World Meteorological Organization &

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

(of UNESCO)
JOINT WMO/IOC TECHNICAL COMMISSION FOR JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3
OCEANOGRAPHY AND MARINE METEOROLOGY Submitted by:
Fifth Session WMO and IOC Secretariats
Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, 25 to 29 October 2017 28.IX.2017
DRAFT 1

AGENDA ITEM 6: DATA MANAGEMENT, EXCHANGE, AND INFORMATION

SYSTEMS

AGENDA ITEM 6.3: MARINE CLIMATOLOGY AND MARINE CLIMATE DATA

SYSTEM

SUMMARY

DECISIONS/ACTIONS REQUIRED:

(a) Adopt draft Decision 6.3/1 - Full revision of: The Guide to the Applications of Marine
Climatology (WMO-No. 781) and associated JCOMM Technical Report No 13. Advances
in the Applications of Marine Climatology The Dynamic Part of the WMO Guide to the
Applications of Marine Climatology;

(b) Adopt draft Decision 6.3/2 Marine Climatology Workshops;

(b) Adopt draft Recommendation 6.3/1 - Establishment of Data Acquisition Centres (DACs)
and Global Data Assembly Centres (GDACs) into the new Marine Climate Data System
(MCDS).

CONTENT OF DOCUMENT:

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 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 2

DRAFT DECISIONS

Draft Decision 6.3/1 (JCOMM-5)

Full revision of: The Guide to the Applications of Marine Climatology (WMO-No. 781)
and associated JCOMM Technical Report No 13. Advances in the Applications of
Marine Climatology The Dynamic Part of the WMO Guide to the Applications of
Marine Climatology

THE JOINT WMO/IOC TECHNICAL COMMISSION FOR OCEANOGRAPHY AND MARINE

METEOROLOGY,

Recalling the establishment of the JCOMM Marine Climate Data System (MCDS) through
Recommendation 2, (JCOMM-4),

Noting:

(1) Recent modernizations and full re-write of Chapter 5, Marine Climatology, of the
Manual on Marine Meteorological Services (WMO-No. 558), as recommended during
this JCOMM Session,

(2) Recent modernizations and full re-write of Chapter 3, Marine Climatology, of the
Guide to Marine Meteorological Services (WMO-No. 471), as recommended during
this JCOMM Session,

(3) The full review of and revision suggestions to The Guide to the Applications of
Marine Climatology (WMO-No. 781), provided by the JCOMM Expert Team on
Marine Climatology,

Observes the need to modernize the associated Marine Climatology publication, The Guide to
the Applications of Marine Climatology (WMO-No. 781) and associated JCOMM Technical Report
No 13. Advances in the Applications of Marine Climatology The Dynamic Part of the WMO
Guide to the Applications of Marine Climatology;

Decides to endorse the update and modernization of The Guide to the Applications of Marine
Climatology (WMO-No. 781) and associated JCOMM Technical Report No. 13 Advances in the
Applications of Marine Climatology The Dynamic Part of the WMO Guide to the Applications of
Marine Climatology;

Requests the JCOMM Expert Team on Marine Climatology to facilitate the revision of the
publication WMO-No. 781, taking into account recent updates to marine climatology chapters
in The Manual on and Guide to Marine Meteorological Services (Chapter 5 of WMO-No. 558 and
Chapter 3 of WMO-No. 471, respectively) and further development and implementation of the
MCDS.

__________
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 3

Draft Decision 6.3/2 (JCOMM-5)

MARINE CLIMATOLOGY WORKSHOPS

THE JOINT WMO/IOC TECHNICAL COMMISSION FOR OCEANOGRAPHY AND MARINE

METEOROLOGY,

Noting:

(1) The report of the Proceedings of the Fourth JCOMM Workshop on Advances of
Marine Climatology (CLIMAR-4) and of the First ICOADS Value-added Database
(IVAD-1) Workshop (JCOMM-TR-79), (Asheville, North Carolina, USA, 9-12 June
2014, and 13 June 2014), with recommendations,

(2) The report of the Fourth International Workshop on the Advances in the Use of
Historical Marine Climate Data (JCOMM-MR-131), (MARCDAT-4, Southampton, UK,
18-22 July 2016), with recommendation,

Recognizing the productive and useful outcomes of the CLIMAR and MARCDAT series of
workshops to the applications of marine climatology and the Marine Climate Data System
(MCDS), and for users and developers of marine climatological data and datasets in particular,

Decides to organize a CLIMAR-V session around 2018 and MARCDAT-V session around 2020;

Requests the JCOMM Data Management Programme Area (DMPA) and Expert Team on Marine
Climatology (ETMC) to proceed with required preparations and organization of these meetings.

