The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is the UN specialized agency which promotes the effective exchange and use worldwide of meteorological and hydrological information, notably in weather forecasting, water-resource assessment prediction and climatology. WMO Secretary General is Prof. Godwin Olu Patrick Obasi of Nigeria.

WMO also seeks to acquire more information on climate - the prediction of the average behavior of weather phenomena over time. It aims to help world communities shape better food, ater, energy, and housing projects, mitigate the unfavorable impact of climatic variations and natural disasters, and to study man's impact on the climate and phenomena such as global warming.

As climate change became an issue of major global concern in the 1980s, WMO emerged as a lead U.N. agency responsible for studying the impact of human activity on the earth's climate systems. Together with the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), WMO provided essential support to the development of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of scientists which advises on the potential for and the impact of climate change.

WMO is concerned with environmental problems, such as pollution, which affect the atmosphere and water, and how to deal with and warn of emergencies that might arise from accidental release of dangerous pollutants. WMO's Global Atmospheric Watch (see below) monitors changes in atmospheric concentrations of pollutants and other gases.

Trials have also been carried out by the WMO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to see how the WMO's Global Telecommunication System (GTS) can be used to provide nations with information related to the early notification of nuclear accidents. The GTS is a dedicated system linking the meteorological services of the world for the primary purpose of facilitating free exchange of meteorological and hydrological information.

WMO supports the dissemination of results of research and technical information, and the transfer of technology in the fields of weather services. WMO's education and training program, which focuses mainly on the developing world, aims to help countries improve their national meteorological and hydrological services, and thereby improve the global data collection and weather prediction system.
World Meteorological Congress: the Congress is the governing body of the WMO and is held every four years to oversee WMO's work, set its budget, and plan its future programs. The Thirteenth WMO Congress was held May 4 - 26, 1999. (An Executive Council of the WMO meets annually between congresses to take stock of and provide guidance on WMO's work.)

Weather
World Weather Watch (WWW): One of the basic functions of the WMO is to oversee the World Weather Watch - the world's weather observation network. Launched in the early 1960s, this highly complex global observing and forecasting system, which is administered by national meteorological and hydrological services, involves the use of satellites, ships, ocean data buoys, commercial aircraft and computers, as well as traditional earth-based observation methods to gather data on temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind and rainfall. The WWW aims to improve the quality of shorter-range weather forecasting, and to extend the period for which weather and climate trends can be accurately forecast - from the current six days, to a season ahead. As in most of WMO's projects, the U.S. National Weather Service and other parts of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) play a major role in the WWW, providing data from geostationary and polar-orbiting weather satellites, plus some of the hundreds of different ground and upper-air observation platforms.

The WWW has three basic components: 1) The Global Observing System (GOS), which comprises facilities on land, at sea, in the air and in outer space for the observation and measurement of meteorological elements; 2) The Global Telecommunications System (GTS), which receives and transmits weather data around the world in internationally agreed codes to avoid language problems; and 3) The Global Data-Processing System (GDPS), which is a network of world and regional data-processing and analyzing centers.

Hydrology and Water Resources
WMO carries out much work in the field of hydrology (movement of water on and over the earth's surface) and water resources. This includes designing water-resource systems in the developing world and studying how to deal with water-related disasters: extreme floods and droughts, the hydrological consequences of earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions (lava- and mudflows, melting of ice caps and glaciers), the hydrological problems of dam ruptures, and the consequences of accidental water pollution (spillages). The WMO encourages countries to collect and analyze basic data on rainfall, streamflows, groundwater levels, etc. which are essential to understanding how, when and where water-related disasters may occur. Through its program called "HOMS" (Hydrological Operational Multipurpose System), the WMO helps national water resources agencies in their operational activities through the exchange of technology (instruments, manuals, computer programs, etc.) and other expertise between WMO members. For example, the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) has developed models to aid flash-flood hydrologists in forecasting dam-breaching flooding.

A new approach on how to bridge the gap in meteorological and hydrometeorological services between developed and developing countries is addressed in WMO's Fourth Long-term Plan (1996-2005). It presents a consideration of the basic levels of weather and hydrological services needed in every country to support its economy and to provide warnings for the safety of populations, and an analysis of the present shortfalls in developing countries in meeting these basic levels.

