WMO Unified Data Policy Resolution (Res.1)
Why has WMO updated its data policy?
The last decades have seen explosive growth in the demand for weather, climate and water monitoring and prediction data to support essential services needed by all sectors of society, as they face issues such as climate change, increasing frequency and impact of extreme weather, and implications for food security.
The free and unrestricted exchange of observational data from all parts of the world and of other data products among all WMO Members must be updated and strengthened to accommodate this growing demand. As the responsibilities of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) continue to expand, a growing list of application areas beyond the traditional weather, climate and water activities need to be supported by WMO observing, data exchange and modelling systems. WMO data policy must therefore evolve to accommodate areas such as atmospheric composition, oceans, cryosphere and space weather.
View the Catalogue of Core Data, which can be found in Cg-Ext(2021)/INF. 4.1.
What are the benefits of updating WMO data policy?
The new WMO Unified Data Policy will help the WMO community strengthen and better sustain monitoring and prediction of all Earth-system components, with massive socioeconomic benefits as a result. It will lead to additional exchange of all types of environmental data, which in turn will enable all WMO Members to deliver better, more accurate and timely weather- and climate-related services to their constituencies.
Highlights of the WMO Unified Policy for International Exchange of Earth System Data
Data exchange for the 21st century
- Integrated Earth system data policy – encompassing all WMO-relevant Earth system data: weather, climate, hydrology, ocean, atmospheric composition, cryosphere, space weather. It builds on existing WMO data policies used successfully in the past: Resolutions 40 (Cg-XII) (weather), 25 (Cg-XIII) (hydrology) and 60 (Cg-17) (climate).
- Clear commitment to free and unrestricted data exchange – clarifying the explicit and literal interpretation of the term “free and unrestricted” exchange, and expressing clear organizational commitment to it as the core principle of the policy.
- Expanded scope and purpose – introducing new terminology on data, replacing “Essential” and “Additional” data (Resolution 40), with “Core” data (standard practice, shall be exchanged) and “Recommended” data (best practice, should be exchanged). The scope and purposes of Core and Recommended data, respectively, are described in general terms for each domain or discipline.
- Call for subsequent implementation of policy via regulatory material – specific details of what data are to be considered Core and Recommended will be included, and regularly updated, in the WMO Technical Regulations.
- Includes guidelines for national implementation and public-private engagement.
Implementation
Full implementation of the WMO Unified Data Policy holds the promise of large benefits for all WMO stakeholders and the entire global community.
Implementation of Resolution 1 is a priority for WMO and accordingly, various groups of stakeholders in the WMO community are assigned tasks and responsibilities in the text.
- WMO Members will need to work to broaden and enhance their international exchange of Earth system data, building partnerships and promoting alignment of national policies and regulations on Earth system data exchange, nationally and internationally, to support the new policy.
- The governing bodies of WMO are tasked with updating and in some cases strengthening relevant technical regulations, developing guidance materials, and setting up processes to engage partners and oversee implementation.
- The Infrastructure Commission, in particular, will - in collaboration with the Secretariat - set up systems and establish processes to support national implementation of various specific elements of the policy, so as to track progress and to monitor compliance.
- The entire WMO community - Members as well as the Secretariat - is expected to use the policy as a tool for their engagement with partners from the international development and climate finance communities on capacity development efforts aimed at strengthening climate adaptation, disaster preparedness and early warning systems in developed countries.
WMO will also actively support the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement in their commitment to ensuring that any decisions on mitigation or adaptation measures are made on the basis of solid scientific information, and WMO will to its utmost to ensure that all data necessary to generate this information is gathered and made widely available.
Full implementation of the sweeping intent behind the new data policy will take years of commitment and dedicated efforts, but the expected return on this investment is very large indeed. Once it is fully implemented, the landmark Unified Data Policy will help all WMO Members to significantly expand and improve their monitoring and prediction capabilities, which will benefit the population of the entire globe. A key innovative feature of the policy is its focus on ensuring that also developing country WMO Members will be able to reap the full benefits of the improved model products that will result from the increased exchange of observational data. In short, implementation of the WMO Unified Data Policy will offer Members a critical tool to help them meet some of the major challenges of the 21st century, giving them vastly improved and much more timely and reliable weather, climate, water and related environmental data and information. This in turn will support informed decision-making at all levels, which will help save lives, protect property and foster economic prosperity worldwide.
Exemplars
To help Members and other stakeholders exchange knowledge and hard-won solutions with each other, WMO is collecting and disseminating a series of country experiences with implementing key provisions of the WMO Unified Data Policy. These experiences can be found in the Exemplars below.
