7 th Meeting of RAVI Management Group Working Group on Climate and Hydrology Progress report for EGC Anahit Hovsepyan Co-chair of WG CH

TT Regional Climate Centres Stefan Roesner (Germany)  Following the designation process RAVI RCC-Network declared its readiness and the president of WMO RA VI informed WMO Secretary General accordingly.  Evaluation of the performance of the Pilot RCC-Network by CBS and CCl.  The presidents of CCl and CBS then nominated the WMO RA VI Pilot RCC-Network to become a new RSMC in the WMO system.  In September 2012 the WMO Commission on Basic Systems (CBS) in its 15th session approved the nomination.  Next step will be the adoption of this approval by WMO Executive Council in May February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCC Conduct WMO RA VI (Pilot) RCC-Network coordination meetings, including virtual meetings  RCC workshops organized along with EMS-ECAM 2011 (Berlin) and EMS-ECAC 2012 (Lodz) to present the RCC-Network, do some practical work, and discuss with participants Develop a WMO RA VI RCC-Network Website and implement DCPC functions  The WMO RAVI RCC-Network continues to be accessible via  Some efforts have been made to work towards a common WMO- like layout for web sites and products. This included a RCC-Logo that node have been asked to put on the RCC-products.  Further work is needed to show that the RCC nodes are carrying out the WMO functions.  Implementing DCPC functionality is a still ongoing task for each of the RC nodes. The TT only can serve as information platform 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCC Compile and publish catalogue of available products and services provided via RAVI RCC-Network web-portal  For each of the RCC nodes a kind of product catalogue has been produced and can be accessed via  RCC-CD has proposed the 2 pages ECA-Flyer to be used as the product catalogue.  RCC-CM has produced an 8 pages brochure with product examples including general information on each product like methodology used, spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and quality indicators/ validation.  RCC-LRF at NEACC offers a page list of general products, while RCC-LRF at Météo France produced a 6 pages brochure with examples and product information comparable to the RCC-CM catalogue. 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCC Enlarge the RCC Network services through RCC workshops and carrying out pilot Climate Watch Services, including also hydrology  Implementation of Climate Watch Services started with a workshop in October NMHSs of Turkey, Serbia and Finland volunteered as Pilots to test options for CWSs, resulted in a general format for climate watches.  A workshop involving the pilots, all RCC nodes and other relevant participants tentatively planned for mid to end March 2012, was postponed  In summer 2012 first climate watches for an ongoing heat wave in southern and central RA VI have successfully been issued  CWS workshop organized by WMO during the ECAM in Lodz, Poland where show cases for Finland, Serbia and Turkey were presented and lessons learned were discussed  Implementation of a CWS in WMO RA VI remains an issue that needs to be further addressed.  RA VI RCC-Network and Climate Watch concept were presented to participants in the WMO RA VI Hydrology Forum in May However, identifying requirements for regional and/ or sub-regional hydrological products and including in RCC products has to be put forward. 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCC Analyze requirements and feedback on effectiveness, gaps and improvement of RCC-services in RA-VI  There is ample room to improve accessibility and common look and feel of RCC products  Some feedback was received upon request on the climate watches issued.  The RCC-CM has started to issue Newsletters as a means of one- way communication with interested users, not limited to NMHSs.  Feedback from users of RCC products remains weak – in general there is no feedback. Therefore requirements expressed in the Implementation Plan remain unchanged and valid.  In this regard it would be helpful if all NMHSs in RA VI would implement a generic address through which RCC-related issues could be communicated. 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT Regional Climate Outlook Forum Dmitry Kiktev (Russian Federation) Examine RCOF activity worldwide, review RCOF products, practices and organization models/mechanisms. Propose relevant solutions for RCOFs in RA-VI  A “Concept paper on development of RCOFs in RA-VI including their liaison with the RA VI (Pilot) RCC-Network” was prepared and presented in the MG-6. Further this document was disseminated to TT RCC members and positive feedback was received from them.  Based on the conclusions and recommendations of the Concept paper and as most of the tasks planned for the last year accomplished TT RCOF was suspended with the condition that TT RCC further coordinates RCOF related activities, and in terms of the implementation of MedCOF liaise with AEMET (through Ernesto Rodriguez) 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCOF Examine and search for ways of expansion of RCOF functionality in RA-VI  Forum functionality to the LRF-Node of the RA-VI RCC Network was added to serve the needs of both RCOF and RCC. At the moment is available only in Russian (see  The possibility of inclusion of climate change section in RCOFs was explored and currently Climate change reports and discussions are practiced in both SEECOF and NEACOF 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCOF Analyze requirements and feedback on effectiveness, gaps and improvement of RCOF- activity in RA-VI, to address the identified issues  Most part of the feedback is provided during the RCOFs by their participants. Besides that, a survey on LRF-needs was conducted for CIS countries. Collection of feedback is still not properly organized, therefore this task remains valid and needs to be addressed in the future.  One option could be conducting a short survey-assessment after each COF session to collect the feedback from participants and identify existing gaps. 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCOF Elaborate a study on predictability in Southeast Europe  A draft version of the paper has been prepared. Potential sources of predictability for Europe, i.e. those phenomena which favor the development of recurrent patterns such as El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and North Atlantic Oscillation/Arctic Oscillation (NAO/AO), are described in general, and furthermore the predictability of winter and summer seasons is analyzed. The draft paper is shared among the LRF experts for their feedback and further elaboration and improvement 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT RCOF Explore possibility and search for ways to expand RCOF geography in RA-VI  SEECOF sessions regularly conducted Initiated by Roshydromet/NEACC (North EurAsian Climate Centre)  North Eurasian COF (NEACOF) Initiated by Roshydromet/NEACC (North EurAsian Climate Centre) for CIS countries (2 "physical" and 1 "virtual") outlook-forum outlook-forum 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

