Meteorological geographical features
| Meteorological geographical features | |
| III | |
| Weather conditions and their measurements precipitation temperature evapotranspiration wind speed and direction | |
| Historical versions of the theme definition are found in the INSPIRE IMS and Scoping papers Weather conditions and their measurements precipitation temperature evapotranspiration wind INSPIRE IMS 2003 Weather conditions and their measurements precipitation temperature evapotranspiration wind speed and direction INSPIRE Scoping 2004 In order to place into context the range of spatial data types relevant to this theme we consider the typical forecast cycle of a national meteorological service NMS This will a collect meteorological observations over say a six hour interval b assimilate these into a numerical model to produce an estimate of the current atmospheric state c use this analysis as the initial condition for a model forecast run forward in time typically out to several days Four broad types of data are involved at different phases of the cycle 1 Observations around 11000 surface stations globally make up the Global Observing System reporting such atmospheric parameters as weather cloud temperature humidity wind visibility pressure A subset of these stations make climate observations which include daily temperature minimum and maximum sunshine hours rainfall amount etc In addition around 1000 upper air stations make radiosonde free rising balloon observations of pressure wind temperature and humidity Voluntary observing ship and drifting buoys make marine observations including sea surface temperature and wave height and period Several hundred thousand reports per day of pressure winds and temperature are made from aircraft observations 2 Synoptic analysis Gridded wind temperature humidity geopotential height precipitation etc Also sensible weather elements fronts cloud thunderstorm activity etc will be analysed 3 Forecasts Numerous forecast products are produced operationally A conventional weather forecast contains similar elements to the synoptic analysis 4 Climatological data Long term time series of data either observations or analyses may be analysed statistically to create climatologies e g 20th century decadal averages seasonal monthly minimum or maximum etc There is considerable overlap and ambiguity between the themes Atmospheric conditions and Meteorological geographical features e g weather conditions Meteorological geographical features including precipitation temperature wind etc are precisely components of the atmospheric state Atmospheric conditions Numerous suggestions have been made by stakeholders to resolve this ambiguity They include merging the themes it is impossible to amend the Directive but it would be sensible to consider the themes jointly during data specification development distinguishing field based data Atmospheric conditions from point based data Meteorological geographical features distinguishing time series amp near real time data Atmospheric conditions from gridded climate data Meteorological geographical features distinguishing climate data Atmospheric conditions from observations and forecasts Meteorological geographical features To resolve the ambiguity between themes we consider the multi level approach to data needs assessment applied in the INSPIRE Environmental Thematic User Needs Position Paper 2002 Data at local or regional level are often needed for management and policy implementation while lower resolution smaller scale data are often required for reporting and policy development evaluation The latter includes summaries and integrated data products The scope of Meteorological geographical features thematic data should be limited to local level high resolution weather related data typically observations This includes synoptic observations from stations making up the WMO RA VI European Regional Basic Synoptic Network The WMO operates a dedicated network the Global Telecommunications System to distribute observations and data products Data exchange is governed by WMO Resolution 40 which provides for free and unrestricted exchange of observational data essential for forecast activities Additional nominated data and products may be provided with charge while all data must be supplied free of charge excluding costs of reproduction and delivery for research and education The ECOMET Catalogue http www meteo oma be ECOMET Categories of data and products htm provides a one stop shop index of both essential and chargeable data and product offerings from European NMSs A similar catalogue is available for the European Centre for Medium range Weather Forecasting ECMWF http www ecmwf int products catalogue | |
| Theme - Meteorological geographical features |