendation 4.1(3)/1 — Data Representations for Hydrological Information.

CONTENT OF DOCUMENT:

The Table of Contents is available only electronically as a Document Map[*].

DRAFt text to be included in the general summary

4.1(3) DATA OPERATIONS, MANAGEMENT AND EXCHANGE

4.1(3).1 The Commission noted that many countries had not yet met the requirements in terms of monitoring networks and standards to ensure that hydrological data can be used in water management decisions. Free and unrestricted access to hydrological data is not yet a general common practice. For these reasons, data and information management issues are one of the priorities of the WMO regional associations. Enhanced support is required to help countries meet their needs. In this context, particularly in the domain of production and management of data, WMO provides its Members support through the Global Hydrometry Support Facility (GHSF) and WHYCOS (both discussed in CHy-15/Doc. 4.1(2)), WHOS, MCH, the adoption of standards to facilitate and promote data exchange, such as WaterML 2.0, and the global data centers, namely GRDC, GPCC, IGRAC and HYDROLARE.

WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS)

4.1(3).2 The Commission was informed that in 2014 the president of CHy, with the support of the AWG, had proposed the establishment of the WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS). After working on the concept, the president presented his proposal to Cg-17 in 2015. Congress had welcomed the effort and had urged the president of CHy to continue guiding WHOS to full implementation.

4.1(3).3 WHOS was conceived as the hydrological input to WIGOS to be implemented in two phases, a short-term capability to access the hydrological data of NMHSs that are already freely and openly available online, launched as a demonstration in July 2015 (see WHOS webpage), and a longer-term capability that is WIGOS and WIS compliant and makes use of a hydrological information system enabling data registration, data discovery, and data access.

4.1(3).4 During its second phase, WHOS aims at developing Information Technology Infrastructure and services to support the advancement of hydrologic science and information as a principal component of WIGOS/WIS, aimed at supporting operational water issues (surface and ground water, water quantity and quality). Hydrologic information science involves the description of hydrologic environments in a consistent way, using data models for information integration and software tools to directly interact with the deployed data storage and communication components. In particular, WHOS will support, in close cooperation with relevant global data centers, storage of hydrologic observational data, publication via web services on the internet, federation with hydrologic observations published by NHSs, and search across the various data holdings in the network. These advanced data access and analysis capabilities are provided through the use of web services using standardized data formats and service types. Utilizing a collection of WMO and OGC web services, WHOS is designed as a “services stack framework” that shares catalog data, metadata and data with users. The services stack framework identifies three types of services as essential to sharing hydrologic information across the web: catalog services, metadata services and data services. These three services work together to completely index, describe and provide access to hydrologic information: catalog services provide users with an index of hydrologic metadata; metadata services identify collections of time series available over a domain of space and time; data services provide the user with data for a specified temporal period and spatial area. This framework is designed to publish and distribute time series, but it can be extended to include other data formats, e.g. maps.

4.1(3).5 The individual components of WHOS each serve an important role in the data discovery and fetching process. Original data providers are the principal locations for storing hydrologic data, specifically time series. Within the provider itself, data and metadata are managed in a database and then exposed through its Principal GISC as well as through a suite of web services, so that remote users can then access the data through the web.

4.1(3).6 Another component is the hydrologic metadata catalog. The registry is the component which facilitates the discovery of hydrologic data that has already been published by the data providers, as required in the Manual on WIS (WMO-No. 1060) section 3.6.8 “Describe information with metadata”. Within WHOS, data providers are the primary repositories for hydrologic data, while the registry is the primary repository for hydrologic data services. The registry provides an interface where users can search registered data services by specifying keywords and metadata that describe the hydrologic data of interest. The registry is like a search engine for discovering hydrologic time series information. Data publishers can register their data on the registry and provide brief descriptions of the datasets they want to share. This is an important aspect of WHOS because it allows for data to be organized and discovered in an efficient, structured and methodical process.

4.1(3).7 The third and final component of WHOS is the web or desktop client. The client is the component of WHOS that allows for accessing hydrologic information at the locality of one’s own computer or analytical system as per the Manual on WIS (WMO-No. 1060) section 3.6.7 “Provide access to information”. The client is a platform located on the user’s machine and communicates with both data services and the registry. Users can directly download hydrologic information from data providers if they already know of their existence or can search the registry for data that they might not know about. Once the data of interest have been discovered, users can download the information onto their local databases.

4.1(3).8 In the context of its role in WIGOS/WIS, WHOS will publish discovery metadata allowing WMO users to access a range of services. A potential future phase of the WHOS is to pilot possible extensions of WIGOS/WIS functions and services tailored to the needs of the hydrological community, but potentially beneficial to other programmes, including databases, simulation models, web-GIS and other tools.

4.1(3).9 The Commission, after noting the numerous comments made in the pre-session discussion on WHOS, discussed Phase I and the concept of Phase II of WHOS and recorded its decisions in draft Resolution 4.1(3)/1

MCH

4.1(3).10 The Commission was informed of the Meteorological, Climatological and Hydrological Database Management System (MCH), which utilizes only open source software. MCH is designed for use primarily by small NMHSs that don’t have a database management system, or other capability to digitize, store and process large volumes of data; and/or NMHSs looking for a simple, customizable and license-free solution to store, analyze data and generate reports on large amounts of meteorological, climatological and hydrological data.

4.1(3).11 The Commission was pleased to note that, as requested by CHy-14, a community of practice on MCH had been established in 2014. It was informed that the MCH community was quite active and that, besides allowing access to the software and manuals in English, French and Spanish, and to additional modules developed by members of the community, it features a forum to exchange experiences between developers and users.

