World Meteorological OrganizationWorking together in weather, climate and water

Climate data

Karolin Eichler (keichler@wmo.int)

WMO; OBS/WIS/DMA www.wmo.int

WMO

WMOIntroduction

• World Meteorological Organization is a specialized agency of the UN• It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, its

interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.

• The WMO Technical Commission for Climatology (CCl) guides the development and implementation of data and monitoring projects through two Open Panels of CCl Experts OPACE-1 and OPACE-2

• CG-XVI resolution on Climate Data: DARE, modern archiving, exchange, methods and tools for improved analysis and applications need urgent attention for meeting the GFCS requirements

• The development of climate datasets is based on:– Routinely disseminated daily and monthly weather and climate observations by the National

Meteorological and Hydrological Services of the 189 WMO Members following the WMO standards for data collection, quality control and exchange;

– Historical climate records dating back to 1850, including marine climate summaries;– Recovered old climate records worldwide as part of continuous data rescue efforts promoted by WMO

and its Members;– Data from specialized centres (tropical cyclones, snow and ice, ozone, greenhouse gazes)– Peer reviewed scientific methods for quality control, homogenization and interpolation to constitute high

quality global climate datasets.

World Weather RecordsWMO

• Including monthly mean values of pressure, temperature, precipitation

• Cg XVI (Geneva 2011):

• Importance of updating WWR continuously was emphasized

• Request to complete WWR 1991-2000 & 2001-2010

• Move to annual updates afterwards

• Guidelines available

Decadal Global Climate SummaryWMO

• Includes a general climate assessment related to temperature and precipitation as well as a summary of key climate patterns and extreme events

• We asked our Members for:•The highest national decadal maximum temperature for the last decade and if available for the decades before.•The lowest national decadal minimum temperature for the last decade and if available for the decades before.•The highest national decadal 24 h precipitation for the last decade and if available for the decades before.•The decadal mean temperature and its anomaly with respect to 1961-1990 for the last decade and if available for the decades before.•The annual mean temperature of each of the last 10 years (2001 – 2010) and its anomaly with respect to 1961-1990.•The 3 most severe extreme events which occurred during the last decade and their impact.

• 112 out of 189 Members responded, not all could be used

Analysis IWMO

Temperature anomaly by decade

over six geographical

regions: Africa, Asia, Europe,

North America and Oceania. Countries

with no data provided are blank. The anomalies are

computed with respect to 1961-

1990 period (WMO country data)

Analysis IIWMO

Occurrence of national-wide 24-hour precipitation and highest and lowest

temperature during the last 5 decades. The sample size is 102 for temperature

and 101 for precipitation. Data assessment starts in 1961 (Source:

WMO country data).

Analysis III – partnership with socio-economic sectorsWMO

Number of people killed during the heat wave 2003 and 2010

66720

20089 19490

15090

9355

2696

55736

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

Europe (5countries)

Italy 2003 France 2003 Spain 2003 Germany2003

Portugal 2003 Russia 2010

Nu

mb

er o

f d

eath

s

Number of people killed due to the heat wave 2003 and 2010 (Source: EM-DAT/CRED)

Economic losses 2003:

France and Italy:

4.4 bn US $ each

Germany:

1.65 bn US $

In 2010 the resulting wildfires caused an

economic damage of 1.8 bn US $.

Surface temperatureWMO

-0.8

-0.7

-0.6

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Decadal global (black) combined surface air temperature over land and sea and linear fitted trend over the whole period 1851-2010 and annual (dark blue) combined surface air temperature over land and sea linear with the light blue area representing 95 percent

uncertainty range (Data source: HadCRUT4, Met Office Hadley Centre and Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom).

PrecipitationWMO

Decadal precipitation anomalies for global land

areas for 2001-2010; gridded 1.0-degree raingauge-based

analysis as normalized departures in mm/year

focussing on 1951-2000 base period. (Source: Global

Precipitation Climatology Centre, Deutscher

Wetterdienst, Germany)

Climatological NormalsWMO

Climatological standard normals: Averages of climatological data computed for the following consecutive periods of 30 years: 1 January 1901 to 31 December 1930, 1 January 1931 to 31 December 1960, etc. (Technical Regulations). WMO publishes the climatological standard normals which are computed by the WMO Members for their observing stations. (CLINO), WMO No.847. The latest version of this publication includes the standard normals for the period 1961-1990.

Country profile data baseWMO

Climatoligical Normals in the data baseWMO

WMO statement on the status of the global climateWMO

-Yearly publication since 1994 printed in several languages

- Provides the annual status of climate worldwide

- Includes the observed Global Surface Temperature trend, regional temperature anomalies and observed extreme weather and climate events in many places of the World

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