World Meteorological Organization

A subsidiary body of the

WMO Services Commission (SERCOM)

Jump to: Background | Governance | Purpose | Expertise | Membership | Duration and Modalities of Work | Outputs | Reports | Subsidiary Bodies

Updated on 9 December  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, Ms Allison Allen (USA) and 2 Vice-Chairs: Mr Hassan Bouksim 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 19 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. 

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. 

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Purpose

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

(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;

(c) SC-MMO will actively collaborate with the WMO Technical Commissions and subsidiary bodies, and relevant partners, to contribute to the EW4All initiative to reduce the impact of marine and coastal hazards through improving processes, addressing gaps in current alerting services and improving provision of impact-based information and actionable advice for decision-making, at a range of timescales, with a focus on capacity development and equitable service delivery, including for vulnerable and hard to reach communities and last-mile communication.

Specifically, this will include:

• Develop and maintain WMO normative material related to marine meteorological (including sea ice), 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 International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) (including in the WMO-IOC Joint Collaborative Board (JCB)), to enhance marine meteorological, oceanographic and coastal service delivery.

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

(e) Review and update user needs and requirements on marine meteorology, oceanographic and coastal services.

Note: Any reference to marine meteorology or marine meteorological services should be considered inclusive of sea ice and icebergs.

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Expertise required

• Worldwide Met-Ocean Information and Warning Service (WWMIWS)

• Met-Ocean services regulatory material (including with IMO/IHO)

• WMO systems (for example with links to WIPPS, WIS, GOOS, GCOS etc.)

• IOC expertise in relevant ocean activities for services as recommended by JCB 

• Quality Management Systems (QMS) driven by ISO 9001

• Competencies for marine weather forecaster and sea ice analyst and forecaster

• Marine weather, oceanographic, storm surge and wave forecasting

• Disaster risk reduction with a focus on marine-related hazards

• Coastal inundation and Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS)

• Sea ice, iceberg, and other relevant services for polar regions

• Services for marine environmental emergency response and Search and Rescue (SAR)

• Marine climatology (services aspect)

• Satellite utilization 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 and behavioural scientist

• Marine meteorological education and training

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Membership

Note: The Chair of the SC-MMO is an appointed member of the WMO-IOC 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. 

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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). 

• 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

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Expected Outputs

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

1. Manual on Marine Meteorological Services - Volume I — Global Aspects: (updated in  2018 Edition) (WMO-No. 558), and Volume II - Regional Aspects (2012) (WMO-No. 558);

2. Guide to Marine Meteorological Services (2018) (WMO-No. 471);

3. Weather Reporting, Vol. D, Information for Shipping (2014) (WMO-No. 9);

4. Sea-Ice including Sea-Ice Information and Services (2021) (WMO-No. 574), and WMO Sea-Ice Nomenclature (2014) (WMO-No. 259);

5. Guide to Wave Analysis and Forecasting (2019) (WMO-No. 702);

6. Guide to Storm Surge Forecasting (2011) (WMO-No. 1076);

7. Guidelines on Implementation of a Coastal Inundation Forecasting–Early Warning System (2022) (WMO-No. 1293);

8. WMO Strategy for Service Delivery and its Implementation Plan (2014) (WMO-No. 1129);

9. Various international codes for e-navigation for example S-411, S-412 etc.

Publications that the SC-MMO contribute to:

1. Manual on the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System (2017) (WMO-No. 485) updated in 2021;

2. Guide to the Applications of Marine Climatology (1994) (WMO-No. 781);

3. WMO Strategy for Service Delivery and its Implementation Plan (2014)(WMO-No. 1129);

4. Manual on High Quality Data Management Framework for Climate (WMO-No. 1238);

5. Marine input regularly updated (as needed) to the WMO Multi-hazard Early Warning System: A Checklist (2018);

6. Various international satellite operator manuals for Maritime Safety Information (MSI), that WMO contributes to, including (but not limited to) SafetyNET Services (Inmarsat), SafetyCast service (Iridium);

7. Compendium of WMO Competency Frameworks (WMO-No. 1209).

These are expected to contribute to address the following topics:

1. Maritime safety services including quality management;

2. Outcomes/Recommendations from the WMO-IMO Extreme Maritime Weather Symposium;

3. Wave forecasting, coastal hazards, hazards (including from all weather driven causes)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 EWS in areas prone to all Flooding Types and Severe Weather);

4. Innovation in services, in coordination with the Research Board;

5. Marine emergency response (including environmental emergency, and search and rescue);

6. Operational Ocean Forecast Systems to ensure operational oceanographic service requirements are met and to provide feedback regarding the forecast systems themselves;

7. Services for sea ice, icebergs and polar regions;

8. Application of satellite products to marine services;

9. Education, training, competency and capacity development;

10. Marine Climate services;

11. Costing options (as per Resolution 15 (Cg-19) – Cost Options Investigation);

12. Outcomes/Recommendations from the ‘Enhancing Ocean Observations and Research, and free exchange of data, to foster services for the safety of life and property at sea’ Workshop (2019) in coordination with INFCOM;

13. Service needs for ocean infrastructure in coordination with INFCOM.

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Reports

The reports are publicly available here.

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Subsidiary Bodies

• Expert Team on Waves, Coastal Hazards Marine Emergency Response (ET-WCHMER)

Chair: Nadao Kohno (Japan)

• 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 Requirements (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)

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