___________
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 4

DRAFT RECOMMENDATION

Draft Recommendation 6.3/1 (JCOMM-5)

ESTABLISHMENT OF DATA ACQUISITION CENTRES (DACS) AND GLOBAL DATA

ASSEMBLY CENTRES (GDACS) INTO THE NEW MARINE CLIMATE DATA SYSTEM (MCDS)

THE JOINT WMO/IOC TECHNICAL COMMISSION FOR OCEANOGRAPHY AND MARINE

METEOROLOGY,

Noting:

(1) Resolution 2 (EC-64), which approved Recommendations 2 (JCOMM-4) on the

Marine Climate Data System (MCDS),

(2) Resolution 36 (Cg-17) Designation of the Centre for Marine Meteorological and
Oceanographic Climate Data in Tianjin, China (CMOC/China),

(3) Decision IOC-XXVIII/7.1.3, which established CMOC/China,

Recalling:

(1) The establishment of the JCOMM Marine Climate Data System (MCDS) through
JCOMM-4, Recommendation 2,

(2) The establishment of the CMOC-China within the MCDS as a JCOMM Centre for
Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Climate data (CMOC) at the seventeenth
session of Congress in Resolution 36 (Cg-17),

Recalling the request of the Commission at its fourth Session (JCOMM-4) for France and
Canada to operate as provisional Global Data Assembly Centres (GDACs) for Drifting Buoys
under JCOMM and the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE),

Noting further:

(1) The JCOMM Terms of Reference, especially in relation to the development of

standards and procedures regarding overall collection, management, exchanges
and archival of high-quality marine meteorological and oceanographic data,
information and products, on which climate studies, predictions and services, as
well as climate change impact and adaptation strategies, are based,

(2) The Final Report of the Sixth Session of the Expert Team on Marine Climatology,
(JCOMM-MR-133),

(3) The Summary Report of the Twenty-Second Session of the IOC Committee on
International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE-XXII) and
adopted Recommendations IODE-XXII.13 (IODE Global Data Assembly Centres
(IODE GDACs)), and IODE-XXII.14 (the Marine Climate Data System (MCDS)),

(4) The MCDS Terms of Reference for Data Acquisition Centres (DACs) and GDACs
provided in draft revisions of the Marine Climatology chapters of WMO-No. 471,
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 5

Noting furthermore the recent re-write of Chapter 3, Marine Climatology, Guide to Marine
Meteorological Services (WMO-No. 471) with Terms of Reference of the DACs and GDACs
together with their evaluation process and criteria,

Having considered:

(1) The application of the Marine Environmental data Section(MEDS) of the Ocean
Science branch of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) for operating an MCDS GDAC
for Drifting Buoys,

(2) The draft GDAC evaluation process and criteria (see Noting further),

(3) The outcome of the review by the JCOMM Data Management Coordination Group
(DMCG) according to the above process, and its recommendation to establish the
Centre operated by Canada as MCDS GDAC for Drifting Buoys,

Decides to endorse establishment of DACs and GDACs in the MCDS, as described in draft
Marine Climatology chapter 3 of WMO-No. 471, to continue implementation of the Marine
Climate Data System by 2020;

Requests the Co-Presidents of JCOMM to promote establishment of additional DACs, GDACs,

and CMOCs in the MCDS;

Urges Members to support MCDS activities, use the facilities and provide feedback to JCOMM
on its effectiveness and the potential for improvement;

Recommends that the WMO and IOC Executive Councils establish the Marine Environmental
data Section (MEDS) of the Ocean Science branch of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) for
operating as an MCDS GDAC for Drifting Buoys.

__________
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 6

BACKGROUND INFORMATION SUPPORTING

DECISIONS/RECOMMENDATION

NOT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE SESSION REPORT

References:

1. WMO/IOC(UNESCO), 2012: Executive summary of the abridged final report with

resolutions and recommendations of the Fourth Session (2012) of the Joint WMO-
IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology,
(WMO-No. 1093, WMO-IOC/JCOMM-4/3)
https://library.wmo.int/opac/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=13913#.Wcu2F4SGO
Wl

2. Final Report of the Fourth Session of the Expert Team on Marine Climatology
(JCOMM-MR-094), (ETMC-4, Oostende, Belgium, 26-28 November 2012)
http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&do
cID=9935

3. Final report of the Fifth Session of the Data Management Coordination Group
(JCOMM-MR-112), (DMCG-5, Geneva, Switzerland, 29-31 January 2014)
http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&do
cID=14512

