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Regional Climate Centres

Activity Areas (1)

Climate Services

WMO Regional Climate Centres

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional Climate Centres (RCCs) are centres of excellence dedicated to providing regional climate products and services. Their mission is to enhance the capacity of WMO Members in each region, enabling them to deliver high quality climate services to national users. 

RCCs produce mandatory regional products, including climate data sets, climate monitoring tools and long-range forecasts, which serve as critical regional inputs for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) climate operations. Additionally, RCCs undertake various  highly recommended functions to address the  needs of their respective regional domains.

RCCs constitute the middle tier in a three-tiered Climate Services Information System (CSIS), which is part of the WMO operational infrastructure. This system  supports NMHSs in generating and delivering up-to-date climate  products and services through a global-regional-national cascading process. RCCs and NMHSs receive support from WMO-designated Global Producing Centres for Long-Range Forecasts (GPCs-LRF), which  provide a wide variety of global long-range forecasting products, ranging from monthly to seasonal timescales. RCCs are being implemented across all WMO regional associations.

RCCs and GPCs-LRF are integral components of the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WIPPS), with functions and designation criteria defined in the Manual on WIPPS (WMO No. 485). By supporting  NMHSs, RCCs and GPCs-LRF are  key operational entities within the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and the CSIS.  The GPC concept has  been extended to include annual to decadal climate prediction (ADCP) and Sub-Seasonal Forecasts (SSF), which  enhance the highly recommended functions of RCCs.

WMO Regional Climate Centres at a Glance

Regional Climate Centres functions and implementation

  • Functions and designation

While RCC products and services can vary by region, based on the priorities of regional associations and NMHSs, there are essential functions and criteria that all WMO designated RCCs must perform and adhere to.  These mandatory functions, products and criteria ensure uniformity of baseline services around the globe. The RCC mandatory functions, products and criteria as well as highly recommended functions are defined in the Manual on the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System  (WIPPS, WMO No. 485).

RCCs typically organize and coordinate Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs). The RCOFs were first established in Africa in 1997 to provide a platform for collaborative interpretation of the available seasonal forecasts and developing consensus-based seasonal climate outlooks on sub-regional scales.  RCOFs have now become platforms to support the operationalization of objective seasonal forecasts and tailored products in support of country-level service delivery by NMHSs.

Establishing an RCC and RCC-Network

The procedure and description of the necessary steps for establishing an RCC are provided in the brochure “How to establish and run a WMO Regional Climate Centre (RCC)” (English).

Templates are available for surveying NMHSs' regional needs and for RCC candidates applying to the President of a WMO regional association:

Survey Template on NMHSs' regional needs for, and capacity to deliver RCC services (English)

Application Template of an RCC candidate to the President of a WMO regional association (English)

  • RCC implementation worldwide

RCCs have been designated or are in demonstration phase in all six WMO regional associations.  Some RCCs serve multiple regional associations, which is the case in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

RA I (Africa)

At its fifteenth session in November 2010 Regional Association I (Africa) expressed the need to establish a Regional Climate Centre (RCC) in each of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and name these centres accordingly:

  • IGAD-RCC for Eastern Africa;
  • ECOWAS-RCC for Western Africa;
  • SADC-RCC for Southern Africa;
  • RCC-Network for North Africa;
  • ECCAS-RCC for Central Africa.

Regional Association I also assigned the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD), a coordinating role among all RA I RCCs.

The formally designated WMO RCCs/RCC-Networks in RA I include:

RCC-Africa: hosted by African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD)
Designated in: May 2015
Location: Niamey, Niger
Domain of interest: All countries of RA I
Website: http://acmad.net/rcc/

RCC-IGAD: hosted by IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC)
Designated in: May 2017
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Domain of interest: IGAD Countries (Greater Horn of Africa)
Website: http://rcc.icpac.net/

RCC-Network Northern Africa
Designated in: May 2017
Nodes:

The access to the main web portal of RCC-Network Northern Africa is available through the link, http://rccnara1.marocmeteo.ma, which provides further links to each of the above nodes.

