World Meteorological Organization

The MMOP’s implementation is coordinated through the Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM).

The WMO partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC) officially started in 1999, when JCOMM was established. Prior to 1999, marine meteorological and oceanographic observations, data management and service provision programmes were international coordinated by two separate bodies – the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), through its Commission for Marine Meteorology (CMM), and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). While enhancing safety at sea remained the primary objective of marine forecast and warning programmes, requirements for data and services steadily expanded in volume and breadth during the preceding decades. Other applications, such as coastal area management, optimization of commercial fishing activities, ship routing, offshore resource exploration and development, pollution prevention and clean- up and, most recently, climate modeling and prediction, became increasingly important. Moreover, many of these applications required observational data sets and predicted products for both the oceans and the overlying atmosphere.

Responding to these interdisciplinary requirements necessitated the development of ever- closer working relationships between oceanographers and marine meteorologists. This was reflected at the global level by growing collaboration between IOC and WMO in organizing and coordinating ocean data acquisition, data management and provision of related services.  As formally constituted, JCOMM is an intergovernmental body of experts that provides the mechanism for international coordination, regulation and management of oceanographic and marine meteorological observing, data management and services systems.  The creation of this Joint Technical Commission results from a general recognition that worldwide improvement in coordination and efficiency may be achieved by combining the expertise and technological capabilities of WMO and IOC.  One of the primary initial priorities for JCOMM is the development and implementation of operational oceanography, on the basis of designs and requirements expressed by the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), including in particular an operational ocean observing system for climate.

JCOMM meets its mandate through:

• Further development of the observing networks under the guidance of the WMO-IOC-UNEP-ICSU Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the WMO-IOC-UNEP-ICSU Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the World Weather Watch (WWW) and other operational programmes, and cooperation with these bodies in seeking commitments for all components of an operational programme in the global oceans.
• Implementation of integrated end-to-end data management systems in collaboration with the Commission for Basic Systems (CBS), the Committee for International Data and Information Exchange (IODE), the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), and other appropriate data management bodies, to meet the real-time operational needs of the present operational systems and the global observing systems.
• Delivery of products and services needed by international science and operational programmes, Members of WMO, and Member States of IOC. An important component of this will be the coordination of the safety-related marine meteorological and associated oceanographic services as an integral part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).
• Provision of Capacity Development through education, training, technology transfer and implementation support to Member States.
• Establishment and enhancement of partnerships, liaison and collaboration with other global programs and international agencies both within and outside the UN system.

See also version 1 of the JCOMM strategy (a dynamic document)