Developing WMO Climate Services information System Technical Reference Document

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) supports the implementation of the Climate Services Information System (CSIS. CSIS is designed for producing, packaging, and operationally delivering authoritative climate information data and products through appropriate operational systems, practices, data exchange, technical standards, authentication, communication, and product delivery.

In February 13-15, 2020, WMO organized a Workshop on Good Practices for Implementation of the Climate Services Information System in Pune, India. The workshop identified four examples of CSIS development at local and regional levels in different continents using key CSIS enablers, which include the Climate Services Toolkit (CST), Regional Climate Centers (RCCs), and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in the WMO Member States and Territories. The four case studies demonstrated examples of CSIS applications for:

Water Resources Management in Southern South America for hydropower generation and waterway transportation;

Disaster Risk Reduction in India for planning and management in dealing with extreme events including drought, heat waves, floods, and lightning;

Agriculture and Food Security linkages with rainfall, drought, and soil moisture availability in Kenya and Tanzania;

Integration of information on climate change, impacts and adaptation options in Mekong River regional monitoring and reporting system, to develop and implement appropriate response measures.

NMHSs of WMO Members provide the core climate information for climate services development at the country level, including user engagement and partnership building. RCCs foster the development of the CSIS capabilities of NMHSs by providing tools, resources, technical support, and facilitated discussions. CST provides the conduit through which RCCs and NMHSs access climate data, tools and technologies for data mining, monitoring, analysis, predictions, projections, and downscaling, as well as training resources and guidance for climate services development.

The new WMO Technical Reference Document (TRD) establishes performance measures for CSIS implementation in terms of operational domains, reliability, user-relevance and operational efficiency in the provision of climate information.