GAW Management

Since its inception in 1992, GAW has matured and developed into a programme with support
from a large number of WMO Members. More than 100 countries have registered more than 800 stations with the GAW Station Information System (GAWSIS).

Various GAW expert groups and central facilities exist under the oversight of the WMO Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS) and its Joint Scientific Committee of the WMO Open Programme Area Group on Environmental Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry
(JSC OPAG-EPAC). These comprise as of May 2011:

7 Scientific Advisory Groups (SAGs) to organise and co-ordinate GAW activities by
parameter, and the Expert Teams on World Data Centres (ET-WDC) and Near-Real-Time
Chemical Data Transfer (ET-NRT CDT).
4 Quality Assurance/Science Activity Centres (QA/SACs) perform network-wide data
quality and science-related functions.
22 Central Calibration Laboratories (CCLs) and World and Regional Calibration Centres
(WCCs, RCCs) maintain calibration standards and provide instrument calibrations and
training to the stations.
6 World Data Centres archive the observational data and metadata, which are integrated by the GAW Station Information System (GAWSIS).