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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a
specialized agency United Nations Specialized Agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations and each other through the co-ordinating machinery of the United Nations Economic and Social Council at the intergovernmental level, and through th ...
of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the
International Meteorological Organization The International Meteorological Organization (IMO; 1873–1951) was the first organization formed with the purpose of exchanging weather information among the countries of the world. It came into existence from the realization that weather systems ...
, a nongovernmental organization founded in 1873 as a forum for exchanging weather data and research. Proposals to reform the status and structure of the IMO culminated in the World Meteorological Convention of 1947, which formally established the World Meteorological Organization. The Convention entered into force on 23 March 1950, and the following year the WMO began operations as an
intergovernmental organization Globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of ...
within the
UN system The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal organs (the United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly, United Nations Security Council, Security Council, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Economic and S ...
. The WMO is made up of 193 countries and territories, and facilitates the "free and unrestricted" exchange of data, information, and research between the respective meteorological and hydrological institutions of its members. It also collaborates with nongovernmental partners and other international organizations on matters related to environmental protection, climate change, resource management, and socioeconomic development. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WMO is governed by the World Meteorological Congress, composed of member states, which meets every four years to set policies and priorities. The Congress is led by an Executive Council led by the President, currently Gerhard Adrian of Germany.


Governance

The WMO was established by th
Convention of the World Meteorological Organization
signed 11 October 1947 and ratified on 23 March 1950. The Convention serves as the constituent treaty of the WMO, setting forth its purposes, governance, and general framework. The WMO hierarchy: *Th
World Meteorological Congress
the supreme body of the Organization, determines policy. Each member state and territory is represented by a Permanent Representative with WMO when Congress meets every four years. Congress elects the President and vice-presidents of the Organization and members of the Executive Council; and appoints the Secretary-General. *The Executive Council (EC) implements Congress decisions. *The Secretariat is an eight-department organization with a staff of 200 headed by a Secretary-General, who can serve a maximum of two four-year terms. The annually publishe
WMO Statement on the status of the World Climate
provides details of global, regional and national temperatures and extreme weather events. It also provides information on long-term climate change indicators including atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, sea level rise, and sea ice extent. The year 2016 was the hottest year on record, with many weather and climate extremes, according to the most recent WMO report. As of August 2020, the WMO has a membership o
193 member states and territories


WMO Strategic Plan

* Disaster risk reduction * The Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) * The WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) * Aviation meteorological services * Polar and high mountain regions * Capacity development * Governance


Meteorological codes

In keeping with its mandate to promote the standardization of meteorological observations, the WMO maintains numerous code forms for the representation and exchange of meteorological, oceanographical, and hydrological data. The traditional code forms, such as
SYNOP SYNOP (surface synoptic observations) is a numerical code (called FM-12 by WMO) used for reporting weather observations made by manned and automated weather stations. SYNOP reports are typically sent every six hours by Deutscher Wetterdienst on s ...
,
CLIMAT CLIMAT is a code for reporting monthly climatological data assembled at land-based meteorological surface observation sites to data centres. CLIMAT-coded messages contain information on several meteorological variables that are important to monitor ...
and TEMP, are character-based and their coding is position-based. Newer WMO code forms are designed for portability, extensibility and universality. These are BUFR, CREX, and, for gridded geo-positioned data,
GRIB GRIB (GRIdded Binary or General Regularly-distributed Information in Binary form) is a concise data format commonly used in meteorology to store historical and forecast weather data. It is standardized by the World Meteorological Organization's C ...
.


Recognitions received

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a joint creation of the WMO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), received the
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about anthropogenic (man-made)
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."


World Meteorological Day

The World Meteorological Day is held annually on 23 March.


Use of the International System of Units

WMO states that "the International System of Units (SI) should be used as the system of units for the evaluation of meteorological elements included in reports for international exchange." The following units, which include units which are not SI units, are recommended by the WMO for meteorological observations: * Degrees Celsius (°C) for
temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various Conversion of units of temperature, temp ...
, or alternatively Kelvin (K). *
Metres per second The metre per second is the unit of both speed (a scalar quantity) and velocity (a vector quantity, which has direction and magnitude) in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the speed of a body covering a distance of one metre in a ...
(m/s) for
wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind speed ...
. * Degrees clockwise from north (°) for wind direction, or alternatively on the scale 0-36, where 36 is the wind directly from north and 09 is the directly wind from east. * Hectopascals (hPa) for
atmospheric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars, ...
. * Percent (%) for relative humidity. * Millimetres (mm) for precipitation (or the equivalent unit kilograms per square metre (kg/m2)) * Millimetres (mm) for evaporation. * Millimetres per hour (mm/h) for precipitation intensity, or alternatively kilograms per square metre per second (kg/m2/s) * Hours (h) for sunshine duration. * Metres (m) for visibility. * Metres (m) for
cloud height In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid drop (liquid), droplets, ice crystals, frozen crystals, or other particulates, particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. ...
. * Standard geopotential metre (m') for geopotential height. * Kilograms per square metre (kg/m2) for snow water equivalent. *
Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
s per square metre (W/m2) for irradiance. * Joules per square metre (J/m2) for radiant exposure. * Oktas for cloud cover.