4. Proceedings of the 4th JCOMM Workshop on Advances of Marine Climatology

(CLIMAR-4) and of the First ICOADS Value-added Database (IVAD-1) Workshop
(JCOMM-TR-079), (Asheville, North Carolina, USA, 9-12 June and 13 June, 2014)
http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&do
cID=15293

5. Report of the Fifth Session of the Expert Team on Marine Climatology

(JCOMM-MR-122), (ETMC-5, Geneva, Switzerland, 22-25 June 2015)
http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&do
cID=15891

6. Report of the Sixth Session of the JCOMM Data Management Coordination Group
(DMCG-6, Oostende, Belgium, 27-28 June 2016)
http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&do
cID=19981

7. Report of the Sixth Session of the Expert Team on Marine Climatology

(JCOMM-MR-133), (ETMC-6, Southampton, UK, 19-21 July 2016)
http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&do
cID=19768

8. Report of the Fourth International Workshop on the Advances in the Use of

Historical Marine Climate Data (JCOMM-MR-131), (MARCDAT-4, Southampton, UK,
18-22 July 2016)
http://www.jcomm.info/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&do
cID=19976

9. Report of the First Workshop on the WMO-IOC Centre for Marine Meteorological and
Oceanographic Climate Data (CMOC) in Tianjin, China (CMOC/China),
(JCOMM-MR-130), (Tianjin, China, 29 August 1 September 2016).
http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/amp/mmop/documents/1stCMOC-
ChinaWorkshopsummaryreport.pdf
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 7

10. Summary Report of the Twenty-fourth Session of the IOC Committee on

International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IOC/IODE-XXIV/3)
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 28-31 March 2017)
https://www.iode.org/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&docI
D=19058

11. JCOMM-5 Document No. 9.1 related to the Review of Technical Regulations of
Interest to the Commission and particularly to the WMO Manual on Marine
Meteorological Services (WMO-No.558), which includes proposed revised Chapter 5,
Marine Climatology, including Terms of Reference of the Centres for Marine
Meteorological and Oceanographic Climate Data (CMOCs),

12. JCOMM-5 document No. 9.2 related to the Review of Technical Regulations of
Interest to the Commission and particularly to the Guide to Marine Meteorological
Services (WMO-No. 471), which includes proposed Chapter 3, Marine Climatology,
including Terms of Reference of the Data Acquisition Centres (DACs) and the Global
Data Assembly Centres (GDACs).

13. JCOMM-5 Information Document INF. 6.1 Data Management.

Full revision of: The Guide to the Applications of Marine Climatology (WMO-No. 781)
and associated JCOMM Technical Report No 13. Advances in the Applications of
Marine Climatology The Dynamic Part of the WMO Guide to the Applications of
Marine Climatology (Background information from the Expert Team on Marine Climatology
review of WMO-No. 781, provided by Val Swail, Environment Canada/JCOMM ETMC)

As requested in the action item from ETMC-5 in Geneva June 2015, I have reviewed the Guide
to the Applications of Marine Climatology (WMO-No. 781) (hereafter referred to as the Guide)
to determine whether this Guide, which was published in 1994, needs to be revised.

In undertaking this action, I did not consider it necessary to review the document on a line-by-
line basis, but I did look at it section by section. Based on my ultimate conclusion, a line-by-
line review would not have added anything to the process.

The primary conclusion of my review is that the Guide is so hopelessly outdated that a mere
revision would be completely impossible and ultimately useless.

It is perhaps a positive sign that so much useful work has been carried out by the marine
climatology community, including JCOMM as a whole, and specifically the CLIMAR and
MARCDAT communities, and by the ETMC, that the 1994 version of the Guide (which was
written in the 1991-92 period) is rendered so out of date.

I have included some specific comments below, but I will start with my recommendation and a
suggestion for a way forward, based on my recent experience with the revision of the Guide to
Wave Analysis and Forecasting (WMO-No. 702), and prior to that with the initial development
of the Guide to Storm Surge Forecasting (WMO-No.1076).

It is my recommendation that WMO publication No.781 should be re-written from scratch.

