COORDINATION GROUP FOR METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES

CGMS SCIENCE WORKING GROUPS

Four international science working groups were established to coordinate and support activities in four specialised areas of meteorological satellite data exploitation.

The International (A)TOVS Working Group (ITWG)

The International (A)TOVS Working Group (ITWG) is convened as a sub-group of the Radiation Commission of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS). ITWG is responsible for organizing the International TOVS Study Conferences (ITSCs) which have met every 18-24 months since 1983. Through this forum, operational and research users of TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) data from the NOAA series of polar orbiting satellites and other atmospheric sounding data have exchanged information on methods for extracting information from these data on atmospheric temperature and moisture fields and on the impact of these data in numerical weather prediction and in climate studies. They have also prepared recommendations to guide the directions of future research and to influence relevant programs of WMO and other agencies (NASA, NESDIS, EUMETSAT). An important part of the Group's work is also to foster and participate in the generation of software to be shared throughout the community to enable use to be made of these data for operations and research. The Group also has an important education and training role.

The ITWG web pages may be accessed via the following link:
International (A)TOVS Working Group (ITWG)

The International Satellite Winds Working Group (IWWG)

The Internation Satellite Winds Working Group was originally established as a permanent Working Group at the 22nd meeting of CGMS in April 1994 under the name Cloud Motion Winds (WG-CMW). At the 29th CGMS meeting in October 2001 the working group's name was changed. The working group was established to pursue an objective of CGMS, namely to encourage complementarity and compatibility in meteorological data products and to complement the work of other international satellite coordination mechanisms. For many years CGMS Members have routinely exchanged validation statistics of inter-comparisons of Atmospheric Motion Vectors derived from Geostationary satellite data. Through this group CGMS also encourages increase of scientific research in this field. This working group is established to place greater emphasis on the coordination of operational and research efforts in the derivation of Atmospheric Motion Vectors. Although the WG focusses on the derivation of winds from the tracking of features in satellite imagery, other principles of deriving wind fields from satellite are also addressed.

The IWWG web pages may be accessed via the following link:
International Satellite Winds Working Group (IWWG)

The International Precipitation Working Group (IPWG)

The International Precipitation Working Group (IPWG) was established as a permanent Working Group of CGMS in June 2001. The IPWG is co-sponsored by CGMS and WMO and focuses the scientific community on operational and research satellite based quantitative precipitation measurement issues and challenges. It provides a forum for operational and research users of satellite precipitation measurements to exchange information on methods for measuring precipitation and the impact of space borne precipitation measurements in numerical weather and hydrometeorological prediction and climate studies.

The IPWG web pages may be accessed via the following link:
International Precipitation Working Group (IPWG)

The International Radio Occultation Working Group (IROWG)

The International Radio Occultation Working Group (IROWG) was established as a permanent Working Group of CGMS at the 37th meeting on 26-30 October 2009 (Jeju Island, Republic of Korea). The IROWG is co-sponsored by CGMS and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). IROWG serves as a forum for operational and research users of radio occultation data. The IROWG intends to build upon the expertise of scientists who are currently involved in the use and analysis of radio occultation data. It is established to foster : (a) Development of better measurements, and improvement of their utilization; (b) Improvement of scientific understanding; (c) Development of international partnerships.

The IROWG web pages may be accessed via the following link: http://www.irowg.org

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Last updated on 19 December 2007