Overall coordination: DMN, Morocco
Domain: Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt

RCCs under development

RA II (Asia)

At its Fifteenth Session in December 2012, Regional Association II (Asia) decided to enhance climate services in the region by the implementation and operation of several multifunctional Regional Climate Centers (RCCs) having pan-Asian as well as sub-regional domains of responsibility, four of which have been formally designated:

  • RCC Beijing hosted by Beijing Climate Center (BCC) of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA)

Designated in: June 2009
Location: Beijing, China
Domain of interest: All Asia
Web site: http://bcc.ncc-cma.net/

  • RCC Tokyo hosted by Tokyo Climate Center (TCC) of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)

Designated in: June 2009
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Domain of interest: All Asia
Web site: http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/

  • RCC Moscow hosted by the North EurAsian Climate Center (NEACC)

Designated in: June 2013
Location: Moscow, Russian Federation
Domain of interest: Member countries of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Web site: http://neacc.meteoinfo.ru/;

  • RCC Pune hosted by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune branch

Designated in: May 2017
Location: Pune, India
Domain of interest: South Asia
Web site: http://rcc.imdpune.gov.in/

RCC Beijing, RCC Tokyo, RCC Moscow and RCC Pune products and services are also accessible through a joint portal ( http://rccra2.org/) that provides information on relevant activities, including RCOFs, and other useful links.

RA III (South America)

Regional Association III (South America) at its 16 Session (2014) adopted Resolution 5 (RA III-16) on RCC implementation in RA III, to eventually comprise RCC Western South America (RCC-WSA), RCC-Network Southern South America (RCC-Network-SSA) and RCC-Network Northern South America (RCC-Network-NSA).

The following are the WMO RCCs/RCC-Networks designated so far in RA III:

RCC-WSA hosted by Centro Internacional para la Investigación del Fenómeno de El Niño (CIIFEN)
Designated in: May 2015
Location: CIIFEN, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Domain of interest: Western South America
Web site: http://crc-osa.ciifen.org/

RCC-Network-SSA
Designated in: May 2017
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina; Brasilia, Brazil
Domain of interest: Southern South America
Web site: https://www.crc-sas.org/en/institucional.php

RA IV (North America, Central America and the Caribbean)

Regional Association IV (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) at its 17th session adopted a Decision 11 (RA  IV-17) according to which the RCC implementation in RAIV comprises two RCCs – RCC Caribbean, and USRCC.

RCC-Caribbean hosted by Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH)
Designated in: May 2017
Location: Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), Bridgetown, Barbados
Domain of interest: Member countries (16) of the Caribbean Meteorological Organization
Web site: http://rcc.cimh.edu.bb/

USRCC hosted by Climate Prediction Center (CPC) of the NOAA’s National Weather Service

Designated in: June 2019

Location: Climate Prediction Center (CPC) of the NOAA’s National Weather Service, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). 

Domain of interest: the entire WMO Regional Association IV (RA IV), encompassing North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Web site: http://usregionalclimatecenter.noaa.gov/

RA V (South-West Pacific)

RA V, through Resolution 5 (RA V-16) in May 2014, decided to adopt the RCC-Network concept in RA V, and develop implementation plans for RCC-Networks for two sub-regions, namely South-East Asia (SEA) and the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs).

South-East Asia RCC-Network (SEA RCC-Network), coordinated by the Meteorological Service of Singapore (MSS), initiated the demonstration phase in November 2017, with the following composition:

Node on Long-Range Forecasting: MSS/Singapore (Lead)

PAGASA/Philippines (consortium member)

Node on Climate Monitoring: PAGASA/Philippines (Lead)

BMKG/Indonesia (consortium member), MSS/ Singapore (consortium member)

Node on Operational Data Services: BMKG/Indonesia (Lead)

Domain of interest: ASEAN Member countries

Web site: http://ccrs.weather.gov.sg/sea- rcc-network

Pacific Regional Climate Centre Network (PIRCC-Network), initiated the demonstration phase in September 2018 under the coordination of  an RCC-Network Management Committee reporting to the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC). The PIRCC-Network consists of the following five nodes:

Node on Long-Range Forecasting: NIWA, New Zealand & BoM, Australia (co-leads)

METEO FRANCE, NOAA, UH, SPC & SPREP (consortium members)

Node on Climate Monitoring: NOAA & UH (co-leads)

BoM, SPC, SPREP & NIWA (consortium members)

Node on Operational Data Services: BoM (lead)

NOAA, UH, SPC & NIWA (consortium members)

Node on Training : SPREP (lead)

NOAA, UPNG, BoM, NIWA, SPC & CSIRO (consortium members)

Node on Climate Change: CSIRO (lead)

USGCRP, BoM & SPREP (consortium members)

Domain of interest: Pacific Island Countries and Territories

Web site: https://www.pacificmet.net/rcc

RA VI (Europe)

In the Regional Association VI (Europe) the RCC network approach has been chosen to ensure incorporation of as much of the competence and know-how as possible of more than 50 RA VI Members. The RAVI through its Resolution 1 (XV-RA VI) decided to implement the RA VI RCC-Network with the initial structure as detailed in the Implementation Plan for the RA VI RCC-Network.

