Standing Committee on Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Services (SC‑MMO)

A subsidiary body of the

Updated on 19 Feb 2024

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Background

At its first meeting in 2020, SERCOM established the Standing Committee on Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Services (SC-MMO) for the first intersessional period, with the terms of reference provided below. The SC-MMO is comprised of 19 members from all WMO Regions. Leadership is by the Chair, Mr John Parker (Canada) and 2 Vice-Chairs: Ms. Allison Allen (USA) and Dr Sung-Hyup You (Republic of Korea). Membership includes 3 ex-officio positions representing the interests of key WMO partners: the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. Beyond the confirmed 20 members, experts may be invited to the SC-MMO, as needed, to serve as Observers on the Standing Committee, as determined by the Chair/Vice-Chairs of the Standing Committee in consultation with the President of SERCOM.The Chairs of SC-MMO subsidiary bodies observe in the SC-MMO.

The Chair of SC-MMO holds the position of WMO Services representative to the Joint WMO-IOC Collaboration Board (JCB).

Governance

The SC-MMO is a subsidiary body of the Services Commission (SERCOM) and, accordingly, reports to SERCOM on a routine basis. Information on SERCOM is here.

The SC-MMO manages 4 Expert Teams reaching across the broad spectrum of maritime safety services, coastal and emergency response, met ocean requirements and capacity development. It also manages an Advisory Group known as the WWMIWS Sub-Committee, comprised of all METAREA Coordinators. A Task Team has also been established to investigate the cost of marine services, as requested by Congress-18.

The organizational chart for SC-MMO is here.

Any questions pertaining to SC-MMO, its parent or subsidiary bodies can be directed to the WMO Secretariat via email.

Purpose

(a) Develop, for consideration by the Executive Council and Congress, proposals for international standards for methods, procedures, techniques and practices in marine meteorology, oceanographic and coastal services (including services on lakes and inland waterways) including, in particular, the relevant parts of the Technical Regulations, guides and manuals;

(b) Under the general guidance of Congress and the Executive Council, carry out functions – with other bodies as necessary – relating to the planning, implementation and evaluation of the scientific and technical programme activities related to marine and coastal services, of the Organization;

Specifically, this will include:

develop and maintain WMO normative material related to marine meteorological, oceanographic and coastal service delivery, as specified in the WMO Technical Regulations
develop common marine meteorological, oceanographic and coastal service delivery attributes
ensure Members are able to contribute to the met-ocean requirements in updating relevant documentation for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) guidelines
assist Members to enhance marine meteorological, oceanographic and coastal service delivery capabilities and enable effective implementation and compliance
cooperate and partner with relevant bodies, especially the IMO, the IHO and the JCB, to enhance marine meteorological, oceanographic and coastal service delivery.

(c) Update the definition of competency requirements and Quality Management approaches for marine meteorological, oceanographic and coastal services, including the definition of standards for marine services provision and monitoring of their implementation, and maintain the relevant guidance material;

(d) Review and update user needs and requirements on marine meteorology, oceanographic and coastal services;

Expertise

Worldwide Met-Ocean Information and Warning Service (WWMIWS);
Met-Ocean services regulatory material (including with IMO/IHO);
WMO systems (for example with links to GDPFS, WIS, GOOS, GCOS etc.);
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) expertise in relevant ocean activities for services as recommended by the WMO-IOC Joint Collaborative Board (JCB);
Quality management and competency;
Marine weather, oceanographic and wave forecasting;
Disaster risk reduction with a focus on marine-related hazards;
Coastal inundation and MHEWS;
Sea ice and other relevant services for polar regions;
Marine environmental emergency response and Search and Rescue (SAR) service;
Marine climatology (services aspect);
Satellite utilisation products;
Services for the blue economy (including optimal transport routes/efficiency for industries such as transport, freight, fisheries, tourism, oil and gas, etc.);
Expertise in costing options;
Social scientist;
Marine education and training.

Membership

Name	Role	Member/Partner
John Parker	Chair	Canada
Sung-Hyup You	Vice-Chair	Republic of Korea
Allison Allen	Vice-Chair	United States of America
Javier Yasnikouski	IMO Ex Officio	International Maritime Organization (IMO)
Samuel Harper	IHO Ex Officio	International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)
Vacant	IOC Ex Officio	Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO)
Hassan Bouksim	Core Member	Morocco
Øyvind Breivik	Core Member	Norway
Pierre Daniel	Core Member	France
Huw Davies	Core Member	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Paul DiGiacomo	Core Member	United States of America
Mark Hemer	Core Member	Australia
Nadao Kohno	Core Member	Japan
Michael Martens	Core Member	Germany
Ramon OOSTERKAMP	Core Member	New Zealand
Daniel Peixoto de Carvalho	Core Member	Brazil
Keld Qvistgaard	Core Member	Denmark
Val Swail	Core Member	Canada
Justyna Wodziczko	Core Member	Norway
William Wright	Core Member	Australia
Patrick Parrish	Observer	Switzerland
Andreas Schiller	Observer	Australia

Note: The Chair of the SC-MMO is an appointed member of the JCB. In that role, the Chair will ensure engagement between SERCOM and the JCB to enhance marine service delivery. The Chair of SC-MMO will have the flexibility to appoint an alternate to represent Services in JCB when needed.

