The latest issue of the World Meteorological Organisation’s official journal, the Bulletin, features a Climate & Water theme, underlying the importance of including water in climate policy discussions as part of the World Meteorological Day and World Water Day, celebrated together for the first time on 23 March. The Climate & Water theme is reflected in the slogan for the celebration "Count Every Drop, Every Drop Counts", and a dedicated site is available from the WMO website to access material such as fact sheets and posters for download.
Featured in this issue are two articles that highlight contributions made by the MRI community in support of the WMO efforts under the theme of Climate & Water. In their article titled “Glacier Lake 513, Peru: Lessons for early warning service development”, MRI Co-PI Christian Huggel and his colleagues report on their experiences with the design, implementation, operation, and circumstances around the installation of an early warning system for glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in the Peruvian Andes, highlighting key challenges such as access and installation of equipment in high mountains contexts and the engagement and interactions required with local communities.
As Co-Chairs for the WMO High Mountains Summit held last October in Geneva, MRI Executive Director Carolina Adler and John Pommeroy from the Global Water Futures programme collaborated with Rodica Nitu (WMO Project Manager for the Global Cryosphere Watch) in their article titled “High Mountain Summit: Outcomes and Outlook”, in which they recap on the results of the summit and the activities that followed since then. For the MRI, it will be important to respond to the appeal to national and international institutions and networks representing policy, practice, scientific research, academia and funding agencies, to join efforts and support the proposed Integrated High-mountain Observation, Prediction, and Services Project. Activities that support and align with these goals are now being put into place at MRI, so stay tuned for news and developments - and how you can participate - in the coming months.
WMO Bulletin Vol.69 (1) - 2020 Table of Contents
Weather, Climate, Water – The First 70 Years of WMO
Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, p.2
Why is water so often missing from discussions around climate change?
Anil Mishra, Sonja Koeppel and Claudio Caponi, p.5
The key role of water management and data for peacebuilding
François Münger, Natasha Carmi, Caroline Pellaton and Jean Willemin, p.8
HydroSOS – The Hydrological Status and Outlook System towards providing information for better water management
Alan Jenkins, Harry Dixon, Victoria Barlow, Katie Smith, Johannes Cullmann, Dominique Berod, Hwirin Kim, Michael Schwab, Luis Roberto Silva Vara, p.14
Innovating global hydrological prediction through an Earth system approach
Shaun Harrigan, Hannah Cloke and Florian Pappenberger, p.20
Integrated approach to Flood and Drought Management in the Volta Basin
Robert Dessouassi, Armand Houanye, Hwirin Kim, Giacomo Teruggi and Ramesh Tripathi, p. 24
Flash Flood Guidance System: Response to one of the deadliest hazards
Milica Dordevic, Petra Mutic and Hwirin Kim, p.28
High Mountain Summit: Outcomes and Outlook
Carolina Adler, John Pommeroy and Rodica Nitu, p.34
Third Pole climate warming and cryosphere system changes
Yao TD, Yang DQ, Zhang YS, Wang NL, Zhao L, Che T, Wu. Tang QH, p.38
Glacier Lake 513, Peru: Lessons for early warning service development
Christian Huggel, Alejo Cochachin, Fabian Drenkhan, Javier Fluixá-Sanmartín, Holger Frey, Javier García Hernández, Christine Jurt, Randy Muñoz, Karen Price, Luis Vicuña, p.45
Measurement-Model Fusion for Global Total Atmospheric Deposition, a WMO initiative
Amanda Cole, Robert Vet, Lorenzo Labrador, Claudia Volosciuk, p.53
WMO Space-based Weather and Climate Extremes Monitoring Demonstration Project for East Asia and Western Pacific
Kuleshov, Y., Kubota, T., Tashima,T., Xie, P., Kurino, T., Hechler, P., Alexander, L.V, p. 60
Women in Science taking the lead in the Pacific Islands
Sylvie Castonguay, p.66
Relevant links:
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
World Meteorological Day and World Water Day “Count Every Drop, Every Drop Counts” campaign
About the Bulletin
The official journal of the World Meteorological Organisation the Bulletin was first published in 1952 and is currently issued twice yearly in English, French, Russian, and Spanish. As part of the WMO greening efforts, the Bulletin is being distributed to Members, partners and the wider WMO Community in digital format as of this issue, March 2020.
