World Meteorological Organization &Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (of UNESCO)JOINT WMO/IOC TECHNICAL COMMISSION FOR OCEANOGRAPHY AND MARINE METEOROLOGYFifth SessionDenpasar, Bali, Indonesia, 25 to 29 October 2017

JCOMM-5/INF. 12.1(2)Submitted by:

WMO and IOC Secretariats26.X.2017

THE JCOMM 10-YEAR VISION

What is JCOMM: Building Bridges, Increasing Coordination

The Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) was established by its parent organizations, the World Meteorological Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (of UNESCO) in 1999. Its main aim was to coordinate worldwide marine meteorological and oceanographic services as well as their supporting observational, data management, forecasting, analysis and capacity building programmes.

Oceanography and marine meteorology have traditionally evolved separately due to the different levels in observing and modeling technologies used to monitor and forecast the different environmental conditions at the ocean-atmosphere interface and in the surface and deep ocean. For example, wave and storm surge forecasting, which are the essential components of marine meteorology were developed to an operational level in the 1970s and 1980s, while ocean forecasting, from the short to the seasonal scales, started in the 1990s and matured in the first decade of the 2000s.

JCOMM aims to build bridges between the meteorological and oceanographic communities in order to advance the effectiveness of the technology and to satisfy the growing needs of the ocean economy and of a range of services such as weather/ocean/climate monitoring and forecasting. The basic meteorological and oceanographic stakeholder community, represented by UNESCO IOC and WMO, has called for innovations in the monitoring and forecasting systems, which produce the essential marine environmental data for a myriad of applications, from disaster risk reduction to renewable energy.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its “Ocean economy in 2030” (http://www.oecd.org/environment/the-ocean-economy-in-2030-9789264251724-en.htm) documented the rapid expansion of industrial and societal maritime sectors such as world ocean trade, oil and gas exploration, fisheries, coastal urban developments and tourism. At the same time it highlighted the serious deterioration in the health of the ocean due to the increased human activities at sea and their unsustainable initial development. The 21th century will be stigmatized as the century when the negative impacts of climate change will reach maturity, thus affecting human well-being, ocean ecosystem health and the marine environmental status. Most of these impacts will derive from nonlinear interactions between the sub-components of the climate system, in particular the atmosphere, the oceans and the water cycle.

These are the main reasons why strengthened coordination of JCOMM is needed in order to develop new capabilities with the potential of breaking down infrastructural, technological and methodological barriers between meteorology and oceanography and hydrology;

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increasing coordination of national, regional, and global systems; and improving the coordination of wide variety of ocean systems (in-situ, satellite, moored, autonomous) and services. Such coordination is critical for development of innovation to meet the challenges of the Sustainable Development goals for the Ocean (SDG 14), and Climate (SDG 13); including weather extremes.

Users’ Needs

Users of JCOMM are fundamentally Members of the WMO and Member States of the IOC of UNESCO. In order to comply with policy decisions regarding maritime space, the marine environment and the increasing need for better and more accurate monitoring and forecasting of changes for disaster risk reduction and mitigation/adaptation plans, WMO and IOC Members have instituted research and operational infrastructures that organize services for the provision of high quality data and the education of professionals. More specifically, the met-ocean research and operational community is an important user of JCOMM, thus benefiting in terms of global data availability and coordination, and at the same time providing the technological innovation and the sustained capability for efficient long term monitoring and forecasting of met-ocean conditions.

A JCOMM Stakeholder survey carried out in 2016 produced an important initial assessment of user needs, which are summarized in Fig. 1.

Fig 1: Level of importance regarding access to data, reviewing regulatory materials, standards and best practices, capacity development and marine competency (period of survey: April-May 2016; 1600 users asked to contribute, with about 82 replies).

JCOMM aims to maximize the benefits for its Members/Member States in the projects, programs and activities that it undertakes in their interest and to improve the global met-ocean observing and forecasting community standards in general.

