OPAG on Climate Data and Data Management

1. Overview

Organised under the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP), the Commission for Climatology (CCl) has three Open Programme Area Groups (OPAGs). OPAG 1 is on Climate Data and Data Management. OPAG 2 is on the Monitoring and Analysis of Climate Variability and Change. And OPAG 3 is on Climate Applications, Information and Prediction Services.

OPAG 1 is chaired by Neil Plummer ( Australia) with Peter Ambenje ( Kenya) as Co-Chair. It consists of:

2. OPAG 1 Reports

 - Plans

• OPAG 1 Workplan Summary (current 25 January 2005) (MS Word, 50 KB)

The individual plans below are old versions and, in places, may differ from the OPAG 1 Workplan Summary.

• Implementation/Coordination Team for Climate Data Management (MS Word, 35 KB)
• Expert Team on Observing Requirements and Standards for Climate (MS Word, 35 KB)
• Expert Team on the Rescue, Preservation and Digitization of Climate Records (MS Word, 45 KB)
• Expert Team on Metadata for Climate Applications
• Expert Team on National Networks and Observations in Support of Climate Activities (MS Word, 35 KB)

 - Progress Reports

• October 2005 Final OPAG 1 report for the Intersessional period (MS Word, 57 KB)
• October 2005 Final OPAG 1 presentation for the Intersessional period (MS PowerPoint, 1.5 MB)
• August 2005 Reports from ET on data rescue (MS PowerPoint, 45 KB) and national networks (MS Word, 50 KB)
• January 2005 (MS Word, 105 KB)
• December 2003(MS Word, 40 KB)
• August 2003 (MS Word, 70 KB)
• May 2003 (MS Word, 35 KB)
  1. Attachment 1 CCl Expert Meeting to prepare WCDMP Guidance, Malaga, Spain, 24-26 February 2003 (“Report on CCl Meeting WCDMP Guidance Malaga 0203.doc”) (MS Word, 20 KB)
  2. Attachment 2 The Third International Conference on Experiences with AWSs Torremolinos, Spain, 19-21 February 2003 (“ICEAWS III Spain 0203.doc”) (MS Word, 20 KB)
  3. Attachment 3 GCOS Steering Committee meeting, 11 th Session, Melbourne, Australia, 7-10 April 2003 (“GCOS Steering Committee meeting XI report 0403.doc”) (MS Word, 40 KB)
• December 2002 (MS Word, 30 KB)

3. OPAG 1 Outputs

 - Papers and presentations

An article titled “Climate Data and Data Management” (pdf, 640 KB) in the July 2003 issue of the WMO Bulletin describes many of the activities and challenges facing the OPAG.

• Presentation (MS Powerpoint, 11 Mb)
• Paper (MS Word, 85 KB)

 - Guideline Statements

In collaboration with OPAG 2, the OPAG on the Monitoring and Analysis of Climate Variability and Change, we have prepared three Guideline Statements on:

• Climate Observation Networks and Systems
• Metadata and Homogeneity
• Data Rescue

These, and other WCDMP publications, are available from http://www.wmo.ch/web/wcp/wcdmp/html/wcdmpreplist.html

Further Guideline documents have been developed on:

• Phenological observations
• Automated versus manual surface meteorological observations - decision factors (MS Word, 116 KB) (decision path schematic) (MS PowerPoint, 32 KB)
• Managing changes in observations programs (MS Word, 175 KB)
• Climate data management (MS Word, 5.2 MB)
• Extensible markup language (XML): essentials for climatologists (MS Word, 78 KB)
• Quality control/Quality assurance of climate data (in progress)
• Guide to the calculation of climate normals (in progress)

Shorter contributions:

• Calculation of CLIMAT Mean Temperatures (A Draft for the Guide to Climatological Practices Part II) (MS Word, 41 KB)
• Guidelines on data accessibility (MS Word, 50 KB)
• Guidelines on maintaining national climate networks (MS Word, 50 KB)
• Image file naming convention for data rescue (MS Word, 20 KB)

Also of relevance:

• CCl Rapporteur report: FWIS (Future WMO Information System) Questionnaire (MS Word, 53 KB)
• Data rescue in Southeast Asia and South Pacific region: challenges and opportunities (PDF, 455 KB)

OPAG 1 also provided inputs to the WMO Guide to Climatological Practices.

 - Brochures

Data Rescue

4. Other Activities

RAV Data Management Training Workshop, Melbourne, 29 November to 2 December 2004

• Report
• Participants
• Points from breakout sessions (MS Word, 35 KB)

5. Related Programs, Projects and Activities

• World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP)
• WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl)
• Climate Database Management System project
• Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
• WMO Commission for Basic Systems
• WMO Commission for Instrumentation and Methods of Observation
• WMO Joint Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology
• Pacific Island GCOS
• Group on Earth Observations (GEO)

6. Useful References

Climate Observation Systems and Networks (MS Word, 40 KB)

7. Further Information

Neil Plummer
Chair OPAG 1 – Climate Data and Data Management
National Climate Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
700 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
Tel +61 3 9669 4714; Fax: +61 3 9669 4725; Mobile 0419 117865
Email n.plummer@bom.gov.au