Guide to marine meteorological services, 3rd edition.[ SUPERSEDED]

Abstract

The realization that specialized meteorological information and services are required to meet the often complex requirements of diverse marine user groups, prompted the former Commission for Marine Meteorology (CMM) to prepare a comprehensive Guide to Marine Meteorological Services, for the assistance of Members. The guide provides a complement to the Manual on Marine Meteorological Services (WMO-No. 558), which itself contains standard and recommended practices to be applied by Members in the provision of such services. The first edition of this Guide was published in 1977, and a second revised edition, in 1982. The eleventh session of CMM (Lisbon, April 1993) recognized that many technical and structural developments and advances had taken place in this field over the ensuing decade, not least the implementation of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), and that it was therefore time to undertake another thorough revision of the guide. A draft, fully revised, version of the guide was prepared by Mr D. Linforth (Australia), with additional input provided by members of the CMM Working Group on Marine Meteorological Services. This draft was then extensively reviewed by members of -a. number of working groups and subgroups of the Commission, before being presented to the twelfth session of CMM (Havana, March 1997) for adoption. Formal approval for the publication of this third edition was given by the forty-ninth session of the WMO Executive Council in June 1997. Subsequently, the advent in particular of the new Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM), through a merger of CMM and the joint IOC/WMO Committee for IGOSS, necessitated some small editorial revisions to the guide, which were carried out by the Secretariat. I am confident that this fully revised, third edition of the Guide to Marine Meteorological Services reflects the growth and breadth of the requirements of all marine user groups for such services, as well as the many advances in technology, process understanding, and analysis and forecast techniques in this field over the past two decades. I expect that it will continue to provide valuable assistance to Members in the further development of their national marine meteorological services.