Frontiers in Marine Science (Aug 2019)

The Joint IOC (of UNESCO) and WMO Collaborative Effort for Met-Ocean Services

  • Nadia Pinardi,
  • Johan Stander,
  • David M. Legler,
  • Kevin O'Brien,
  • Kevin O'Brien,
  • Tim Boyer,
  • Tim Boyer,
  • Tom Cuff,
  • Pierre Bahurel,
  • Mathieu Belbeoch,
  • Sergey Belov,
  • Shelby Brunner,
  • Eugene Burger,
  • Eugene Burger,
  • Thierry Carval,
  • Denis Chang-Seng,
  • Etienne Charpentier,
  • S. Ciliberti,
  • Giovanni Coppini,
  • Albert Fischer,
  • Eric Freeman,
  • Eric Freeman,
  • Champika Gallage,
  • Hernan Garcia,
  • Hernan Garcia,
  • Lydia Gates,
  • Zhiqiang Gong,
  • Juliet Hermes,
  • Emma Heslop,
  • Sarah Grimes,
  • Katherine Hill,
  • Kevin Horsburgh,
  • Athanasia Iona,
  • Sebastien Mancini,
  • Neal Moodie,
  • Mathieu Ouellet,
  • Peter Pissierssens,
  • Paul Poli,
  • Roger Proctor,
  • Neville Smith,
  • Charles Sun,
  • Charles Sun,
  • Val Swail,
  • Jonathan Turton,
  • Yue Xinyang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00410
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6

Abstract

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The WMO-IOC Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) has devised a coordination mechanism for the fit-for-purpose delivery of an end-to-end system, from ocean observations to met-ocean operational services. This paper offers a complete overview of the activities carried out by JCOMM and the status of the achievements up to 2018. The JCOMM stakeholders consist of the research and operational institutions of WMO members and the IOC member states, which mandated JCOMM to devise an international strategy to move toward the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The three areas of activity are the Observation Program Area (OPA), the Data Management Program Area (DMPA) and the Services and Forecasting Services Program Area (SFSPA), and several expert teams have been established to contribute to the international coordination efforts. OPA is organized into observing networks connected by different observing technologies, DMPA organizes the overall near-real time and delayed mode data assembly, and the delivery methodology and architecture, and the SFSPA coordinates the met-ocean services resulting from the observations and data management. Future developments should enhance coordination in these three program areas by considering the inclusion of new and emergent observing technologies, the interoperability of met-ocean data assembly centers and the establishment of efficient research to operations protocols, in addition to better fit-for-purpose customized services in both the public and private sectors.

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