1. Trends in acquisition, use and management of observations
Simon Gilbert
Met Office
Vision for WIGOS/Surface in 2040

2. Trends
Changing climate leading to more frequent and severe weather events
Urbanisation
Resource stress, especially water
User communities consolidate e.g. aviation
Technological leaps - disrupters

3. How does an NMHS retain its relevance in 2040?
The societal need for accurate, timely and appropriate weather and climate advice will only increase
We must listen to and respond to the needs of our users in order to retain a role
There are innovative and ambitious players waiting in the wings to take over if we cease to be relevant

4. Direction of travel for existing observations
Phased array radar
Cheaper radiosondes, self contained launchers -> ad hoc flights
Telecomms increase in bandwidth and decrease in cost
Smaller, cheaper sensors -> reduce engineering costs

5. Emerging technologies
Opportunistic observations
Mode S
Mobile phone backhaul rainfall measurement
Solar PV electricity generation monitoring
Etc. etc
Crowd sourced/citizen science
Blended environmental information e.g. meteoswiss hail monitoring

6. Challenges High resolution NWP – hourly updating forecasts
Inappropriate use of crowd sourced information
Decreasing funding from Governments
Greater number of systems -> must also retire networks!