JCOMM users have requested improvements in weather, climate, water, oceanic and related environmental information and services. Natural and man-induced hazards and risks associated with climate variability and extreme environmental events require new meteorological, hydrological, oceanographic and climate services in order to ensure the safety and security of populations and the development of flexible economic strategies. Responding to these multiple hazards is critical given that social, environmental and economic vulnerability is increasing particularly in Small Island States and continental low-lying coastlines.

An improved coordination of met-ocean global and regional-specific observing and forecasting systems can support the challenge of monitoring and predicting the weather and the changing

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climate with a view towards addressing the growing risks and needs, particularly to favor the growth of a sustainable ocean economy.

JCOMM TODAY AND ITS SUCCESS CASES

JCOMM is organized into three different Programme Areas which involve Expert Teams in specific fields. It also organizes the JCOMMOPS In Situ Observing Platform Support Center and other cross-cutting activities or specific Task team groups. The scheme in Fig. 2 was approved in May 2012 at the JCOMM-4 Assembly and was the way JCOMM worked in the 2012-2017 inter-sessional period.

Fig. 2 The JCOMM organizational structure after JCOMM-4 session in May 2012

The 2012-2017 inter-sessional period continued to strengthen the coordination of the integrated met-ocean global system. An overview of the success cases for JCOMM is shown in Fig. 3.

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JCOMMOPS OPEN GTS

Marine Climate Data System Integrated Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Services within WIS

Updated best practice manuals Waves and Coastal Hazards

Fig. 3 The JCOMM inter-sessional period exemplary success cases

JCOMM’S 10-Year Vision

It is clear that JCOMM has made progress in the past 20 years in interfacing the meteorological and oceanographic community. However there are challenges which involve:

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1. coordinating the development of a fully integrated met-hydro-ocean system, end-to-end from observations to services, and improving data management best practices;

2. moving forward in Science and Technology to improve the integrated met-hydro-ocean system to comply with user needs in a more fit-for-purpose way, ensuring efficient transitions from research to operations and applications;

3. building the international network and the global data sharing infrastructure between WMO, IOC and their hydrological commissions, the Commission for Hydrology (CHy) and the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), and other technical commissions;

4. developing an efficient platform in order to build equitable capacity in Marine Meteorology and Oceanography in support of Members/Member States;

5. developing marine competencies and cost-recovery services taking national policies into account;

6. ensuring collaboration with UN bodies such as IHO, IMO, UNISDR and others, strengthening met-ocean service inputs for United Nations Conventions and Sustainable Development Goals.

JCOMM’s main actors and stakeholders are, and will continue to be, the WMO Members and IOC Member State services and organizations. However it is recommended that new stakeholders, such as private companies and NGOs, should also be involved in defining requirements. It is also essential in future phases to interface more consistently with other large programs, such as GEO and WCRP. Moreover, stronger coordination with the satellite community is critical for improving knowledge, products, and met-ocean services.

The long-term objectives of JCOMM are thus to:

I. Ensure that the main strategic objectives of the WMO and IOC are recognized and considered in all JCOMM activities;

II. Enhance the standardized provision of high accuracy met-ocean data, information, products and marine meteorological and oceanographic services in support of:

a. the safety of life and property at sea and in coastal areas;

b. the enhancement of resilience and preparedness for coastal natural and man made hazards, including tsunami;

c. the development of risk management practices for ocean-based commercial and industrial activities with a view to disaster risk reduction (DRR) at all levels in a more cooperative, cost-effective, systematic and sustainable manner.;

d. climate research and services;

e. the enhancement of the operational services required to reach the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals;

III. Coordinate the enhancement and long-term maintenance of an integrated global marine meteorological and oceanographic observing and data management system as part of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the

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World Weather Watch (WWW), other operational programmes, and in collaboration with the WMO Commission for Basic Systems (CBS), the Committee for International Oceanographic Data and information Exchange (IODE), the WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS) and other appropriate bodies and or related technical commissions;

IV. Manage the selective incorporation of advances in meteorological and oceanographic science and technology; adapt this evolution to the growing needs of the ocean economy and its sustainable development; and work to ensure that all countries have the capacity to benefit from, and contribute to, these advances;

V. Encourage the provision of advanced marine safety services using modern communication and dissemination platforms where messages can be provided more frequently and state of the art products are used;

VI. Promote and facilitate the equitable participation of all WMO Members and IOC Member States in all activities of, and benefit from all products and services provided by JCOMM.

