Application Areas

A WMO Application Area is an activity involving the direct use of observations that allows National Meteorological and Hydrological Services or other organizations to render services related to weather, climate and water, and other environmental events, contributing to public safety, socioeconomic well-being and development in their respective countries. The concept of a WMO Application Area is used in the framework of the WMO RRR and describes a homogeneous activity for which it is possible to compile a consistent set of observational user requirements agreed upon by community experts working in this area.

The table below lists all application areas and the respective focal points maintaining requirements for these. For any enquiries or questions on particular requirements recorded in OSCAR, please contact the focal points directly, where an email address is provided.

Name Focal Point Respons. Org. Description Earth System Application Category
1.1 Sun, Heliosphere and Solar Wind Forecasting and Monitoring Nicole Vilmer
WMO 1. Space Weather Applications
1.2 Energetic Particle and Magnetosphere Forecasting and Monitoring Sergio Dasso
WMO 1. Space Weather Applications
1.3 Ionosphere, Thermosphere and Geomagnetic Field Forecasting and Monitoring Kirsti Kauristie
WMO 1. Space Weather Applications
2.1 Global Numerical Weather Prediction and Real-time Monitoring Kozo Okamoto
WMO Global Numerical Weather Prediction 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.10 Atmospheric Disaster Risk Reduction Taoyong Peng
WMO 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.2 High-Resolution Numerical Weather Prediciton   WMO High Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.3 Nowcasting / Very Short-Range Forecasting Aitor Atencia Ruiz de Gopegui
WMO Nowcasting and Very Short Range Forecasting 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.4 Sub-Seasonal to Longer Predictions Jeff Knight
WMO Sub-seasonal to longer predictions (SSLP) covers predictions in sub-seasonal to decadal time-ranges (roughly two weeks to 10 years), using numerical prediction models based on current and past observations and analyses. 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.5 Atmospheric Climate Forecasting and Monitoring GCOS Secretariat
GCOS The WMO-IOC-UNEP-ICSU Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is an internationally coordinated network of global observing systems for climate, designed to meet the requirements for climate observations, which are essential to climate monitoring. Climate observations are fundamental to detect, model and assess climate change, support adaptation to climate change, monitor the effectiveness of policies for mitigating climate change, develop climate information services, promote sustainable national economic development and meet other requirements of the UNFCCC and other convention and agreements. 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.6 Atmospheric Composition Forecasting and Monitoring Richard Eckman
WMO Applications related to evaluating and analysing changes (temporally and spatially) in atmospheric composition regionally and globally to support treaty monitoring, climatologies and re-analyses, assessing trends in composition and emissions/fluxes, and to better understand processes, using data of controlled quality (and with less stringent time requirements (not needed in NRT)), and used in products such as Ozone and Greenhouse Gas Bulletins, and State/Health of the Atmosphere reports. 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.7 Atmospheric Composition Information Services in Urban and Populated Areas   WMO Applications that target limited areas (with horizontal resolution of a few km or smaller and stringent timeliness requirements to support services related to weather/climate/pollution, such as air quality forecasting.
2.8 Aeronautical Meteorology Yiu-Fai Lee
WMO Meteorological information in support of the safety and optimal efficiency of aviation 2. Atmospheric Applications
2.9 Agricultural Meteorology Robert Stefanski
WMO Applications of meteorology to agriculture (agrometeorology). 2. Atmospheric Applications
3.1 Ocean Mesoscale Forecasting and Real-Time Monitoring   WMO 3. Oceanic Applications
3.2 Coastal Forecasting Laura Tuomi
WMO 3. Oceanic Applications
3.3 Oceanic Climate Monitoring and Services Belén Martín Míguez
WMO 3. Oceanic Applications
3.4 Tsunami Monitoring and Detection   WMO 3. Oceanic Applications
3.5 Marine Environmental Emergency Response   WMO 3. Oceanic Applications
3.6 Maritime Safety (ports to open ocean) Anish Hebbar
WMO 3. Oceanic Applications
4.1 Hydrological Forecasting and Real-time Monitoring Emmanuel Brocard
WMO Application covering the forecasting and the real-time monitoring in the field of terrestrial hydrology. 4. Hydrological and Terrestrial Applications
4.2 Hydrological and Terrestrial Climate Monitoring Antonio Bombelli
WMO 4. Hydrological and Terrestrial Applications
4.3 Hydrological and Terrestrial Disaster Risk Reduction Emmanuel Brocard
WMO 4. Hydrological and Terrestrial Applications
5.1 Terrestrial Cryosphere Forecasting and Monitoring   WMO 5. Cryospheric Applications
5.2 Sea-Ice Forecasting and Monitoring   WMO 5. Cryospheric Applications
5.3 Cryospheric Climate Monitoring   WMO 5. Cryospheric Applications
5.4 Cryospheric Disaster Risk Reduction   WMO 5. Cryospheric Applications
6.1 Earth System Forecasting and Monitoring Vijay Tallapragada
WMO 6. Integrated Earth System Applications
6.2 Understanding Earth System Processes KK PP
WMO 6. Integrated Earth System Applications
6.3 AA Test Alex Alex
WMO 6. Integrated Earth System Applications