EMERGENCY ALERTING POLICY WORKSHOP

1. EMERGENCY ALERTING POLICY WORKSHOP Haleh Kootval Chief, Public Weather Services WMO Montreal, Canada, 1-2 May 2012

2. WMO’s Global Operational Network Global Observing System Global Telecommunication System Global Data Processing And Forecasting System: 3 World Meteorological Centres 40 Regional Specialized Centers NMHSs have the crucial alerting function and deliver information and warning services

3. PWS Dissemination Weather Hazards floods, fire, drought, strong winds, heavy snow etc Services by NMHSs Weather Forecasts, watches, alerts, Warnings Dissemination Methods Websites, TV, Radio, Telephone, RANET Examples of Groups served by NMHSs General Public, isolated communities, Government and civil defence authorities etc.

4. Public Alerting • The 189 WMO Members have crucial public alerting functions, often based in NMHSs • WMO infrastructures for observations, analysis, forecasting, and communications can support global implementation of the CAP standard • WMO supports all-media, all-hazards public alerting worldwide

5. History of WMO and CAP • WMO Congress in 2007 requested SG to “improve the exchange of high priority data and products in support of a virtual all-hazards network” • EC-LX in 2008 requested CBS to follow up on CAP implementation as a matter of urgency • EC-LXI in 2009 requested Secretariat and invited all Members and RAs to work towards implementing CAP • PWS and WIS collaboration • SG letters to PRs • Three workshops held in WMO

6. The WMO Register of Alerting Authorities • Developed for WMO PWS • Members identify their officially recognized alerting authorities for all types of hazards • Register has categories of alert messages, plus URL's for forecasts and CAP messages • Aggregators of alert messages and others can subscribe to a news feed to stay current with any changes to theregister • http://www-db.wmo.int/alerting/authorities.html

7. Register of Alerting Authorities

8. WMO and CAP • Hydrology: Flood forecasting and warning • Tropical Cyclones • Severe Weather Information Centre • SWFDP • Meteoalarm

9. Use of CAP for flood forecasting • Link providers and users • Bridge between hydrologists and disaster managers • Hydrological and meteological alerts disseminated at once • Messages quantify the level of risk • Not yet widely adopted (national standards prevail)

10. Meteoalarm • Provides a European alert information on line for weather parameters • Harmonized as far as possible • Source: NMHSs • Users: European locals, traveling public • CAP in Meteoalarm?

11. MeteoAlarm operational mapsfortoday + tomorrow

12. Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP) WMO • Improve Severe Weather Forecasting and warnings lead time • Improve interaction of NMHSs with users, including media, disaster management and civil protection authorities, and other user communities (e.g. agriculture, fisheries, etc.) • Overall improvement in Service Delivery Two components: Forecasting and PWS SWFDP Regional Subprojects • Southern Africa • South Pacific Islands • Southeast Asia • Eastern Africa • Bay of Bengal • Several other regions being considered (Central Asia)

13. SWFDP Cascading Forecasting Process Disaster Management Centres Global Centers RSMC Pretoria NMCs 13 Global NWPcentres provide available NWP and EPS products cut to the project window frame; Regional centres interpret information received from global NWP centres, prepare daily guidance products (out to day-5) for NMCs, run limited-area model to refine products, maintain RSMC Web site, liaise with the participating NMCs; National Met Centres maintain responsibility/authority over national warning services, issue alerts, warnings, liaise with various users

14. Public Weather Services SMS; Weather Radio Systems; Public Web; etc. General Public Radio; TV E-mail; etc. Media Disaster Management and Civil Protection Specific Communication Systems SWFDP and CAP • Within the framework and activities of SWFDP, CAP fits in the PWS "dissemination" part Should become CAP-enabled

15. Tropical Cyclones Example

16. SWIC: an international TC Warning Tool

17. Tropical Cyclones and CAP • Two TC bodies (Typhoon Committee and Panel on Tropical Cyclones) have considered CAP a potentially useful way of disseminating warnings to the public and other users. • RSMC/TCWCs may consider the possibility of delivering TC advisories in CAP format as well • Overall support but not implemented

18. Conclusions Operations • WMO has promoted CAP • WMO systems can carry CAP messages • Very little uptake in the hydrological community • At regional level limited uptake: Still not fully appreciated • Adoption on individual country basis • Promotion needs to be more focused and target specific communities or programme areas

19. Conclusions Policy • WMO created the Register of Alerting Authorities to support CAP “ authoritative” sources of warning • Several editors have been registered • Few have edited their country templates as Alerting Authorities: this needs to be improved • Register essential to safeguard the authoritative sources of warnings • WMO Members to refer to their membership in the Register when asserting their authority for issuing national warnings • Response to the policy questions may help convince others to implement CAP and participate in the Register

20. Thank you Haleh Kootval hkootval@wmo.in