EUMETNET WG-ENV

The Objectives

The EUMETNET Working Group ENVironment (WG-ENV) was established at the end of 1997 with as main objectives to:

improve understanding and co-operation between Members in the environmental area;
develop proactive co-ordinated relations with the European Environment Agency (EEA) and other environmental organisations

The Tasks

Organise exchanges of information and know-how between Members related to measurements and forecast in the environmental domain;
Recommend best practices and, if advisable, propose EUMETNET Programmes that would allow all European citizen to benefit from the best possible meteorological information pertaining to the environment (e.g. pollutants concentration forecasting);
Maintain liaison with the EEA with a view to serve its meteorological needs, promote the European National Meteorological Services (NMS) as providers of information and services to EEA and enlist the support of EEA for EUMETNET actions in favour of the environment. In particular, EUMETNET and the EEA will exchange information about activities of mutual interest and will analyse the possibilities for co-operative Programmes in the field of Air Quality Forecasting and Climate Monitoring.
Maintain liaison with relevant COST Actions and other relevant international initiatives.

Activities

WG-ENV’s activities in implementing the above tasks can be divided into two phases. During the period 1998-2004, the major part of the effort was on inventorying existing activities and material related to air quality issues to link them and on supporting a forum for collecting and assessing information about observed climate change in Europe (European Climate Support Network: ECSN). After this initial period, the group intensified the dialogue with organisations and partners interested in building up an integrated air quality information network for Europe, including a continuous dialogue with major European projects such as GEMS (coordinated by ECMWF), ProMOTE (coordinated by KNMI), EUMETSAT’s Ozone SAF and relevant COST Actions (715 and 728).

Major highlights during 1998-2004

For the European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA&D) project (initiated by ECSN and supported by EUMETNET) a co-operation with EEA was established through WG-ENV.
EUMETNET Workshop on ground-level O3 forecasting (Langen, Germany, 21-23 February 2000)
Compilation of a list of web sites with real-time ground-level O3 forecasts for European areas (under reconstruction)
Compilation of a list of web sites with near real-time measurement data of air pollutants for European areas (under reconstruction)

Recent achievements (2005-present)

Workshop on “Real-time Air Pollution Data Exchange and Forecasting in Europe” (EEA, Copenhagen, Denmark, 7-8 April 2005), involving all key organisations with interests in the topic such as National Meteorological Services (NMSs), National Environmental Agencies (NEAs), the European Environment Agency (EEA), major European projects such as GEMS and ProMOTE and non-European experts (US-EPA)
Drafting of an “Outline strategy for an Implementation Framework (2005-2011) to set up a European Network of Air Quality Forecasting and Information Systems (ENAQFIS)” based on inputs from the organisations represented at the Copenhagen workshop and using as archetype the operational integrated system AirNOW of the US-EPA.
Support to the drafting of a proposal for a COST-Action “Towards a European Network on Chemical Weather Forecasting and Information Systems”. This COST-Action will serve as a forum for developing and harmonising data exchange between meteorological services, environmental agencies and international initiatives, providing the initial platform for the planning and conceptual build-up of a an ENAQFIS
Contribution to the drafting of a document for promoting the development of a GMES Pilot Atmospheric Services

Links

· EEA

· EUMETSAT

· GEMS

· GEO

· GMES

· ProMOTE

· US-EPA

Since November 2005, WG-ENV is chaired by Sylvain Joffre (FMI, sylvain.joffre@fmi.fi). The vice-chair is Daniel Martin (Meteo France, daniel.martin@meteo.fr)

Membership: Alan Gross (DMI), Barbara Fay (DWD), Thomas Klein (SMHI), Noel Nelson (UKMO), Ulrike Pechinger (ZAMG), Peter van Velthoven (KNMI), Mikhail Sofiev (FMI) and Tim Haigh (EEA). Observers: Tony Hollingsworth (ECMWF), Eleni Paliouras (DLR), and Rosemary Munro (EUMETSAT)

