The WMO Climate Services Information System (CSIS) is the principal mechanism through which information about climate – past, present and future – is routinely produced, archived, analysed, modelled, exchanged and processed.The CSIS is the “operational core” of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), the United Nations-led initiative spearheaded by WMO to support the production and delivery of authoritative climate information products through appropriate operational mechanisms, technical standards, communication and authentication. CSIS guides the development and application of science-based climate information and services in support of decision-making in climate-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture and food security, water resources, energy, disaster risk reduction and health.The core functions of the CSIS includes:Climate data,Climate monitoring,Climate prediction,Climate projection, andUser-targeted climate information.The operationalization of CSIS is organized as a three-tier network arrangement of global, regional and national providers, which carry out the CSIS functions at their respective levels. CSIS entities together ensure that climate information and products are generated, exchanged and disseminated, covering the entire space-time continuum from global to local and from past to the future:At global level, a range of advanced centres produce global scale climate information,At regional level, a network of entities regionalizes global scale climate information, andAt national and local levels, the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and their partners are committed to providing greater added value in their national and local context to inform decision-making across a wide range of socioeconomic sectors.In addition to generating and providing climate information and services, the CSIS facilitates interaction between the providers and users of climate services to ensure a two-way information flow through User Interface Platforms (UIPs) at the regional and national scales.  Figure 1: CSIS Implementation WMO entities that support CSISAt global levelGlobal Climate Monitoring Centres  provide key inputs to generate climate indicators to describe the status of the global climate. These indicators are reported in flagship global products of the CSIS, such as the WMO State of the Global Climate reports and the Global Seasonal Climate Update (GSCU).Global Data Centres: operate within the World Data System. They focus on geophysical systems, including climate-related systems.Global Producing Centres for Long-Range Forecasts (GPCs-LRF) are responsible for issuing global seasonal forecasts that are primarily used by the Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), the Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs) and NMHSs. More information: WMO Global Producing Centres for Long-Range Forecasts.Global Producing Centres of Annual to Decadal Climate Predictions (GPCs-ADCP) produce hindcast, forecast and verification data of annual to decadal timescale predictions. The WMO Lead Centre for Annual to Decadal Prediction (LC-ADCP) collects and provides access to this data and regularly issues the Global Annual to Decadal Climate Updates (GADCU) based on data from the GPCs-ADCP and other contributing institutions.Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is a project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) that contributes to global climate change projections. It supports national and international assessments of climate change, including those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).At regional levelRegional Climate Centres (RCCs) are centres of excellence that create regional climate products, including long-range forecasts that support both regional and national climate activities.Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs) and Regional Climate Forums (RCFs)s are platforms that bring together national, regional and international climate experts and stakeholders from countries in a climatologically homogenous region to provide climate predictions based on input from NMHSs, regional institutions, WMO RCCs, GPCs-LRFs and other climate prediction centres. Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) projects aim at advancing and coordinating the science and application of regional climate downscaling through global partnership. CORDEX is a crucial resource for RCCs to fulfill their highly recommended functions on climate change projections.At national levelNational Climate Outlook Forums (NCOFs) and National Climate Forums (NCFs) provide opportunities for focused discussions on the significance of climate outlooks, risk information, and warnings for decision-makers in specific sectors and broader community.WMO partners that support CSISWhile CSIS entities are largely comprised of WMO-designated centres and NMHSs, other international climate centres closely cooperate with WMO structures and programmes and provide valuable inputs to CSIS operations. These are:Copernicus Climate Change Services (C3S),International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), andAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Climate Centre (APCC)  Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS)

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is co-sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IOC-UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), and the International Science Council (ISC). It regularly assesses the status of global climate observations of the atmosphere, land, and ocean, and produces guidance for their improvement.  GCOS expert panels maintain definitions of “Essential Climate Variables,” (ECVs) which are required to systematically observe Earth’s changing climate. The observations supported by GCOS contribute to solving challenges in climate research and underpin climate services, adaptation and mitigation measures. 

