THE JOINT RA II / RA V WORKSHOP ON WIGOS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Indonesia has hosted a workshop focusing on the potential benefits of the World Meteorological
Organization Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) for Disaster Risk Reduction, and
the need for its coordinated implementation in Asia and the South West Pacific.
“WIGOS is a framework for integrating WMO observing systems and as contributions to cosponsored observing systems in planning, operating, and delivering observations to meet user
needs, to enable more efficient and effective service delivery “said Dr. Sue Barrell, the Chair of
Inter-Commission Coordination Group of WIGOS.
Dr. Andy Eka Sakya, Director-General of the Agency for Meteorology Climatology and
Geophysics of the Republic of Indonesia (BMKG), said he hoped the workshop would promote
joint projects in WMO’s Regional Associations for Asia (RA II) and the South-West Pacific (RA
V), particularly among ASEAN member countries and its neighboring.
“The major goal of this workshop as outlined by the WMO WIGOS Office is to draft preliminary
plans for joint projects that could enhance the data quality and availability for the benefit of
warnings and forecast, particularly in South East Asia Region. More specifically the
collaborative project will be focused on the use of remotely sensed meteorological data such as
data of weather radar and satellite to support disaster risk reduction,” said Andi Eka Sakya, who
is president of the Regional Association for the South-West Pacific.
“If radar images shared among members, if satellite data utilized effectively by users, they will
contribute on disaster risk reduction. So, how to make a full use of radar data and satellite data is
critically important for DRR activity in this region,” said one of the invited experts from Japan,
Mr. Yoshiro Tanaka
The workshop took place 12-15 October and was attended by 20 participants from 14 countries
(Indonesia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Lao,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam). It recommended the
establishment of joint RA II/RA V Coordinating Groups that promote the progress and alignment
of the existing activities and projects and liaise amongst all partners
Participants presented country reports on national radar requirements and plans as well as is on
use of satellite data focusing on challenges in monitoring and forecasting extreme weather
events, such as tropical cyclones, including their impact, and where additional observation
capabilities could help.
“We hope this workshop will be able to define two WIGOS projects that relevant for this
particular sub region, across RA II and RA V, that will help the WMO member countries in the
region to strengthen and improve the use of satellite data and to make a first step toward to
develop region radar mosaic where you share rainfall estimation data across the whole sub
region” said Dr. Lars Peter Riishojgaard, WMO’s WIGOS Project Manager.
At the workshop, WMO presented a new tool called OSCAR (Observing Systems Capability
Analysis and Review) Tool. It is a resource developed by WMO in support of Earth Observation
applications, studies, and global coordination that contains quantitative user-defined
requirements for observation of physical variables in application areas of WMO (i.e. related to
weather, water, and climate). OSCAR also provides detailed information on all earth observation
satellites and instruments, and expert analyses of space-based capabilities.
Invited speakers addressed the interoperability of observing systems for the real-time exchange
of meteorological data and products, such as weather radars, meteorological satellites, lightning
detection systems, and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).
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