There is very little in the present version which can be effectively updated in a revised Guide,
and I believe that using it as a basis for the new Guide will only lead to distraction and
misdirection. I believe that the best way forward is to strike an ad hoc group, comprised in
part of appropriate members of the ETMC, but also involving suitable experts outside that ET,
to take the responsibility for producing a new Guide, under the oversight of ETMC. This group
should first decide what the objectives of the new Guide will be, and who will be the intended
audience. There is much information already written and available which describes applications
to marine climatology, and these should be referenced for greater details, but the new Guide
should provide suitable descriptions of the efforts to satisfy the introductory user while
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 8

pointing the way for more advanced users. The ad hoc group should decide what topics and
chapters should be included in the new Guide, and assign two or more co-authors for each
chapter. Once each chapter is written, it should be submitted for external peer review to
suitable members of the greater community, noting that this peer review will have significant
differences to that for journal articles. Once each chapter is satisfactorily reviewed and revised
as necessary, the entire Guide can be submitted for approval to publish by JCOMM.

The timeline for this activity would be the intersessional period between JCOMM-5 and
JCOMM-6. The intention to revise the Guide can be listed as a priority activity of ETMC for the
next intersessional period for consideration at the JCOMM-5 session in October 2017, and
subject to approval by that session, the revised Guide can be submitted to JCOMM-6 for
approval to publish, presumably the session to be held in 2021.

A few specific review comments are listed below.

Overall comments:

As noted, the Guide was published in 1994, and hence written in 1991-1992 based on
available information and practices at the time. Much has changed since then. It is perhaps
fortunate that the consideration to revise the Guide comes at a time when so much effort is
being devoted to the development of the MCDS and its related components such as DAC,
GDAC, CMOC and the GCCs; this presents an excellent opportunity to disseminate information
on this activity and to point the community to the details of the system in the other documents
being developed. The same is true for the latest developments surrounding ICOADS. ICOADS
is not even mentioned in the present version of the Guide.

The present version of the Guide also does not make any mention whatsoever of a number of
cornerstone activities within the present state of marine climatology, including, but not limited
to: (1) reanalyses; (2) appropriate and robust trend analysis methodologies; (3)
homogenization, including homogeneity testing and adjustment of data; (4) satellite and
satellite products including, for example, GHRSST, altimeter data and e.g. GlobWave; (5)
uncertainty; (6) traceability; (7) IPCC and climate change in general, except one fleeting
reference to the 1st Assessment Report; (8) as noted, GCCs, MCDS; (9) interaction with the
marine biology community (which admittedly are still a bit vague and faint); (10) sea ice
would not meet current standards; (11) the development of marine climate indices, either
those in ETCCDI, or broader sector specific indices; (12) insufficient attention paid to metadata
and its importance; (13) insufficient description given to buoy data, either moored or drifting;
(14) no mention of Argo; (14) no mention of key products such as HadISST, or Had or the
basic science which has gone into them, such as all the in situ SST corrections and
adjustments; (15) there is no mention of JCOMM, JCOMMOPS or any other body of JCOMM, not
surprisingly, since JCOMM was not yet even conceived! Still, a very important omission from
todays marine world.

There are undoubtedly other important pieces which have been missed out, but I think the list
noted above gives ample justification for a complete re-write of the Guide.

On a chapter-by-chapter basis

Chapter 1 Introduction
This will need to be completely re-written, given the substantially revised scope and content of
a new Guide. There may be some useful sentences and concepts which might be used, but
basically it will require all new material.
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 9

Chapter 2 Climatological elements and their significance to operations and design

Firstly, this header is probably much too restrictive, and the scope should be expanded. That
will entail the addition of other climatological elements of importance to be described. There
may be some useful information in what is there, e.g. on the importance of wind and its uses,
but I think that this should only be used as a supplement to fill in sections which have been
identified in the development of a new Guide, as needed, and with necessary revision.

Chapter 3 Sources and preparation of data

This chapter is too reliant on ship data, or rather insufficiently inclusive of other sources of
data, including buoys and satellites, as well as reanalyses. There is some interesting historical
information here which might be preserved, for example the paragraph describing Maurys
initial efforts, but for the most part this chapter is the most outdated and incomplete. The
wave hindcast section is completely outdated and should be replaced with a much shorter
updated section or deleted completely and referenced to reanalyses.

Chapter 4 Application of marine climatological data in support of marine activities

This is a seemingly random selection of potential applications; a more comprehensive and
better described list could probably be developed, if this aspect is considered within the scope
of the new Guide at all.

Chapter 5 Analysis, presentation and interpretation

Much of this is quite basic analysis techniques and guidance, which are also contained to some
extent in the Guide to Climatological Practices (WMO-No.100). Whether this is considered to be
within the scope of the new Guide is up to the ad hoc team, but I suspect that the equations
and approaches havent changed for many of them. Clearly there would need to be new
approaches described here, including homogeneity and trend analysis, but some of this
information may be useful to carry over. The presentations section could clearly use newer and
better examples and certainly better graphics. The extreme value analysis section may be
quite useful as a simple, back-of-the-envelope approach, but reference could be made, or
material derived from, two recent JCOMM TRs by Sofia Caires on extreme value analysis.

