W O R L D M E T E O R O L O G I C A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N

===============================================================

FOURTH MEETING OF THE

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

COORDINATION GROUP ON SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS

FOR RA III AND RA IV

BOSTON, UNITED STATES

29 SEPTEMBER AND 3 OCTOBER 2019

FINAL REPORT
 WMO General Regulations

Regulation 42

Recommendations of working groups shall have no status within the Organization until they have
been approved by the responsible constituent body. In the case of joint working groups, the
recommendations must be concurred with by the presidents of the constituent bodies concerned
before being submitted to the designated constituent body.

Regulation 43

In the case of a recommendation made by a working group between sessions of the responsible
constituent body, either in a session of a working group or by correspondence, the president of the
body may, as an exceptional measure, approve the recommendation of behalf of the constituent
body when the matter is, in his opinion, urgent and does not appear to imply new obligations for
Members. He may then submit this recommendation for adoption by the Executive Council or to the
President of the Organization for action in accordance with Regulation 9(5).

2
 Group Photo

From left to right (front rows): Eladio Solano León, Luciano Vidal, Marcial Garbanzo Salas, Werner
Balogh, Bernie Connel, Carol Subrath-Ali, Mark Higgins, Janel Thomas, Kathy-Ann Ceasar, Edison
Cruz, Glendell de Souza

From left to right (back row): Steven Goodman, Dwayne Scott, Marta Caneo Figueroa, Diego Souza,
Jorge Chira La Rosa, Albert Martis, Diana Rodriguez, Luiz Machado, Natalia Donoho, Eric Madsen,
Matt Arkett, Mark Paese

3
 FOURTH MEETING OF THE

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

COORDINATION GROUP ON SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR RA III AND RA IV

Boston, United States, 29 September and 3 October 2019

FINAL REPORT

FIRST SESSION

1. OPENING OF THE MEETING

The meeting of the WMO Coordination Group on Satellite Data Requirements for Regional
Association III and Regional Association IV (RA-III-IV-SDR-Group) was the fourth in a series of
meetings of the RA-3-4-SDR-Group, which, following a preparatory meeting in College Park, United
States, in 20131, had been held in Greenbelt, United States, in 20152, in Wellemsted, Curacao, in
20163, and in New York, United States, in 20174.

The present meeting was organized in cooperation with and hosted by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and consisted of two 2-hour sessions, held on 29 September
2019 and 3 October 2019, respectively, in connection with the 2019 AMS/EUMETSAT/NOAA Joint
Satellite Conference, which took place from 28 September to 4 October 20195.

The meeting documents and presentations will be made available through the WMO Space
Programme website at webpage created for the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group
https://community.wmo.int/activity-areas/wmo-space-programme-wsp/ra-iii-and-ra-iv-sdr-group and
on the Group's dedicated website at http://satelite.cptec.inpe.br/geonetcast/br/datareq.html.

The out-going co-chairs of the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group, Luiz Machado (INPE/CPTEC, Brazil) and
Glendell De Souza (Caribbean Meteorological Organization, British Caribbean Territories), opened
the meeting.

Following this, Mark Paese, the NOAA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information
Services, welcomed participants and stressed the high value of interaction between users in the
Americas and NOAA through the important work of the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group, with the objective to
provide recommendations to NOAA regarding the dissemination of satellite data and products, and
the conduct of related training activities. He noted that it was a great pleasure for NOAA to host the
present meeting and encouraged and welcomed feedback, thoughts and comments from the Group
on how to improve the understanding of user needs and the collection of user requirements, which
was paramount for strengthening user engagement and for creating societal benefits for the region.

1
see https://community.wmo.int/meetings/preparatory-meeting-coordination-group-satellite-data-
requirements-ra-iii-and-ra-iv.
2
see https://community.wmo.int/meetings/1st-meeting-coordination-group-satellite-data-requirements-ra-iii-
and-ra-iv.
3
see https://community.wmo.int/meetings/2nd-meeting-coordination-group-satellite-data-requirements-ra-iii-
and-ra-iv.
4
see https://community.wmo.int/meetings/3rd-meeting-thecoordination-group-satellite-data-requirements-ra-
iii-and-ra-iv.
5
see https://www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams/meetings-events/ams-meetings/2019-joint-satellite-
conference/.

4
Finally, the participants were welcomed by Eric Madsen, NOAA Senior International Relations
Specialist, and by Werner Balogh, the representative of the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO), on behalf of the WMO.

A total of 31 participants from satellite operators and users in Regional Associations III and IV
attended the meeting. Participants introduced themselves in a tour de table. The list of participants
is attached in Annex I to this report. Funding support to participants was provided by WMO, NOAA
and other co-sponsors.

Albert Martis from the Meteorological Department of Curacao and Second Vice-President of the
WMO, was also in attendance of the meeting.

The meeting then proceeded to approve the agenda of the meeting, attached in Annex II to this
report.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE MEETING

The meeting recalled that the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group had been established as one of the regional
WMO Coordination Groups on Satellite Data Requirements on the basis of resolution 12 (EC-65)6
of the 65th session of the WMO Executive Council held in 2013, which invited regional associations
to create standing mechanisms for documenting and maintaining regional requirements for satellite
data access and exchange.

