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Weather: Improving weather information, forecasting, and warningExtreme weather events contribute significantly to the loss of lives and property caused by natural disasters. Improved forecasting and warning can significantly reduce the impacts of weather-related disasters. Moreover, many activities from healthcare for sensitive individuals to planning of harvests, preparation of traffic restrictions, as well as general information for the public benefit from improved weather forecasting and derived information. The monitoring and prediction of weather is one of the operationally most advanced disciplines in the field of Earth observation. In many parts of the world, data sharing among national meteorological and hydrological services has been a common practice during most of the last century, and many extensive national and global databases on key weather variables such as wind, rain, temperature have been collected. The global meteorological network of monitoring instruments, the databases, and the forecasting models are a critical constituent of GEOSS. GEOSS is further integrating the meteorological data and services with a growing set of parameters in other fields such as biodiversity, health, energy, and water management, leading to Earth observation systems providing more comprehensive environmental information. A key step towards this goal is the development of common data formats and the facilitation of more collaboration among experts in all relevant fields. GEOSS is instrumental in both of these aspects. Ultimately, this international effort will greatly expand the range of uses to which weather information and forecasts can be put and will lead to enormous societal and economic benefits. |
Examples in the Weather SBA:
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