Updated: 19-04-2023
Source: China Meteorological New Press
The purposes of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is to facilitate worldwide cooperation in the establishment of networks of stations for the making of meteorological observations, to promote the establishment and maintenance of systems for the rapid exchange of meteorological and related information (data), to promote standardization of meteorological and related observations and to ensure the uniform publication of observations and statistics and so on.
We see the evolving process of the global weather observing system from equipment with low technology to aircrafts,balloons, rockets and satellites. Currently over 10000 manned and automatic surface weather stations, 1000 upper-air stations, 7000 ships, 100 moored and 1000 drifting buoys, hundreds of weather radars and 3000 specially equipped commercial aircraft measure key parameters of the atmosphere, land and ocean surface every day.
WMO established the global backbone observing and data exchange mechanism, and greatly improved the global weather forecasting. WMO together with partners established the global change mechanisms which made great contributions to adaptation and mitigation of climate change.
Changing climate increases the risks of natural disasters. Hazards' intensity and frequency are increasing. We need to carry out climate monitoring and prediction for better climate risk management. We will further develop WMO global infrastructure systems to meet the climate change challenges. The “UN Global Early Warnings/Adaptation Initiative” is essential to the mission of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and is an initiative they can pursue through the coordination of WMO by leveraging collective action in three focus areas: earth system observations and monitoring, predictive and warning capabilities, and coordinated communication for anticipatory action.
Station density in Africa in particular is very low. WMO members are encouraged to nominate additional stations that have come online since GBON baseline analysis was performed in January 2022.
Climate change leads to a visible increase of extreme weather and climate events and disasters, and GHG is the root cause. WMO Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Infrastructure is an emerging tool to support mitigation action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.
We hope that by 2030, we see a world where all nations, especially the most vulnerable, are more resilient to the socio-economic impact of extreme weather, climate, water and other environmental events, and empowered to boost their sustainable development through the best possible weather, climate and water services.
Editor: Xu Nenyu