Mediterranean COF – first interregional forum  Possibility of establishing the MedCOF was discussed in the TT RCOF meeting held in 2011 during SEECOF-6 Ernesto Rodriguez (AEMET) was proposed as a focal point of the WG  Several rounds of discussions at technical level, e.g. in PRESANORD-2 and PRESANORD-3 (COF for north African countries) in January and September 2012, discussion with WMO climate experts during the Extraordinary Cg  MedCOF is supposed to cover the entire Mediterranean basin, in the future could serve as a platform for climate risk management activities  AEMET is willing to coordinate MedCOF activities, letter with expression of interest to coordinate MedCOF activities was sent to Presidents of RAVI and RAI  AEMET and MF meeting  Furthermore AEMET is ready to host first MedCOF during 2013, but possibilities of funding need to be discussed 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT Data Rescue Jose Antonio Guijarro (Spain) Inventorying available digital climate data through European NMHSs, repositories/projects (e.g. ECA&D, EMULATE, CIRCE) and Agencies (e.g. EUMENET, DWD) and Data rescue coordination in Europe: Inventorying/approaching current DARE activities over Europe: both at regional and national scales  While implementing these two tasks a web page was developed by the TT Leader with support of members. In the web page links to data repositories inventoried in 1. and to DARE projects are provided. The web page is located at  Provide guidance on the methods for homogeneity test of historical time series and quality control of data as well as support in capacity building process  Complete information on available homogenization packages was collected through a survey, summarized in comparative tables of their main characteristics, including links to download them or addresses to contact with the authors. The collected information about state of the art of available homogenization packages is given in the web page, but more is planned for a near future. Benchmarking exercises are currently being undertaken, and their results will be summarized in the same page in a near future as a way to enhance the benefits of applying homogenization procedures to the climate series. 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

 Information. is limited due to the difficulty of gathering and keeping it updated by a small group of people. Therefore, a call is made to users and maintainers of current project's home pages to provide adequate links to them, although limited feedback has been received so far. 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT Agrometeorology Josef Eitzinger (Austria)  The activities of the Task teams are still ongoing, although interim results are already available. No changes occurred in the task team memberships and responsibilities in 2012 and the Work plan is the same as proposed initially.  The questionnaires of all Tasks were combined into one and completed with additional questions in It was distributed to all RA VI countries through WMO Secretariat to foster responses on the questionnaires. However, as still there are too less responses (7 countries up to now) an online questionnaire form was launched in December 2012 accessed at: February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT AgM Document specific case studies on the economic impacts of agrometeorological information in Europe;  An interim report on outcomes is already available. Further the literature survey and case studies are still ongoing (in cooperation with private service sector). Develop recommendations for improving active collaboration between the farming community in Europe and agrometerological services;  An interim report on outcomes is already available and provided. Best practices for agrometorological products; review, evaluate and/or recommend  Second year of realization of this task was devoted to assessment of current status of use of monthly and seasonal forecast (in further text denoted as LRF). This assessment was made through analysis of questionnaire results and detailed literature review.  An interim 9 th report on outcomes is already available and provided 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT AgM  New challenges or tasks for agrometeorological services and products related to ongoing climate change impacts; To identify and evaluate  An interim report on outcomes on is already available and provided. During the reporting period structure of report was defined and started preparation of individual chapters.  Use of climate and meteorological resources in the RA VI high-quality agricultural production chain; to review and access  All the reports and the conclusions will be finalized in 2013:  In April there will be a meeting of the TT AgM 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

TT Drought Management Ali Umran Komuscu (Turkey)  Review and evaluate drought monitoring capacities in RA VI countries –report is being elaborated  assess needs of NHMSs for effective cooperation in drought monitoring with other international and regional bodies involved in drought assessment and mitigation both in terms of technical infrastructure and human resources : second half 2012  propose ways for ensuring effective cooperation of NHMSs with other international and regional bodies involved in drought assessment and mitigation, particularly DMC/SEE, JRC, EDO– 1quarter 2013  TT DM didn’t progress much, nevertheless the tasks related to the team are very important and could be addressed during next inter-session, elaborating the ToR, substantially revising the WP and the composition of the team. 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

Miscellaneous  FP-7 PROJECTS  SEASONAL TO DECADAL CLIMATE PREDICTION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF EUROPEAN CLIMATE SERVICES (SPECS)  EUROPEAN PROVISION OF REGIONAL IMPACTS ASSESSMENTS ON SEASONAL AND DECADAL TIMESCALES (EUPORIAS)  NORTH ATLANTIC CLIMATE (NACLIM) RCOFS - STAKEHOLDER FOR SPECS  Executive Council Task Team on the WMO Policy for International Exchange of Climate Data and Products to Support the Implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services 5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva

5-6 February, 2013RAVI MG 7th meeting, Geneva  THANK YOU!