Ten-Year Strategic Goals

Given the great diversity of users and uses of JCOMM within the met-ocean community, the vision and goals are clearly composite. There will always be gaps and needs for improved observations, infrastructure, data management and services, but how they should be managed to the full advantage of Members/Member States is the goal of JCOMM. The JCOMM solution lies in meeting the user requirements through international cooperation.

To reach the JCOMM Vision, several key strategic goals need to be achieved:

Observations

1. contribute towards a fit-for-purpose, integrated, technically advanced and coherent ocean observing system which supports a rapidly expanding set of weather, climate, marine and ocean services targeting stakeholders across the globe;

Data Management

2. ensure the collection, processing, integration, dissemination and eventual archiving of as much fit-for-purpose relevant data of a known quality to meet the current demands for integrated oceanographic and marine meteorological information by the research and operational communities;

3. enhance the data exchange capacity of Member/Member States by setting standards and best practices for both observational and model data and information;

Services, Forecasting System

4. improve the met-ocean reanalysis, analysis and forecasting capacity (including air-sea fluxes, waves, sea level, storm surges and currents) of Member/Members States by developing best practices and enhancing intercomparison of products;

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5. take a more focused approach to services related to disasters in the marine and coastal zone, guided by the Sendai Framework and other relevant frameworks such as the SOLAS Convention, and with links to other bodies and Technical Commissions working on DRR activities, for example UN-Oceans, the IOC’s Tsunami Programme, and the WMO’s Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project, jointly supported with technical expertise from WMO Commission for Hydrology (CHy) and JCOMM.

Standards and Best Practices

6. develop and make available best practice manuals for the recently developed operational ocean forecasting systems and collaborate with marine focused Global Data Processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS) centres, within the context of the seamless GDPFS;

7. encourage the development of best practices and new products for Member States/Members fisheries/aquaculture services;

Coordination, Collaboration and Strategy

8. coordinate the uptake of new data management schemes, including big data processing by the Met-Ocean services;

9. enhance the coordination between the satellite and in situ components of the observing system, together with the efficient research to operation transitions, in order to plan and evolve a fully sustainable system;

10. improve the collaboration between IOC/CD and WMO/ETR to leverage the Capacity Development (CD) expertise and experience in both organizations and to advise the Programme Area’s in developing and implementing their CD work plans by making use of existing mechanisms and facilities (WMO global campus and regional training centres, IOC regional sub-commissions, GOOS Regional Alliances, IODE OceanTeacher Global Academy, IODE Regional Training Centres, WESTPAC Regional Training and Research Centres,, etc.)

11. define a collaboration strategy between WMO Regional Associations and IOC GOOS Regional Alliances to enhance the provision of services in the regions of interest;

12. coordinate JCOMM activities with a seamless numerical prediction process to progress from weather to climate predictions;

13. develop a JCOMM strategy to further the understanding of the stakeholder needs for met-ocean observations and services;

14. provide a more stable framework in Marine Environmental Emergency Response, favouring a more integrated approach, and working with the Commission for Basic Systems concerning the Emergency Response Activities (ERA) programme, and other agencies, such as IAEA and IMO as appropriate.

15. coordinate the work of the Maritime Safety Services with the Sea Ice services and with the National Marine Service Focal Points within each Member/Member States ensuring state-of-the-art products particularly given changing ocean and polar regions;

16. Coordinate implementation activities of the TPOS-2020 WIGOS regional pilot activity advancing the regional integration of observing systems and services.

Capacity Development and Performance Assessment

17. help to widen and strengthen the user base of Member/Member States met-ocean services in support of the ocean economy;

18. offer basic and advanced training for professionals, scientists and academics in all countries with a particular emphasis on developing countries.

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19. define a methodological framework to assess the performance of the different Expert Teams, Pilot Projects and Task Teams to address the Vision and the implementing strategy.