8th WMO Workshop on the Impact of Various Observing Systems on Numerical Weather Prediction and Earth System Prediction

The final report is available here.

The presentations and posters from the workshop are available through the relevant links in the Final programme accessible here.

Overview

The 8th WMO Workshop on the Impact of Various Observing Systems on Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and Earth System Prediction (ESP) will be organized by WMO and will be hosted by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) in Sweden, at the SMHI main office in Norrköping, on 27-30 May 2024. Participation from all the major NWP centers and communities active in the field of impact studies about the observing systems is anticipated.

1st Workshop Announcement: Ar, En, Es, Fr, Ru, Zh.

Background

WMO’s Impact Workshop series is an important quadrennial venue for providing science evidence on the impacts of surface- and space-based observing systems, on short- to medium- and longer-range forecasting including climate monitoring. Conclusions from the Workshop provide guidance on how to optimize the use of the current global observing system as well as help guide its future evolution.

This workshop is held under the auspices of INFCOM/SC-ON Joint Expert Team on Earth Observing System Design and Evolution (JET-EOSDE).

The previous seven workshops in this series took place successively in Geneva (April 1997), Toulouse (March 2000), Alpbach (March 2004), Geneva (May 2008), Sedona (May 2012), Shanghai (May 2016) and most recently in a virtual format, in December 2020. Results from a multitude of observing system experiments, with both global and regional aspects, were presented each time and conclusions were drawn concerning the contributions of the various components of the observing systems to forecast skill at short and medium range.

Since then, both the global observing systems and the NWP systems that utilize it have undergone significant changes. Many space missions have been launched and ground observation systems networks have been enhanced. NWP systems are being coupled with models and data assimilation systems for the ocean, land, cryosphere and atmospheric composition, in pursuit of a whole Earth- system prediction capability. There has also been a continued trend toward using techniques other than Observing System Experiments (OSEs) and Observing System Simulations Experiments (OSSEs) to document data impact, such as Adjoint‐ and Ensemble‐based Forecast Sensitivity Observation Impact (FSOI and EFSOI) and other quantitative assessment techniques, and estimates of analysis uncertainty.

As a result, in this upcoming 8th Workshop, we will continue to focus on assessing the impacts of various observing systems in all Earth system domains on NWP, but we will extend the scope to also encompass the impact assessment of the various observing systems, to other Earth system applications. This is done in order to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the value of the observations and to support the strategic goals of WMO.

Science questions

The list of scientific questions that the Workshop will attempt to address is available here.

Participation

Experts who have results of impact assessment of various observing systems, especially those responding to the science questions listed below, are invited to submit a short abstract. Contributions to the Workshop may fall within general topics that will frame the Workshop sessions (to be determined at a later stage), or they may simply address one or several of the specific studies and science questions listed in the annex to this circular. Note that to increase the chances of being responsive to this call, abstracts should clearly articulate what type of impact assessment(s) will be presented.

During the Workshop, the results presented will be reviewed in plenary discussion sessions or relevant breakout sessions and a consensus view will be formed wherever possible. Conclusions to help guide the design and evolution of components of the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) for NWP and ESP in general, will be drawn.

Format

The Workshop will be held in a hybrid format (in-person and remote participation will be enabled), and will be conducted in English.

Organizers

The organization of the Workshop is performed through close collaboration between the Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC) and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), with the support from JET-EOSDE and the WMO Secretariat. More details about the composition of these groups can be found here.

Venue, Logistics and Visas

Information about the venue, logistics and visas is available here.

Further information

Participation in the workshop is free of charge. There is no workshop fee.

World Meteorological Organization