FUTURE SEAMLESS GLOBAL DATA PROCESSING AND FORECASTING SYSTEM
FUTURE SEAMLESS GLOBAL DATA PROCESSING AND FORECASTING SYSTEM
The World Meteorological Congress, at its seventeenth session (Cg-17), noted the rapidly evolving transformations in the practice of operational numerical weather prediction, particularly the integrated or seamless modeling approach, and recognized:
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That all WMO constituent bodies and numerous subsidiary expert level groups provide a complex framework for coordination and collaboration in which a large number of decision-makers and experts from virtually all Members and partner organizations address matters related to the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS),
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That emerging requirements from the services-oriented programmes, such as aeronautical, marine, agriculture, health, and public weather services, as well as requirements from a wide range of hydro-meteorological-related emergencies, or from implementing disaster mitigation strategies, require an enhanced integrated, holistic and seamless GDPFS in order to be relevant to users’ decision-making,
- That an enhanced integrated, holistic and seamless Data-processing and Forecasting System could have the potential to lead to important benefits for Members and their National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) and the Organization as a whole,
- That the integration of the technical support to meet the on-going and emerging requirements from different sectors of society in a single system (in a multi-dimensional/ multi-disciplinary approach) would be more cost-effective and relevant to decision-makers and users.
Cg-17 therefore decided, through Resolution 11 (Cg-17), to initiate a process for the gradual establishment of a future enhanced integrated and seamless WMO DPFS, in light of the conclusions of the first World Weather Open Science Conference (WWOSC-2014, Montreal, Canada, August 2014), and requested the Executive Council to formulate Terms of Reference for this process, and a description of the set of products the system should produce, for consideration by the eighteen session of the World Meteorological Congress (Cg-18) in 2019.
A "living" paper, called GDPFS White Paper, responds to this request by describing: (1) why we are doing this; (2) the scope; (3) the vision; (4) general considerations on GDPFS core aspects, needs and characteristics, linkages with observations and data exchange, services, role of regional bodies, international organizations, research, and capacity development, the priorities, (5) the benefits, (6) opportunities, success factors and challenges, and (7) the mechanism for implementation and timelines.