The aim of this event is to inform the weather radar community on data representation and data exchange experiments described below. There will be an opportunity for questions, answers, and discussion during the second hour of this two-hour event.

Expected outcomes of this event are:

• Share some initial details with the community on experimental designs and vision.
• Clarify the scope that WMO is addressing specifically with data representation using FM301 and how it relates to the other elements that FM301 builds upon, e.g. CfRadial2, CF Conventions, NetCDF.
• Gather feedback on FM301-CfRadial2 plans and timelines that can be incorporated into the experiments themselves and future activities.

The Joint Expert Team on Operational Weather Radar (JET-OWR) is managed jointly by the Standing Committee on Measurements, Instrumentation and Traceability (SC-MINT) and the Standing Committee on Earth Observing Systems and Monitoring Networks (SC-ON). The JET-OWR work plan collects and addresses many aspects associated with operational weather radar, including data representation and exchange that are the topics of this event. The Task Team on CF-NetCDF (Climate and Forecast Metadata Conventions, Network Common Data Form, TT-CFNetCDF) is organized under the Expert Team on Data Standards (ET-Data) that is part of the Standing Committee on Information Management and Technology (SC-IMT).

A significant milestone was reached at the first session of the Commission for Observation, Infrastructure and Information Systems (INFCOM-1), held in April 2021, which is the parent body to which all the above-mentioned standing committees report. The green light was given to allow the use of CF-NetCDF for experimental data representation and exchange purposes with marine trajectory data and weather radar data in polar/spherical coordinates. Work conducted in JET-OWR on data representation using CfRadial2 (an application of CF-NetCDF) was elaborated by TT-CFNetCDF to yield a single global standard candidate data representation for weather radar, for WMO designated as FM301. An experiment is now underway to achieve a software implementation of FM301 to be applied jointly by several WMO Members, linked with an experiment on the exchange of such data using the next generation WMO Information System (WIS) functionality. The goal of these experiments is to trial the emerging solutions with the objective of improving them, informing INFCOM-2 in 2022, ultimately leading to official status as WMO standards.

Visit the WMO CF Extensions homepage for more information: https://community.wmo.int/activity-areas/wis/wmo-cf-extensions.

 Welcome

 Activities of the JET-OWR and development of standards for weather radar data exchange

 Daniel Michelson, Canada, Chair JET- OWR

 WMO activities on netCDF and extension of the netCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) convention

- Dave Berry, WMO Secretariat, former Chair of TT-CFNetCDF (Mon)

- Kevin O'Brien, USA, Chair of  TT- CFNetCDF (Wed)

 Towards a single global standard weather radar data representation with FM301 – CfRadial2

 Mark Curtis, Australia, Member of JET-OWR and TT- CFNetCDF

 The WIS 2.0 Demonstration Project

- Kai-Thorsten Wirt, Germany, Member of ET-ON and TT-GISC (Wed)

 Discussion with a panel of experts

 - Daniel Michelson, Canada, Chair JET-OWR

 - Kevin O'Brien, USA, Chair of TT-CFNetCDF, 

 - Mark Curtis, Australia, JET-OWR and TT-CFNetCDF member

 - Kai-Thorsten Wirt, Member of ET-ON and TT-GISC, Germany

 - Scott Collis, Argonne National Laboratory, USA

 - Mike Dixon, JET-OWR member, USA

 - Thomas Einfalt, JET-OWR and ISO weather radar team member, Germany

 - Jordi Figueras i Ventura, Météo-France, France  

 - Günther Haase, SMHI, Sweden/OPERA

 - Kai Mühlbauer, University of Bonn, Germany

 remaining   time