Main public outreach materials


The World Meteorological Organization at a Glance

WMO Public website

WMO for Youth

WMO Bulletin
(twice annually)
WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin
(annually)
WMO Statements on the Status of the World Climate
(annually) * In September 2020 the WMO
published Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, news ...
a high-level brief compilation of the latest
climate science Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stu ...
information from the WMO, GCP, UNESCO-IOC,
IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ...
, UNEP and the Met Office. The ''United in Science 2020 Report'' is subdivided into 7 chapters, which each have a list of key messages.


WMO awards and prizes


International Meteorological Organization PrizeProfessor Dr Vilho Väisälä AwardsNorbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award
(suspended in 2014)
WMO Research Award for Young ScientistsProfessor Mariolopoulus Award


Membership

As of May 2019, WMO Members include a total of 187 Member States and 6 Member Territories. Ten United Nations member states are not members of WMO: Equatorial Guinea, Grenada, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands,
Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...
,
Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain ...
, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and San Marino.
Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...
and
Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...
are WMO Members but non-members of the United Nations. Vatican City and State of Palestine and the
states with limited recognition A number of polities have declared independence and sought diplomatic recognition from the international community as sovereign states, but have not been universally recognised as such. These entities often have ''de facto'' control of thei ...
are not members of either organization. The six WMO Member Territories are the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
Caribbean Territories (joint meteorological organization and membership), French Polynesia, Hong Kong,
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
, Curaçao and Sint Maarten (joint meteorological service and membership) and New Caledonia.
List of all members with admission dates.


Membership by regional associations


Region I (Africa)

Region I consists of the states of Africa and a few former colonial powers. Region I has 57 member states and no member territories: Non-member *Equatorial Guinea


Region II (Asia)

Region II has 33 member states and 2 member territories. The member states are: The member territories are: *Hong Kong *Macau


Region III (South America)

Region III consists of the states of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
, including France as French Guiana is an overseas region of France. It has a total of 13 member states and no member territories:


Region IV (North America, Central America and the Caribbean)

Region IV consists of the states of North America,
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
, and the Caribbean, including three European states with dependencies within the region. It has a total of 25 member states and 2 member territories. The member states are:


Region V (South-West Pacific)

Region V consists of 23 member states and 2 member territories. The member states are:


Region VI (Europe)

Region VI consists consist of all the states in Europe as well as some Western Asia. It has 50 member states:


States with membership in more than one region

A total of ten member states have membership in more than one region. Two nations are members to four different regions, while eight are members of two regions. These nations, with their regions, are as follows:


See also

* Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) *
Cloud atlas A cloud atlas is a pictorial key (or an atlas) to the nomenclature of clouds. Early cloud atlases were an important element in the training of meteorologists and in weather forecasting, and the author of a 1923 atlas stated that "increasing use ...
*
Global Atmospheric Research Program The Global Atmospheric Research Program was a fifteen-year international research programme led by the World Meteorological Organization and the International Council of Scientific Unions. It began in 1967 and organised several important field exper ...
(GARP) *
Global Climate Observing System The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was established in 1992 as an outcome of the Second World Climate Conference, to ensure that the observations and information needed to address climate-related issues are obtained and made available to ...
*
International Cloud Atlas The ''International Cloud Atlas'' or simply the ''Cloud Atlas'', is a cloud atlas that was first published in 1896 and has remained in print since. Its initial purposes included aiding the training of meteorologists and promoting more consisten ...
*
Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre A Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) is responsible for the distribution of information, advisories, and warnings regarding the specific program they have a part of, agreed by consensus at the World Meteorological Organization as p ...


References


External links

* * * (as of October 2018, this functions as a WMO Extranet for the WMO Community as an interim solution until a new WMO Community website can be launched) * * {{Authority control United Nations specialized agencies International climate change organizations Meteorological organizations Hydrology organizations International scientific organizations Standards organisations in Switzerland United Nations Development Group United Nations organizations based in Geneva Scientific organisations based in Switzerland Environmental organizations established in 1950 Scientific organizations established in 1950 1950 establishments in Switzerland