Duration and Modalities of Work

Until the next ordinary session of the Services Commission where, if required, the SC-MMO can be re-established at the discretion of the Services Commission.

Meetings

Note: Normally WMO would be expected to convene a face-to-face SC-MMO meeting once every two years at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Consideration may be given by WMO to convene at an alternative location provided, that it increases efficiency without increasing costs to the Organization, for example, back-to-back with relevant IMO, IHO or IOC meeting(s). Since March 2020, a face to face meeting has not yet been possible due to the Global Pandemic. Until such time as travel restrictions ease, meetings will continue online.

Tele/video conference

Note: Normally the SC-MMO would be expected to convene tele/video conferences on at least a quarterly basis, or whenever is required.

Correspondence including email exchanges and other appropriate online interactions

Expected Outputs

Publications that the SC-MMO will be responsible for updating or contributions:

Weather Reporting, Vol. D, Information for Shipping (2014) (WMO-No. 9);
Guide to Marine Meteorological Services (2018) (WMO-No. 471);
Manual on the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System (2017) (WMO No. 485) updated in 2018;
Manual on Marine Meteorological Services - Volume I — Global Aspects: (updated in 2018 Edition) (WMO-No. 558);
Sea-Ice information services in the world (2006 (3rd ed.) – revision currently in process) (WMO-No. 574);
Guide to Wave Analysis and Forecasting (2019) (WMO-No. 702);
Guide to the Applications of Marine Climatology (1994) (WMO-No. 781);
Guide to Storm Surge Forecasting (2011) (WMO-No. 1076);
WMO Strategy for Service Delivery and its Implementation Plan (2014) (WMO-No. 1129);
Marine input regularly updated (as needed) to the WMO Multi-hazard Early Warning System: A Checklist (2018);
Proposed Coastal Inundation Forecasting Guidance (in development, expected publication 2020);
Various international satellite operator manuals for Maritime Safety Information (MSI), that WMO contributes to, including (but not limited to) SafetyNET (Inmarsat), SafetyCast (Iridium);
Various international codes for e-navigation for example S-411, S-412 etc.

These are expected to contribute to addressing the following topics:

Maritime safety services including quality management;
Outcomes/Recommendations from the WMO-IMO Extreme Maritime Weather Symposium (2019);
Wave forecasting, coastal hazards and MHEWS and Disaster Risk Reduction, with links to the SC-DRR, SC-HYD and the UNESCO (DRR, and the IOC Tsunami and Other Hazards Related to Sea Level Warning and Mitigation Systems Working Group) (as per Resolution 15 (Cg-18)- Strengthening Multi-hazard Early Warning Services in areas prone to all Flooding Types and Severe Weather);
Innovation in services, in coordination with the Research Board;
Marine environmental emergency response and search and rescue;
Operational Ocean Forecast Systems to ensure operational oceanographic service requirements are met and to provide feedback regarding the forecast systems themselves;
Services for sea ice and polar regions;
Application of satellite products to marine services;
Education, training, competency and capacity development;
Climate services;
Costing options (as per Resolution 30 (Cg-18) - Exploring Costing Options for Marine Services in the Future);
Outcomes/Recommendations from the ‘Enhancing Ocean Observations and Research, and the free exchange of data, to foster services for the safety of life and property at sea’ Workshop (2019) in coordination with INFCOM;
Service needs for ocean infrastructure in coordination with INFCOM.

Reports

The reports are publicly available here.

Subsidiary Bodies

Expert Team on Coastal and Emergency Response (ET-CER)

Chairs: Val Swail (Canada)

Expert Team on Competencies and Capacity Development (ET-CCD)

Chair: Patrick Parrish (Switzerland)

Expert Team on Maritime Safety (ET-MS)

Chair: Daniel Peixoto de Carvalho (Brazil)

Expert Team on MetOcean Requirement (ET-MOR)

Chair: Andreas Schiller (Australia)

Advisory Group on the Worldwide Met-Ocean Information and Warning Service(WWMIWS) Sub-Committee (AG-WWMIWS-SubC)

Chair: Justyna Wodziczko (Norway)

FileCloud

The SC-MMO FileCloud collaboration platform (member access only) is accessible here.

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