1. WIGOS Pre-Operational Phase;
Deliverables and timelines   WIGOS Side Event at 17th World Meterorological Congress
Geneva, May  
Lars Peter Riishojgaard, WIGOS Project Office
WMO Secretariat

2. The WIGOS Pre-Operational Phase (2016-2019)
Five main priority areas:
WIGOS Regulatory Material, supplemented with necessary guidance material
WIGOS Information Resource, its Observing Systems Capabilities analysis and Review tool (OSCAR), especially OSCAR/Surface
This is how we know what WIGOS is!
WIGOS Data Quality Monitoring System (WDQMS)
This is how we know how well WIGOS works!
Regional Structure; Regional WIGOS Centers
National WIGOS Implementation, coordination and governance mechanisms
Question: Why not Capacity Development?
Answer: Capacity Development is an integral part of all five proposed priorities!

3. The Path to the Pre-Operational Phase; via Congress, EC and ICG-WIGOS
WMO
The WIGOS Pre-Operational Phase is proposed at Cg-17, based on a skeleton plan that includes the five priority areas
Pending this approval, the subsequent EC-68 is expected to re- establish the Inter-Commission Coordination Group on WIGOS (ICG-WIGOS), with adjusted composition and ToR
A complete Plan for the WIGOS Pre-Operational Phase (PWPP) will then be developed by ICG-WIGOS with Secretariat support during the second half of 2015
PWPP will be discussed at ICG-WIGOS-5 in Jan/Feb 2016
To be submitted to EC-68 in May 2016 for approval
This process is analogous to the one used in the WIGOS Implementation Phase!

4. Priority I; Regulatory and Guidance Material;
Deliverables and tentative initial timeline
Guide to WIGOS, including chapters on WIGOS Metadata, Station Identifiers, OSCAR/Surface and Monitoring System; by Cg-18;
Guidance on National WIGOS Development; end of 2016;
WIGOS Data guidance, integration of third-party data, partnering with private sector, life cycle management, etc.; from 2016;
Standards, recommendations, best practices and procedures for surface-based remote sensing (radars, wind profilers); by 2017;
Standards, recommendations, best practices and procedures for improving observational data quality; by 2017;
Guidance on the transition of existing observing systems to meet WIGOS requirements and standards; end of 2017;
Updates to Manual on WIGOS and new edition; by Cg-18.
Priority area 1 will be addressed by one or more ICG-WIGOS Task Teams and other relevant experts, supported by the WIGOS Project Office and supplemented with consultancy if necessary and resources permitting.
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5. Priority II; WIGOS Information Resource and OSCAR;
Deliverables and initial timeline
OSCAR/Capabilities migration; by 2016;
OSCAR/Space migration; by 2017;
SORT initial capability; by 2017;
Initial operational capability of OSCAR/Surface; 2nd half 2015
Transition from Vol. A to OSCAR/Surface completed; by 2017;
OSCAR/Surface as source of all capabilities and all mandatory metadata; by 2018
Roll-out and operational uptake of OSCAR/Surface will require very substantial support (in terms of both financial and human resources) from the WIGOS Project Office!
The central piece of the WIR will be a living, robust, modern, electronic inventory of all observing assets within WIGOS, including all relevant metadata and vocabularies. No meaningful network design activities, gap mitigation or resource optimization can take place without such an inventory. Accordingly, the development, operational deployment and operational uptake of OSCAR/Surface is assigned very high priority for WIGOS in the coming Financial Period.
It should be noted that while the initial development of this system is done primarily in collaboration between MeteoSwiss and WMO, the subsequent population of the system with station and metadata information will involve all WMO Members, and that very substantial human and financial resources will be needed to support this. Subsequent development of the WIR will address the migration and further development of the other two OSCAR databases, the development of the Gap Analysis Module, the Standardization of Observations Reference Tool (SORT), and the WIGOS Web Portal.
Note: Additional information about WIR and OSCAR/Surface in Side Event May 27, 17:45
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6. Priority III; WIGOS Data Quality Monitoring System;
Deliverables and initial timeline
Initial WIGOS (GOS surface-based components) monitoring capability at ECMWF, NCEP and/or other NWP centers; mid-2016;
Full WIGOS (GOS surface-based components) operational monitoring and incident reporting functionality; by 2018;
Monitoring Workshop(s) for GAW, GCOS, GCW and hydrology components of WIGOS; in 2016;
Initial monitoring capability for all WIGOS components; mid-2017;
Mechanisms for routine reporting of monitoring results to WMO Constituent Bodies and to Members; by mid-2017;
Mechanisms and regional structures in place to handle incident management, and to support Members in improving availability and quality of their data; by 2017.
This priority area is being addressed by a group of international experts – initially mainly from CBS - under the auspices of ICG-WIGOS/TT-WQM,
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7. IV. Regional WIGOS Centers
Members requesting guidance and support from the WIGOS PO; some of this could be provided more efficiently and effectively by a regional entity, e.g. WIGOS Regional Centers
General role of WRC would be to monitor, coordinate and support the implementation activities in the Region (or sub-Region)
Specific areas of responsibility may be any or all of the following:
Regional performance monitoring of WIGOS networks (data availability).
Regional monitoring of observational data quality, especially for observations not used for global NWP (climate, atmospheric composition, hydrology, etc.)
Fault management, i.e. follow-up with data providers in case of data availability or data quality problems.
Regional network design.
Regional coordination of WIGOS implementation activities and projects.
Coordination of regional calibration activities.
Training.

8. Management and Execution
Governance
ICG-WIGOS
WMO Congress
and EC
Global
WMO Secretariat/
WIGOS Project Office
R-WIGOS-TT
Regional Association
Regional
WIGOS Regional Center
National WIGOS ICT
WMO Member
National
WIGOS National Center/NMHS

9. Priority IV; Regional WIGOS Centers; Timeline
Concept to be developed and matured during the second half of 2015
Will be presented and discussed at ICG-WIGOS-5 in Jan/Feb 2016
Submitted to EC-68 for approval May 2016
Solicitation for candidate host countries/institutions (and funding) to proceed in parallel
The goal is to be able to introduce potential Regional WIGOS Center(s) at respective Regional Association Session, starting with RA-II in second half of 2016

10. V. National Implementation, Coordination and Governance Mechanisms; tentative timelines
Development of National Partnership agreements; integration of third-party data; data policy issues, ….
This will be supported primarily through
Guide to WIGOS
Regional and sub-Regional WIGOS events
Regional WIGOS Centers
Tools and guidance to help Members WIGOS implementation; from 2016;
Activities to support Member implementation of WIGOS; underway by 2016;
Training activities and material to support implementation of WIGOS, in particular regarding WIGOS Station IDs, WIGOS metadata, of OSCAR/Surface and WDQMS, from 2016;

11. Summary and Conclusions
The implementation of the global WIGOS framework has made substantial progress; work remains to be done, especially on
Guidance material
Electronic repository of all station/platform metatata (OSCAR/Surface)
WIGOS Data Quality Monitoring System
In the Pre-Operational Phase, work will shift toward Regional and national activities
Regional WIGOS Centers
Regional/Sub-Regional Workshops and training events to support OSCAR/Surface and Regional priorities for WIGOS
Support for national WIGOS implementation efforts, in particular regarding national partnerships, data guidance, and network design and operation and maintenance
OSCAR/Surface Project Demonstration Side Event May 27, 17:45
Implementation of WIGOS in Region I; Side Event June 3, 17:45