In particular, RA VI RCC-Network under coordination of Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Offenbach, Germany, comprises the following nodes:

Node on Climate Data Services: De Bilt, the Netherlands ;

Node on Climate Monitoring: Offenbach, Germany ;

Node on Long-Range Forecasting: Jointly Toulouse, France and Moscow, Russian Federation

Each of these nodes is supported by a consortium of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of RA VI Member countries

Designated in: May 2013

Domain of interest: Whole Europe
Web site: http://rcc.dwd.de/

RCCs for Polar and High Mountain regions (with focus on cryosphere)

The concept of RCCs is being extended to serve the unique requirements of polar and high-mountain regions, namely the Arctic, Antarctic and the Third Pole region. The WMO Executive Council Panel of Experts on Polar and High Mountain Observations, Research and Services (EC-PHORS)  has been guiding the implementation of RCCs and RCOFs for the Polar and high mountain regions.

The Arctic RCC-Network was endorsed by Decision 46 (EC-69) with the structure on two levels: three sub-regional geographic domains, each of which is guided by a Node that performs all mandatory functions for the countries in its domain, and each node undertakes a significant cross-node mandatory function for the entire pan-Arctic domain.

  • North American Node led by Canada (with Canada and USA as members of consortium).
  • Northern Europe and Greenland Node led by Norway (with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and possibly other interested European countries as members of consortium); and
  • the Eurasian Node led by the Russian Federation.

Pan-Arctic functions:

  • Canada leads the Long-Range Forecasting (LRF) function;
  • The Russian Federation leads the Climate Monitoring function; and
  • Norway leads Operational Data Services function.

Norway provides overall coordination of the ArcRCC-Network, including the web portal.

Designated in: June 2024

Domain of interest: Arctic region (across three WMO Regional Associations (RAs), RA II, RA VI and RA IV)

Web site: https://arctic-rcc.org

RCC implementation in the Antarctic region

Efforts are being made to establish an RCC-Network for the Antarctic region. The following is an initial mapping of the structure of Antarctic RCC-Network (AntRCC-Network) considered by the participants of the Scoping Workshop towards the establishment of AntRCC-Network (October 2019, Bologna, Italy), based on a functional delineation of the RCC-Network nodes and tentative interests of Members volunteered for lead responsibilities, subject to internal consultations and formal endorsements:

(i) Climate Prediction Node:

Operational activities for long range forecasts (LRF): Lead coordinator - Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Australia.

(ii) Climate Monitoring Node:

Operational activities for climate monitoring: Lead coordinator - National Research Council - Istituto di Scienze Polari (CNR-ISP), Italy.

(iii) Climate Data Node:

Operational data services to support LRF and climate monitoring: Lead coordinator - British Antarctic Survey (BAS), United Kingdom.

Furthermore, several other countries, such as Argentina, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Norway, Peru, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sweden, UK, USA, indicated interest to contribute to these Nodes as consortium members.

Due to the unique scientific and diplomatic nature of the Antarctic, close collaboration with key partners is crucial. These partners include the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP), the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW), the International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), relevant bodies of the Antarctic Treaty, and other stakeholders.

Third Pole RCC-Network

Consultations are underway to initiate the demonstration phase for the Third Pole RCC Network (TP RCC Network), which has a focus on cryosphere products and services to address high mountain communities’ needs in Member countries. Its Implementation Plan is finalized, according to which the TP RCC-Network will comprise the following nodes:

Northern node: China (lead)

Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan (consortia members)

Southern Himalayan node: India (lead)

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal (consortia members)

Western node: Pakistan (lead) Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (consortia members)

WMO RCC and RCC-Network factsheets (links to the PDFs)

Relevant links

Regional Climate (Outlook) Forums

Climate Services Information System

WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System

Global Seasonal Climate Update