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| The interrelationship between our changing climate and oceans which cover two thirds of the Earth’s surface will be on the agenda of an intergovernmental commission of meteorologists and oceanographers discussing improved cooperation in the face of challenges such as maritime and coastal safety and the need for more high-quality data from the ocean to support weather prediction and climate studies.
The Joint Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), meets in Yeosu, Republic of Korea, 23-31 May to consider progress and priorities in strengthening our understanding of oceans through collective action.
05/22/2012 04:25 PM |
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| The Uganda Department of Meteorology, World Meteorological Organization, MTN, Ericsson, National Lake Rescue Institute and the Kalangala Fishing community have come together in a unique partnership, and combined mobile technology, weather forecasting expertise and local know-how, to provide a localised weather alert service to fishing villages on Lake Victoria.
The service has been tested by over 1000 fishermen on Lake Victoria and is due to be made more widely available in the next three months. The free-of-charge weather information service will enable fishermen and traders to make informed decisions on, for example, when and where to fish in Lake Victoria, thus helping to save lives and preserve livelihoods.
Lake Victoria is the world's second-largest freshwater lake, provides a livelihood, directly and indirectly, to over 3.5 million people. The lake supports Africa's largest inland fishery and produces over 800,000 tons of fish annually, currently worth about USD 600,000,000, and reported estimates indicate that as many as 5,000 members of the fishing community die in boating accidents in the lake each year because they are unprepared for bad weather conditions.
05/10/2012 02:01 PM |
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| The World Weather Information Service (WWIS) website has just exceeded one billion page visits since it was launched in 2001.
04/27/2012 04:01 PM |
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| Irene has been retired from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical storm names by the World Meteorological Organization Regional Association IV Hurricane Committee because of the deaths and damage the hurricane caused in August 2011. The name will be replaced with Irma.
04/18/2012 09:35 AM |
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| In recent years, extreme weather and climate events have taken many lives and caused billions of dollars in economic losses. Is climate change leading to increases in the number and severity of extreme events? How do social and environmental factors interact with weather and climate events to create disasters? And what can be done to make societies more resilient to extremes?
03/29/2012 03:36 PM |
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| "Water and Food Security" is the theme of World Water Day 22 March. As President of UN-Water, World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud attended the official ceremony in Rome at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization, which is coordinating this year’s event.
03/22/2012 01:00 PM |
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| After unusually mild weather in December 2011 and early January 2012 almost all over Europe, the weather situation changed abruptly in the second half of January.
03/12/2012 04:55 PM |
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| A report by the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the World Meteorological Organization, Space and Climate Change -- Use of Space-based Technologies in the United Nations System, is now available. In a foreword, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote that "climate change threatens to have a catastrophic impact on ecosystems and the future prosperity, security and well-being of all humankind. Global observing systems, including those from space, play an important role in helping to gauge these threats."
03/07/2012 02:07 PM |
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| The latest World Meteorological Organization Bulletin has the theme of " Reaching Users with Climate Services." An abridged version of the speech to the 2011 World Meteorological Congress by Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, addresses the issue of "Climate change - a serious challenge to human existence."
03/07/2012 02:05 PM |
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| Radio frequencies which are vital for weather forecasts, disaster warnings and climate monitoring will remain available to the meteorological community and protected from interference from other applications thanks to decisions taken by the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12). The World Meteorological Organization today welcomed the outcome of WRC-12 and said it would safeguard the use of radio frequency spectrum which are needed to observe and understand our Earth, atmosphere and oceans and to reduce the risk of weather, climate and water-related disasters.
02/17/2012 05:35 PM |
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| World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Mr Michel Jarraud and Mr Albert Diphoorn, UN-Habitat Urban Basic Services Branch Coordinator, take up positions as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively of UN-Water
02/08/2012 06:44 PM |
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| After unusually mild weather in December 2011 and early January 2012 over almost all of Europe, an incursion of cold polar air, coming from northern Russia at the south flank of an extensive high pressure area, brought extremely low temperatures and also some considerable snowfall. This contrasts with unusually mild temperatures in Artic regions.
02/07/2012 03:41 PM |
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| A new international information system to improve and expand the current exchange of weather, climate and water data – and cut the costs involved - has become operational.
01/31/2012 03:49 PM |
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