The World Climate Program
World Climate Program (WCP): WMO's program to study the climate and its variations, the World Climate Program, was established in 1979 as a result of the First World Climate Conference. It was the first attempt to improve humankind's knowledge of the natural variability of climate and of climatic changes due to natural phenomena or human activity. The idea of a possible "global warming" was in its infancy at the time, and the WCP's objective was to make human activities, especially in arid, semi-arid, or high-rainfall regions of the world, less vulnerable to climatic change and variations. It encouraged a greater application of climate data (increasingly available in computer software packages) in a broad range of human activities such as in health services, and in urban and agricultural planning. In order to develop an authoritative consensus view on the potential for climate change, including a possible trend towards global warming, the WMO and UNEP jointly created in 1988 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). IPCC assessments of the impact of greenhouse gases were used to support negotiations for the Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC). (See chapter on IPCC). The IPCC Second Assessment report, issued in 1995, found "a discernible human influence" on global climate. The report warned that sea-levels may rise and heat waves, droughts and floods may increase over the next century if emissions of greenhouse gases go unchecked. The third Assessment Report, currently under preparation, is scheduled for completion in 2001.

The Global Climate Observing System

Another major component of WMO's climate agenda is The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). GCOS was established in 1992 to ensure that the observations and information needed to address climate-related issues are obtained and made available to all potential users. It is cosponsored by the WMO, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Council for Science (ICSU). GCOS is intended to provide the comprehensive observations required for monitoring the climate system, for detecting and attributing climate change, for assessing the impacts of climate variability and change, and for supporting research toward improved understanding, modeling and prediction of the climate system.

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Much of today's scientific understanding of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effect - the phenomenon which caused devastating floods and droughts in many areas of the world in 1997 and 1998 - derives from international research conducted under WMO auspices. The 1985-1994 Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere (TOGA) research program was designed to increase the understanding of ocean currents and countercurrents such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effect that produces changes in the atmospheric circulation and consequently the climate. The El Niño phenomenon occurs irregularly and includes temperature changes in the central and eastern Pacific ocean, caused as the warm water of the western Pacific moves east and then cools again. This oscillation back and forth reaches a third of the way around the earth and the changes in Pacific temperatures and winds affect the atmosphere, resulting in an atmospheric pressure pattern known as the Southern Oscillation.

The ENSO ocean-atmosphere coupling has a significant effect on atmospheric circulation over other parts of the globe. Variability in patterns of heating in the tropics changes the patterns of heating in the atmosphere as a whole, thereby determining major aspects of the variability of the earth's climate. TOGA's subproject TOGA COARE (Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment for the Warm Pool Regions of the Western Pacific) sought to study the way ENSO interacts with the atmosphere, to make detailed observations of the changes produced, and to thereby learn to predict El Niño and calculate its oscillations. Scientists now believe they can predict El Niño a year in advance using data from the TOGA and TOGA COARE projects and new computer modeling techniques.

Climate Information and Prediction Services (CLIPS)
CLIPS was launched in June 1995 to build on the findings of the Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere (TOGA) project and to develop the capacity to improve climate prediction using advanced communications and information technology.

Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW)
Set up in 1989, the WMO's Global Atmospheric Watch integrates the many individual monitoring and research activities involving the measurement of atmospheric composition, and serves as an early warning system to detect further changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, changes in the ozone layer and in the long-range transport of pollutants. As part of this program, WMO issues regular bulletins on the state of the ozone layer over the Antarctic.
Membership: In August 2000 the WMO had 185 members, comprising 179 member states and six member territories.

Budget: The greatest proportion of WMO funding comes from members' own resources committed to the operation of national observing, communication and data-processing systems which are planned and implemented within the WMO framework. The maximum expenditure for the financial period 2000 -2003 as approved by the Thirteenth World Meteorological Congress is Swiss francs 253 million.

Internet
www.wmo.ch
Description of WMO and its programs, press releases, links to member organizations such as the U.S. National Weather Service.

Address
World Meteorological Organization
P.O. Box 2300
7 Bis Avenue de La Paix
CH 1211 Geneva 2
Tel. 730-8111
Fax 734.2326