4.1(3).12 MCH, which is available free of charge, has been installed in approximately 20 countries, and in all cases NMHS staff have been trained in the operation and management of the system. The Commission noted that MCH can be very beneficial for many National Services that do not have their own data management system, or lack the means for maintaining updated a commercial one.

WaterML 2.0

4.1(3).13 The Commission noted the actions taken by the AWG member responsible for data operations and management and by the invited expert S. Pecora (Italy), with the support of the Secretariat, to respond to its requests made through Resolution 3 (CHy-14). It noted that those requests had put in motion a series of efforts that advanced several data and data-sharing activities described in the pre-session discussion on Standardized data sharing in hydrology.

4.1(3).14 The Commission noted that, as data representation for hydrological information is an important contribution to WIS and WIGOS, its approval needs to be coordinated with the WMO Commission for Basics Systems (CBS). It therefore noted Resolution 3.3(2) (CBS-16) and adopted draft Recommendation 4.1(3)/1.

4.1(3).15 The Commission expressed its satisfaction with the work undertaken by the joint WMO/Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) Hydrology Domain Working Group (HDWG). It noted that the HDWG was co-chaired by two CHy experts and considered the need of further defining the terms of reference of its representatives in the future, to ensure that the very valuable work developed by the HDWG is even more responsive to the operational needs of NHSs.

Global data centers

4.1(3).16 The Commission expressed its gratitude to Germany, the Netherlands and the Russian Federation for hosting the four global data centres under the auspices of WMO, which had continued to provide support to water resources management worldwide through the maintenance of repositories of data and information made available in accordance with WMO data policies:

(a) The Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC), hosted in the Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany;

(b) The International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), hosted in UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands;

(c) The International Data Centre on Hydrology of Lakes and Reservoirs (HYDROLARE), hosted in the State Hydrological Institute, St Petersburg, Russian Federation;

(d) The Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), hosted by the German Weather Service, Offenbach am Main, Germany.

4.1(3).17 The Commission noted that, in response to the request by Cg-17 to report to the Executive Council with regard to the evolving role of these data centres and their contribution to CHy initiatives, a meeting of the three centres with a member of the AWG will be initiated by the WMO Secretariat for early 2017. This was seen as an important step in defining the architecture of the Phase II of WHOS, and discussing the roles the centres would be prepared to play in support to GHSF.The Commission noted that a task team should be established to prepare a response to the request by Cg-17 to report to the Executive Council with regard to the evolving role of these data centres and their contribution to CHy initiatives, taking into account WHOS phase II and the GHSF and recorded its decision in Resolution 4.1(3)/1.

DRAFT RESOLUTION

Draft Resolution 4.1(3)/1 (CHy-15)

DATA OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

THE COMMISSION FOR HYDROLOGY,

Noting:

(1) The growing need of Members for appropriate hydrological data management and information systems,

(2) Resolution 23 (Cg-17),

(3) The final report of the Second Session of the Inter Programme Expert Team on Observing System Design and Evolution (IPET-OSDE),

Recognizing:

(1) The importance of including reliable hydrological observations and data in the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) and the WMO Information System (WIS),

(2) That the initiative of the president of CHy to launch a demonstration and testing portal for the first phase of WHOS had been successful and had met with widespread approval,

(3) That the quality and sustainability of free and/or open source software, such as of Meteorology, Climatology, and Hydrology Database Management System (MCH), depends mainly on the number of its users and developers,

(4) That new and increased demands are now being put on the global data centres, in particular in support of the global assessment and management of the world’s water resources in the context of the SDGs and the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS),

Recalling the request of Cg-17 to monitor progress in the area of data operations and management (see paragraph 4.1.110 of Cg-17 Abridged Final Report),

Acknowledging the long-standing contribution to its activities made by the Global Data Centres, namely GRDC, GPCC, IGRAC and HYDROLARE,

Approves the further implementation WHOS Phase I as well as the initial concept of WHOS Phase II, as described in paragraphs 4.1(3).4 to 4.1.(3).8, and requests the AWG, with the support of the WMO Secretariat, to develop an initial implementation plan, covering issues such as governance, architecture, relationships with the WIGOS and WIS centres, provision of metadata into OSCAR and a clear definition of the roles of CHy, the Secretariat, the global data centres, and the NMHSs, to be presented to EC-70 in 2018 for its endorsement;

Requests the president of CHy:

(1) To form a small task team in charge of preparing a report to the Executive Council with regard to the evolving role of the GRDC, IGRAC and HYDROLARE, and their relationship with WMO, with respect to the monitoring and measurement of the achievement of the SDGs, their contributions to GFCS and support to WHOS, GHSF and other CHy initiatives;

(2) To liaise with the president of CCl to concur with CHy to include GPCC in the task team and in the review of its evolving role mentioned above, in a manner similar to the GRDC, IGRAC and HYDROLARE;

(3) To continue ensuring an appropriate representation of the Commission in the Inter-Commission Coordination Group on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (ICG-WIGOS) and in other relevant WIGOS and WIS;

Requests the AWG to prepare a new version of the observational requirements and the Statement of Guidance for the Application Area «Hydrology», taking into consideration the implementation plan of WHOS Phase II, to be presented to IPET-OSDE in the second half of 2017 and made available to NHSs through the WHOS web page;

Requests the AWG engage with the Commission for Basic Systems to ensure that Phase 2 of the WHOS is fully aligned with the WIS 2.0 Strategy."

Requests the Secretary-General to continue promoting the development of free and open source software for hydrology (such as MCH), according to user requirements and make them available to all users;

Invites Members to contribute to global data centres in accordance with the recommendation of the report to the Executive Council mentioned above, to ensure hydrological data and related information that is critical for WMO-supported programmes is available and accessible;