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Interview: Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO
Bulletin, Vol. 64(2). WMO, 2015Vladimir Ryabinin of the Russian Federation was appointed as the new Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO at the level of Assistant Director-General (ADG) of UNESCO on 1 March 2015. Mr Ryabinin went to IOC from WMO, where he was a Senior Scientific Officer in the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) from 2001 to 2015. His years of experience with WMO will surely benefit the close cooperation between the two organizations. The Bulletin is pleased to introduce him to our readers through the interview below. 1
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The Case for Extended Hydrologic Prediction Services for Improved Water Resource Management
Fresh water is important for human life, economic activity, ecosystem health and geophysical processes. Over the first decade of the twenty-first century, Australia weathered marked extremes, experiencing its warmest period, with 2013 marked as its warmest year since national records began in 1910. Hydrological conditions in Australia are among the most variable on Earth. Its streamflow regime can go through prolonged periods of droughts such as the “Millennium drought” that occurred between 1997 and 2000 across most parts of eastern Australia. This variability has a profound impact on the man ...
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The Hydrometeorological Enterprise: The Benefits of Partnerships
The WMO and the National Weather Service (NWS) of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) once again organized an International Session in the margins of the 95th annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in January. This event explored the unique and important role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in assisting society to improve environmental decision-making in the face of growing vulnerability to extreme weather and climate events.
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Progress in Observing and Predicting ENSO
Bulletin, Vol. 64(1). WMO, 2015Governments, private companies and individuals are demanding ever more sophisticated climate services, as manifested by the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). But parts of the ocean observation network – paramount to the delivery of climate services – are at risk, and the evolution of climate prediction systems is not keeping pace in terms of accuracy and reliability
JCOMM Technical Report, 63. Recommended Algorithms for the Computation of Marine Meteorological Variables
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) - WMO, 2015This publication presents a summarized version of the WMO No-8 information, focusing on the instruments used by the VOS, but breaks new ground in making specific recommendations (including providing software modules and test validation cases) on the algorithms to be used to compute “derived” variables.
DBCP Technical Document, 52. Annual report for 2014, financial report
JCOMM Technical Report, 84. Final report, JCOMM Pilot intercomparison project for seawater salinity measurements
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) - WMO, 2015The Pilot Inter - comparison Project for Seawater Salinity Measurements is organized by The Joint WMO - IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) and undertaken by the Regional Marine Instrument Center for the Asia - Pacific Region (RMIC/AP). As the first inter - comparison project under JCOMM framework in history, the purpose is of understanding the overall quality level of salinity measurements of JCOMM Members/Member States and observation programmes, identifying the differences an d promoting the expertise of salinity measurements.
Understanding Marine Customers, 2nd Edition
Understanding Marine Customers, 2nd edition, introduces the different marine forecast customers and discusses what forecast information they need to know and why they need to know it. A better understanding of the needs of the marine forecast customer will lead to better daily forecasts. The 2nd edition expands upon marine customer base to include more nearshore users, such as beachgoers, surfers, and sea kayakers.
Operational Models Encyclopedia
The availability of numerical guidance from NWP models has been an important component of operational forecasting for decades. For many, the output from this numerical guidance was produced by a mysterious “black box”. Rules for using and adjusting the guidance for operational forecasters were often subjective “Rules of Thumb” based on experience rather than based on quantitative analysis. To open up this “black box”, we produced this web-based “Operational Models Encyclopedia” linking both generic information on how NWP models work, and specifics on physical parameterizations, dynamics, and d ...
Forecasting Tropical Cyclone Storm Surge
This lesson introduces forecasters to the various probabilistic guidance products used by the National Hurricane Center to forecast storm surge. It provides an overview of how these probabilistic surge products are created, their purposes, and why they are preferred to deterministic-only style guidance for specific events. The lesson also provides practice in correctly interpreting probabilistic storm surge guidance at various phases of an event. Basic familiarity with probabilistic forecast guidance is required. This online lesson is part of the Tropical Cyclone Storm Surge: Forecasting and C ...
Using Scatterometer Wind and Altimeter Wave Estimates in Marine Forecasting
Scatterometers and altimeters provide a variety of space-based observations that are useful for marine analysis and forecasting as well as other applications. Key among the products are ocean surface winds from scatterometers and significant wave heights from altimeters. This lesson describes the basics of scatterometers and altimeters, including how they work, what they measure, and how scatterometer winds and altimeter significant wave heights are derived. It then discusses some of the challenges in using the estimates, such as dealing with ambiguities and rain contamination. The lesson also ...
Storm Surge and Datums
This lesson introduces forecasters to the orthometric and tidal datums used to describe tropical cyclone storm surge measurements and forecasts. It provides a general overview of how to interpret storm surge forecasts using various vertical datums. This online lesson is part of the Tropical Cyclone Storm Surge: Forecasting and Communication course.
Marine Weather Services Incident Response and Decision Support
Marine Weather Services Incident Response and Decision Support provides guidance for forecasters tasked with supporting oil or chemical spills and other marine-focused incidents. The lesson follows an example spill event to help demonstrate marine forecasters' responsibilities for coordinating with emergency managers, other NOAA line offices, and governmental agencies and outlines best practices related to effective communication.