Chapter 6 Geographical considerations

At the time, this was written to describe the generalities of the global or regional marine
climatology. Subsequently, there have been comprehensive studies and reports produced
detailing marine climate, which would be much more useful than this chapter. I dont believe
that this Chapter would be within the scope of a revised Guide, but that is for others to decide.

Chapter 7 Practices of Member countries

This is certainly outdated, and probably not useful.

Annex I
May be referenced rather than included, but will certainly need updating.

Annex II
Still relevant, albeit not used so much, but its inclusion would depend on the decisions made in
the body of the Guide.
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 10

Establishment of Data Acquisition Centres (DACs) and Global Data Assembly Centres
(GDACs) into the new Marine Climate Data System (MCDS).

1. MCDS Introduction

The JCOMM Marine Climate Data System (MCDS) essentially provides for standard and
recommended practices and procedures, together with non-regulatory guidance assuring the
collection, rescue, digitization, exchange, data processing, quality control, value adding, and
data flow of marine meteorological and oceanographic climate data and products from various
sources. Real-time (RT) and delayed-mode (DM) data are collected through a network of
specialized centres, and ultimately aggregated at Centres for Marine Meteorological and
Oceanographic Climate data (CMOCs), which are meant to provide higher-level quality control,
and deliver the consistent data and products needed for a wide range of marine climatological
applications.

Basic sources of data include in situ observations, for example from ships, moored and drifting
data buoys, tide gauges, eXpendable BathyThermographs (XBTs), profiling floats, surface and
sub-surface gliders, as well as remote sensing data from satellites, aircrafts and a few other
specialized sensing systems such as land-based high frequency radars.

The MCDS is meant to formalize and coordinate the activities of existing systems, and address
gaps to produce a dedicated WMO-IOC operational data system with the view of having
compiled coherent marine meteorological and oceanographic (met-ocean) climate datasets of
known quality, extending beyond the Essential Climate Variables (ECVs; GCOS 2010a). The
data and metadata are collected from multiple sources to be served on a free and unrestricted
basis to the end users.

Additionally, the MCDS is meant to improve the timeliness for met-ocean climate data and
metadata availability, facilitate the exchange of met-ocean climate data sets between
countries, and thereby increase the amount of met-ocean observations eventually made
available to the relevant end user applications. Furthermore, integrated data and metadata are
made available and contain comprehensive dataset information such as historic details on
current and past data codes and formats. The MCDS extends to products that satisfy the met-
ocean climate data requirements for climate monitoring, forecasting, and services.
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 11

Figure: MCDS data flows, from source to users.

NODC = IODE National Oceanographic Data Centre

SODC = IODE Specialized Ocean Data Centre
ODIN = Ocean Data and Information Networks
GRA = GOOS Regional Alliances
MM = Marine Meteorological
DM = Delayed-mode data
RT = Real-time data
DAC = Data Acquisition Centre
GDAC = Global Data Assembly Centre
CMOC = Centre for Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Climate Data
QC = Quality Control

2. Establishing Centres in the MCDS

Currently the implementation phase of the MCDS is underway, but there is only one formal
operating Centre within the MCDS, the Centre for Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic
Climate data hosted by China (CMOC-China). Two additional CMOCs intend to submit
applications, including one at JCOMM-5 for the World Ocean Database Centre for Marine
 JCOMM-5/Doc. 6.3, DRAFT 1, p. 12

Meteorological and Oceanographic Climate data (CMOC-WOD). Additionally, in order to realize

the MCDS Strategy, all levels of the MCDS need to be filled. Many Data Acquisition Centres
(DACs) and Global Data Assembly Centres (GDACs) have been identified by the JCOMM Expert
Team on Marine Climatology and their willingness to formalize their roles in the MCDS have
been expressed. Environment Canada has formally submitted an application to be a GDAC for
Drifting Buoys and will begin operating in the MCDS in 2017. Other centres expected to join
the MCDS in 2017 include centres for delayed-mode Voluntary Observing Ship data (DACs and
GDACs). Others are being considered and will be targeted for incorporation into the MCDS in
2018 and during the intersessional period.

The Terms of Reference for DACs, GDACs and CMOCs are provided in the draft regulatory and
guidance material proposed for WMO-No. 558 and WMO-No. 471 in JCOMM-5 documents 9.1
and 9.2 respectively.

__________