The Exemplars focus on five types of activities. Each Exemplar notes upfront which of the five activities it discusses:
- National policies and regulations on free and unrestricted data exchange
- Sharing of recommended data to research and education community
- Partnerships with non-NMHS entities
- Coordination with WMO partners and stakeholders on data policy
- Relationships between public-sector data providers and private-sector data users
RA I - Africa
RA II - Asia
CHINA (Type - 1, 2, 3, 5)
The Data Policy of the China Meteorological Administration
REPUBLIC OF KOREA (Type - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Partnerships with non-NMHS entities, both public and private
RA III - South America
RA IV - North America, Central America and the Caribbean
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Type - 1, 2, 3, 5)
Promoting an open data policy within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RA V - South-West Pacific
RA VI - Europe
ISRAEL (Type - 1, 2, 3, 5)
Free data access – the experience of the Israel Meteorological Service
Background/Materials
History and background on the WMO Unified Data Policy Resolution, including presentations and other materials.
- Summary Presentation on the WMO Unified Data Policy Resolution here (updated 10 September 2021).
- WMO Bulletin Vol. 70 (2) - 2021: WMO Unified Data Policy
In chronological order:
- Existing WMO Data Policy on Resolution 40 (Cg-XII), Resolution 25 (Cg-XIII), and Resolution 60 (Cg-XVII).
- Report: Origin, Impact and Aftermath of WMO Resolution 40, by John W. Zillman here
- Resolution 55 and Resolution 56 here (June 2019) - Eighteenth World Meteorological Congress triggered a comprehensive review on WMO data policy.
- SG-DIP report here (February 2020) - First session of Study Group on Data Issues and Policies (SG-DIP) recommended that a new unified WMO data policy resolution should be drafted.
- EC-72 Decision 7 here (September 2020) - Seventy-second session of the Executive Council gave green light for SG-DIP to proceed with drafting a new data policy resolution.
- Data Conference materials here (November 2020) - WMO Data Conference (preceded by preparatory stakeholder consultations) discussed the proposed new policy, with more than 1200 participants and strong stakeholder endorsement.
- INFCOM-1(III) Doc.5.1.5 decision here (April 2021) - WMO Infrastructure Commission recommended to Executive Council consideration of the new Unified WMO Data Policy.
- EC-73 Presentation here (14 June 2021) - Doc 3.4(1) WMO Unified Data Policy.
- Pre-Congress Consultations (30 August and 1 Sept. 2021)
- Cg-Ext Presentations (13 October 2021)
WMO Data Exchange - 70 years of global collaboration on monitoring, understanding and predicting the Earth System
The World Weather Watch was established in 1961 to coordinate the acquisition and international exchange of meteorological observations and derived data products among WMO Members via its component systems: the Global Observing System, the Global Telecommunication System and the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System. All NMHSs around the world contribute input data to these systems every day and they rely on what they receive in return – data from other NMHSs and model products and other processed data - for their service delivery. The success of the World Weather Watch has led to the establishment of related systems in other areas, for example, the Global Atmosphere Watch and the Global Cryosphere Watch.
What is the Role of WMO Data Policy?
Weather and climate are local in impact but global in nature. International data exchange is therefore needed to help us understand and predict them. WMO is updating its data policy to accommodate the growing need for global access to observations and model data and to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of Earth system monitoring and prediction. Delivery of weather and climate services depends on routine international exchange of weather and climate data, 24/7, 365 days per year, often within minutes of real-time. Observations are ingested into prediction models, and model output is disseminated to all 193 WMO Members and used as a basis for their weather and climate services. A primary aim with the establishment of WMO in 1951 was to create a coordination mechanism for the acquisition and international exchange of such data. WMO data policy, as articulated in Resolution 40 (Cg-XII), Resolution 25 (Cg-XIII) and Resolution 60 (Cg-17), establishes the general framework for the international exchange of weather, climate and water data.
The value of global data exchange in weather and climate prediction:
- Modern weather and climate services depend on universal access to output from numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems
- Global exchange of observational data as input for NWP is indispensable
- NWP output is also exchanged among centres to monitor and foster continued progress
- There have been decades of systematic improvement in numerical weather predictions, thanks to data exchange coordinated by WMO (above)
Progress in key quality measure of Numerical Weather Prediction output from five centres over the period 1984–2017; a value of 1.0 indicates a perfect five-day forecast. Source: Taken from Benjamin et al., 2019: 100 years of progress in forecasting and NWP applications. Meteorological Monographs 59.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
WMO Unified Data Policy Contact:
- Albert Fischer, Director, WIGOS
- Jitsuko Hasegawa, Chief, Office of the Director/Seconded Expert
- Bonnie Galvin, Data Policy Consultant, WMO
- For general inquiry, email datapolicy@wmo.int.