Anniversaries

Centenary of the National Institute of Meteorology of Brazil / Global Atmosphere Watch: the first 20 years

Centenary of the National Institute of Meteorology of Brazil

Português

The National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, commemorates, on 18 November 2009, 100 years of services rendered to Brazilian society. Throughout its trajectory this Institute has built the largest climate data bank in Brazil. The climate and meteorological information produced and disseminated by INMET are used, not only for forecasting but also in other areas of economic and social value of the country, such as agriculture, animal husbandry, civil defence, industry, tourism, aviation and maritime transportation, ecology, water resources, energy and public health.

Equipped with up-to-date instruments, INMET produces five-day weather forecasts with a high degree of accuracy. Continuous modernization of the Institute allows for a high degree of quality of technical and scientific products.

INMET maintains and operates a national surface network of meteorological stations, in addition to upper-air soundings and telecommunications, linking different federal institutions dealing with meteorology.

INMET is the federal institution responsible for climate and meteorological activities and is the regional hub for meteorological data communications in South America, linking National Meteorological Services to the World Meteorological Centre in Washington, DC.

The atmosphere is part of the hydrological cycle and provides the water that forms our rivers, store underground water and forms river streams, lakes and oceans. River life depends on climate forcings, aside from their environmental factors. It is affected by climate variability and change and depends on mitigation and preventive actions. The information on weather and climate produced by INMET supports the work of the National Water Agency and the Ministry of Environment of Brazil in their task of managing water resources and also contributes to sound public policies aimed at maintaining water resources and guaranteeing the quality of life.

The Director of INMET is Antonio Divino Moura, who is Permanent Representative of Brazil with WMO and also Third Vice-President of the Organization.

Portuguese

Global Atmosphere Watch: the first 20 years

This year, WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme celebrates its 20th anniversary of service to society by coordinating global activities related to atmospheric chemical composition and three international conventions on: ozone depletion; long range transboundary transport of air pollution; and climate. Since 1989, GAW has provided a framework for global atmospheric chemistry observations and analysis, focusing particularly on the essential climate variables set by the Global Climate Observing System: greenhouse gases, aerosols and ozone. It issues bulletins annually, highlighting discoveries revealed by the global observational system that it coordinates. Its strength stems from countries, national institutes and experts that realize the power of standardization and international cooperation.

WMO has long been involved in international atmospheric composition measurments. Since 1975, it was a key player in coordinating greenhouse gas observations globally, and stratospheric ozone observations related to ultra-violet radiation even longer. These efforts, merged into GAW in 1989 with increased emphasis on quality assurance and user needs, now provide data for scientific assessments and for early warnings of harmful effects of change in the chemical composition and related physical characteristics of the atmosphere that impact weather, climate and air quality.  The importance of GAW has grown with increasing awareness of society of the significant links between air quality and weather, climate change and precipitation.

A unique worldwide network of observatories operated by National Meterological and Hydrological Services or their national partners is one jewel in GAW’s crown. At each observatory, the level of gases and particles in the atmosphere is measured within guidelines and data quality objectives set by international experts who are usually involved in research.  Since 1994, GAW has been the lead programme in implementing an Integrated Global Atmospheric Chemistry Observations strategy that is recognized by the Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems as essential in addressing many societal benefit areas. Observations from ground-based networks, airborne systems and satellite sensors need to continue to be standardized, quality- assured, assessed and integrated, using atmospheric models to provide globally coherent information on regional and global scales. Such integration provides a source of scientific understanding not available in the past.

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