CTBTO agrees to provide weather data to the World Meterological Organization

Arrangements are now in place for the Preparatory Commission to provide members of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) with weather data from monitoring facilities belonging to the International Monitoring System (IMS). The Commission and the WMO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, concluded a formal relationship agreement in 2000. The agreement will come into full force in 2003 upon its approval by the World Meteorological Congress, which is the supreme body of WMO, and is being implemented provisionally beforehand. In terms of the agreement the two organizations agree that they will act in close cooperation with each other and will consult regularly in regard to matters of common interest. In particular, they agree to cooperate closely concerning meteorological issues, including the exchange of weather observations. The Regional Specialized Meteorological Center in Montreal, Canada (the Canadian Meteorological Centre) is responsible for distributing the weather observations from IMS stations to WMO members through the WMO Global Telecommunications System (GTS). The Preparatory Commission provides the meteorological data as soon as the IMS stations become operational. All 80 IMS radionuclide monitoring facilities will record basic data on local weather conditions, including wind, temperature, humidity and rainfall. This data is a useful new source of information for national meteorological centres, particular because of the remote and hard-to-reach locations of many IMS monitoring stations. The WMO will assist the Commission through the supply of atmospheric transport modelling results, which assist the State Signatories in identifying the original source of radionuclides by tracing their transport through the atmosphere. Seismic phase arrival measurements for 2000 and 2001 has been provided to the International Seismological Centre for use in its catalogue and bulletin. This data has been provided as an exceptional case.