AR WMO Information System (WIS) UPDATE REPORT TO ADC FEB.2008

1. Overall status of work on Task On track. WIS is proceeding as per its project & implementation plan's time lines. Additional resources have been allocated in line with those identified in the plan to ensure continuation of the project manager until Further resources identified are being sought in the form of contributions from WMO Members to the WIS trust fund.

Completed work for 2007 and planned work for Consolidation of the project documentation including the Project & Implementation Plan, a User Requirements, and WIS technical compliance have been completed to draft level and are being circulated for wider review. The technical specifications input has included GEOSS participants and a range of experts from within and associated with the WMO community. These documents are expected to be approved to move from the draft to final stages during We also expect to make major headway in the production of a Guideline on WIS which will be a forerunner to a Manual on WIS in the longer term.

Work, continued Collaboration with other interoperability related projects has continued to advance, most recently IPY and GMES. Such advances have been possible due to participation of the project manager or his representatives at relevant data management and architecture meetings of WMO Technical Commissions and external organisations. This work will continue through 2008.

Work -continued Looking at the progress of the continuous improvement of the GTS (Part A of WIS), progress is evident on the migration of the main telecommunication network to Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). This is an important component of reducing the overall cost of the GTS while continuing to build its capacity and flexibility. It will also assist in facilitating the synchronisation processes of the GISCs.

Work,Continued Part B of WIS, which includes the DAR components, has been facilitated by the approval of ISO for WMO to refer to the ISO standards in its online documentation opening the way for WMO to be able to publish its profile version 1 of ISO Furthermore, in 2007, ISO formally recognised WMO as a partner standards organisation so other WMO standards can now be published as WMO or ISO standards

Work,continued Further work will be undertaken in 2008 to describe some of WMO specialist data representation and codes such as BUFR utilising ISO standards. Work is also beginning on refining the WMO profile in readiness for publishing of a version 2. Work is also underway with ISO TCs to help improve ISO to be more suited to WMO members' needs, most notably its ability to handle time issues, etc.

Issues that need attention from ADC or other GEO Committees The WIS project team would appreciate assistance in improving the involvement of relevant GEOSS experts in WIS and improving their awareness of WIS willingness to incorporate their advice or input. The Chair of the ICG-WIS appreciated the presentation of a GEOSS overview to the Sept 2007 ICG-WIS meeting and has specifically requested further but more detailed presentations from GEOSS technical experts on GEOSS interoperability and GEO user requirements to ICG-WIS and its relevant expert groups where possible.

POC David Thomas Project Manager, WMO Information System (WIS) Observing and Information Systems Department World Meteorological Organisation Tel: Fax: Mobile:

Work,continued