Microwave Remote Sensing: Land and Ocean Surface Applications, 2nd Edition
This lesson introduces the concepts and principles basic to retrieving important land and ocean surface properties using microwave remote sensing observations from polar-orbiting satellites. Section one reviews the advantages of microwave remote sensing from polar-orbiting platforms and briefly highlights some of the unique spectral characteristics that allow for differentiation between various surface types and properties. Subsequent sections present a more in-depth look at the derivation and application of microwave products that quantify four different land and ocean surface properties and ...
Principles of Celestial Navigation
This lesson provides a basic introduction to celestial navigation for navigators, sailors, and others interested in the topic. It begins with the relationship between celestial coordinates and Earth coordinates and examines key celestial navigation parameters—geographic position, sextant altitude, observed altitude, azimuth, and computed altitude—that can be used to identify to a ship's position. A U.S. Navy navigator demonstrates the main celestial sights performed over the course of a day, including the morning three-star fix, morning Sun line, Local Apparent Noon Sun line, afternoon Sun lin ...
Extreme High Swell Events on the Moroccan Atlantic Coast
High swell events can develop far from the coast under cyclonic conditions, and take several days to travel to land. If early warnings are not issued, they can take an area by surprise and have a devastating impact. This lesson aims to improve the ability of marine forecasters to forecast extreme marine events related to high swells. It does so by providing background information on winds and waves, and presenting a process for monitoring and forecasting high swell events using a variety of data. These include ASCAT scatterometer wind data and the ECMWF Extreme Forecast Index (EFI) product, wh ...
Introduction to Tropical Cyclone Storm Surge
This lesson introduces forecasters to the physical processes and impacts of tropical cyclone storm surge. It provides an overview of the factors that affect storm surge, how it is measured, and the limitations associated with storm surge data. This online lesson is part of the Tropical Cyclone Storm Surge: Forecasting and Communication course.
Using ASCAT Wind and Other Data in Marine Forecasting
This case study lesson demonstrates the use of scatterometer wind and, to a lesser extent, altimeter significant wave height products in marine forecasting. A brief introduction to cold fronts and their impact on weather and sea state conditions sets the stage for the main part of the lesson, the case study. The case follows the passage of a cold front over the South Atlantic Ocean on 23 and 24 November 2013 when the Polarstern research vessel was transiting the area. Learners use ASCAT wind and Jason significant wave height data to help determine current conditions and evaluate GFS and WAVEWA ...
Ship-based Sea and Lake Ice Observing
Ships operating in areas with ice are expected to report conditions as part of standard weather reporting procedures. This lesson is aimed at those tasked with this responsibility, be they official or informal observers. The lesson begins with background information on ice, addressing such topics as where it is found, how it develops, and how to observe and report it. This sets the stage for the lesson’s scenarios, which simulate the experience of being an ice observer in four situations: on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy operating in the Arctic Ocean, on a container ship transiting the Nor ...
Overview of Watershed and Channel Sedimentation
This lesson provides an overview of the primary influences of watershed and channel sedimentation. In a short narrated portion of the lesson, we explore a section of the Rio Grande watershed and channel in New Mexico using Google Earth imagery, river profiles, and graphic animations. We highlight features of the upland catchments, the river channel, and the Elephant Butte Reservoir. We then demonstrate how environmental factors (climate, geography, land use changes, reservoirs) impact the supply and movement of sediments for the Rio Grande and other rivers. The focus is on the three primary pr ...
Instability Indices and Heavy Rainfall Forecast in a Maritime Environment
Forecasting heavy rainfall associated with in-situ convective cloud development over small island states is a challenge in operational forecasting as not all numerical models are able to resolve convection at such small scales. Forecasting of such phenomena is mainly based on prevailing local conditions and the use of a plethora of thermodynamic indices derived from the local sounding. This study is an effort to assess the suitability of the different available indices, hereafter referred as traditional indices, to forecast heavy rainfall from local convection, commonly known as pure sea breez ...
Metaguidelines for water and climate change: for practitioners in Asia and the Pacific
Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) ; Asian Development Bank (ADB); Global Water Partnership (GWP) - 2015This document identifies five key principles and corresponding actions to address climate change impacts on water and land resources in the region, focusing on what to do and why it should be done. These are: Usable knowledge; No regret investment; Resilience; Mitigation and adaptation; Financing. It addresses how the recommended actions can be implemented, with a focus on practical solutions illustrated by case studies from Asia and the Pacific.
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Climate finance and water security: Synthesis report
This synthesis report summarises research on how climate finance has been spent so far, and whether or not it has been spent on improving people’s water security.
The report highlights that the global community has committed to mobilise US $100 billion every year, from 2020 onwards. The study aims to identify the type and scale of national and subnational programmes and projects that have been funded by climate finance and how they relate to local water security. Findings are summarised from three case studies in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Zambia.
There is a brief d ...
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