To enable better management of the risks of climate variability and change and adaptation to climate change, through the development and incorporation of science-based climate information and prediction into planning, policy and practice on the global, regional and national scale. Climate services provide climate information in a way that assists decision-making by individuals and organizations. Such services require appropriate engagement along with an effective access mechanism and must respond to user needs. Such services involve high-quality data from national and international databases on temperature, rainfall, wind, soil moisture and ocean conditions, as well as maps, risk and vulnerability analyses, assessments, and long-term projections and scenarios. Depending on the user’s needs, these data and information products may be combined with non-meteorological data, such as agricultural production, health trends, population distributions in high-risk areas, road and infrastructure maps for the delivery of goods, and other socioeconomic variables. 

As a worldwide network of operational centres operated by WMO Members, the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WIPPS) makes defined products and services operationally available among WMO Members and relevant operational organizations for applications related to weather, climate, water and the environment.  High-quality products and services are generated using advanced science and technology such as Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and Earth system modelling, better observations, improved data assimilation, increased computing power, and enhanced knowledge of weather dynamics and physics. These advancements have led to more accurate predictions, benefiting operational meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, and climatology. However, there is a significant disparity in forecasting capabilities among WMO Members, with developed Members benefiting more from these advancements compared to developing and least developed countries due to limited resources.   WIPPS serves as a framework to address this gap for sharing operationally meteorological, hydrological, oceanographic, and climatological data. WIPPS allows Members to access and utilise the most advanced numerical models’ data and applications, leveraging scientific and technological advancements in Earth system modelling. WIPPS is facilitated by the WMO Information System (WIS), which supports international data exchange. By expanding the range of designated and participating centres, WIPPS enhances the global data-processing and forecasting system, enabling a broader range of applications to strengthen the world’s weather, climate, water and related environmental services.  WIPPS was previously known as the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS).

The co-sponsored1 World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) leads the way in addressing frontier scientific questions related to the coupled climate system — questions that are too large and too complex to be tackled by a single nation, agency, or scientific discipline. The Programme coordinates and facilitates international climate research to develop, share, and apply the climate knowledge that contributes to societal well-being. WCRP research addresses the most pressing scientific questions related to the climate system to predict its near-term evolution, anticipate future pathways of climate change, and advance our scientific understanding. This supports the development of actionable climate information, scientific assessments, educational approaches, and public communication strategies that require collaborative efforts with multi-sectoral actors in all regions of the globe. WCRP’s work involves hundreds of scientists throughout the world, organized around a large number of research projects, activities, events, and publications. WCRP science underpins the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including national commitments under the Paris Agreement of 2015, and contributes to the knowledge that supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and multilateral environmental conventions. Please visit the WCRP website for more information. 1 Co-sponsored by WMO, the International Science Council (ISC), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

In 2006, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Climatology (CCl) WMO OPAG 2 group unanimously agreed to the creation of a world archive for verifying, certifying and storing world weather extremes. They agreed that a set of procedures should be established such that existing record extremes are verified and made available to the general public and that future weather record extremes are verified and certified. They agreed that future weather extremes would be evaluated by a committee consisting of the WMO CCl Rapporteur for Climate Extremes, the chair of the OPAG 2 group, the chair of the overarching CC1 group, a regional authority, and as necessary an authority associated with the specific type of record (temperature, pressure, hail, tornado, tropical cyclone, etc.). The committee would recommend a finding to the Rapporteur. The Rapporteur for Climate Extremes would have final authority and responsibility for certifying the record.

The WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) promotes research to improve weather prediction and its impacts on society for minutes to months ahead. The improvements in science and operational predictions are driven by international cooperation, which can drive sustainable development.WWRP's key objectives are:Advance research of the Earth system on times scales from minutes to months. This research, through the science-for-services value cycle approach, provides locally and regionally actionable weather information,Improve the warning process to account for increasing risks and the evolving nature of extreme weather impacts, andQuantify and reduce uncertainty in predictions on time scales from minutes to months.In addition, communication of forecasts, warnings and their uncertainty, and indication of the impacts of these warnings, raise new challenges for weather-related approaches for the full value cycle. To address these, WWRP adopts an interdisciplinary collaborative approach, linking social scientists, academia, and Early Career Scientists.