Updated : 17 octobre 2006



The Objectives The EUMETNET Working Group ENVironment (WG-ENV) was established at the end of 1997 with as main objectives to: improve understanding and co-operation between Members in the environmental area; develop proactive co-ordinated relations with the European Environment Agency (EEA) and other environmental organisations
The Tasks Organise exchanges of information and know-how between Members related to measurements and forecast in the environmental domain; Recommend best practices and, if advisable, propose EUMETNET Programmes that would allow all European citizen to benefit from the best possible meteorological information pertaining to the environment (e.g. pollutants concentration forecasting); Maintain liaison with the EEA with a view to serve its meteorological needs, promote the European National Meteorological Services (NMS) as providers of information and services to EEA and enlist the support of EEA for EUMETNET actions in favour of the environment. In particular, EUMETNET and the EEA will exchange information about activities of mutual interest and will analyse the possibilities for co-operative Programmes in the field of Air Quality Forecasting and Climate Monitoring. Maintain liaison with relevant COST Actions and other relevant international initiatives.
*Activities* WG-ENV’s activities in implementing the above tasks can be divided into two phases. During the period 1998-2004, the major part of the effort was on inventorying existing activities and material related to air quality issues to link them and on supporting a forum for collecting and assessing information about observed climate change in Europe (European Climate Support Network: ECSN). After this initial period, the group intensified the dialogue with organisations and partners interested in building up an integrated air quality information network for Europe, including a continuous dialogue with major European projects such as GEMS (coordinated by ECMWF), ProMOTE (coordinated by KNMI), EUMETSAT’s Ozone SAF and relevant COST Actions (715 and 728). Major highlights during 1998-2004 For the European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA&D) project (initiated by ECSN and supported by EUMETNET) a co-operation with EEA was established through WG-ENV. EUMETNET Workshop on ground-level O3 forecasting (Langen, Germany, 21-23 February 2000) Compilation of a list of web sites with real-time ground-level O3 forecasts for European areas (under reconstruction) Compilation of a list of web sites with near real-time measurement data of air pollutants for European areas (under reconstruction) Recent achievements (2005-present) Workshop on “Real-time Air Pollution Data Exchange and Forecasting in Europe” (EEA, Copenhagen, Denmark, 7-8 April 2005), involving all key organisations with interests in the topic such as National Meteorological Services (NMSs), National Environmental Agencies (NEAs), the European Environment Agency (EEA), major European projects such as GEMS and ProMOTE and non-European experts (US-EPA) Drafting of an “Outline strategy for an Implementation Framework (2005-2011) to set up a European Network of Air Quality Forecasting and Information Systems (ENAQFIS)” based on inputs from the organisations represented at the Copenhagen workshop and using as archetype the operational integrated system AirNOW of the US-EPA. Support to the drafting of a proposal for a COST-Action “Towards a European Network on Chemical Weather Forecasting and Information Systems”. This COST-Action will serve as a forum for developing and harmonising data exchange between meteorological services, environmental agencies and international initiatives, providing the initial platform for the planning and conceptual build-up of a an ENAQFIS Contribution to the drafting of a document for promoting the development of a GMES Pilot Atmospheric Services

*Links* · EEA · EUMETSAT · GEMS · GEO · GMES · ProMOTE · US-EPA

Since November 2005, WG-ENV is chaired by Sylvain Joffre (FMI, sylvain.joffre@fmi.fi). The vice-chair is Daniel Martin (Meteo France, daniel.martin@meteo.fr) Membership: Alan Gross (DMI), Barbara Fay (DWD), Thomas Klein (SMHI), Noel Nelson (UKMO), Ulrike Pechinger (ZAMG), Peter van Velthoven (KNMI), Mikhail Sofiev (FMI) and Tim Haigh (EEA). Observers: Tony Hollingsworth (ECMWF), Eleni Paliouras (DLR), and Rosemary Munro (EUMETSAT)

Updated : 17 octobre 2006