The Terms of Reference for the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group are attached in Annex III to this report.

Main objectives of the meeting were to review and follow-up on actions of the group's previous
meetings, to assess the status of satellite data utilization in Regional Associations III and IV through
country presentations prepared in coordination of RA-III-IV-SDR-Group members, to provide
updates on GEONETCast-Americas (GNC-A) data dissemination plans, on Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-East and GOES-West) and Joint Polar Satellite System
(JPSS) data, to consider approaches for the future update of regional satellite data requirements, to
review capacity building activities and regional traning plans to elect new RA-III-IV-SDR-Group co-
chairs.

3. REVIEW OF ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Guided by the co-chairs, the meeting proceeded to review actions and key issues resulting from its
previous meetings. The review was considered in preparing the updated list of actions and
recommendations during the second session of the meeting, under agenda item 10.

An important issue for communication among members of the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group as well as for
communication between the group and stakeholders is the website presence of the Group. Diego
Souza (INPE) announced that INPE, which presently hosts the Group's website, will renew the
website and set up a discussion platform for the Group (see Actions 4.3 and 4.4).

The meeting also reviewed the list with the current members of the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group, confirmed
or newly nominated by Permanent Representatives, in response to a letter sent to all Permanent
Representatives (or Directors of Meteorological or Hydrometeorological Services) of Members of
WMO in RA III and RA IV and copied to Presidents of RA III and RA IV and NOAA on 31 May 2019
(ref. 14033/2019/OBS/SAT/RA-III-IV-SDR).

6
see https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=5068%23page=151.

5
The list of current members is attached in Annex IV of this report. It was noted by the meeting, that
several countries had not confirmed or nominated representatives for the group (see Action 4.5).

4. COUNTRY PRESENTATION

Given the short time of the meeting, the organizers together with the co-chairs had decided to provide
a "Country Report" presentation template, which was distributed to participants prior to the meeting.

On the basis of the template, the ten RA-III-IV-SDR-Group WMO Member Countries represented at
the meeting, identified major findings/issues related to their country's use of satellite data, including
on GOES and JPSS reception, applications, software for data analysis and visualization, and training
needs.

Under this group members made short but concise, 5-8-minute, oral presentations in both sessions
of the meeting, summarizing the information contained in their presentations.

The presentations are available from the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group webpages and were made by:

Country Presenter Name Presenter First Name

Argentina RODRIGUEZ Diana
Belize SCOTT Dwayne
Brazil SOUZA Diego
Canada ARKETT Matt
Cayman Islands DE SOUZA Glendell
Chile FIGUEROA Marta Noemi Caneo
LEON Eladio
Costa Rica
SALAS Marcial Garbanzo
Ecuador CRUZ Edison
Peru CHIRA Jorge
Trinidad and Tobago SUBRATH-ALI Carol

The meeting also agreed that a "country status" webpage should be created at the new website for
the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group with relevant key information on means of data dissemination, capacity
building to support the work of the SDR Group (see Action 4.6).

The information contained in the country reports will be analysed by the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group (see
Action 4.7).

It was noted that the country reports presented during the meeting provided most helpful information
for acting and for charting the future work of the RA-III-IV-SDR Group.

The first session of the meeting was concluded at 6 PM on 29 September 2019.

6
 SECOND SESSION

The meeting continued with its second session at 6 PM on 3 October 2019, which commenced with
opening remarks by the co-chairs and by the NOAA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Satellite and
Information Services, Mark Paese, representing the meeting host.

5. GEONETCAST AMERICAS UPDATES

Natalia Donoho, NOAA/NESDIS GEONETCast Americas (GNC-A) Program Manager, and Diego
Souza, INPE, presented GEONETCast Americas (GNC-A) Updates, including new stations, the
status of the broadcast, changes since 2017, transition to DVB-S2 and related training events.

In 2019 there were 88 GNC-A stations, up from 10 stations in 2013. The GNC-A is operated by
Knight Sky, LLC / Intelsat Corporation and the data transmission bandwidth has been increased from
2 Mbps to 12 Mbps, with a 99.5% link reliability.

Several changes had taken place since the third meeting of the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group held in 2017,
several of which were in response to SDR Group requests.

A major upcoming activity is the transition from DVB-S to DVB-S2 ((Digital Video Broadcast, Second
Generation) on 1 June 2020, which may require the installation of a new receiver (see Action 4.8).

The meeting was informed that over the following product visualization and manipulation software
packaged had been developed by INPE in cooperation with CIRA:

• SIGMACast software from INPE: https://geonetcast.wordpress.com/the-sigmacast-

software-gnc-a-for-everyone/

• GNC-A Product Tutorials: https://geonetcast.wordpress.com/gnc-a-product-manipulation-

tutorials/

A further action identified in the discussions, following the presentation, related to the dissemination
of JPSS products via GNC-A (see Action 4.9).

6. GOES-R SERIES DATA FOR RA III AND RA IV

Dan Lindsey, NOAA/NESDIS Senior Scientific Advisor for the GOES-R Series Programme,
presented the latest updates on the status of GOES-16 and GOES-17, which now provide
operational services as GOES-East and GOES-West, respectively, over the region.

The meeting was informed about the mitigation measures put in place to address the impact of the
GOES-17 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Loop Heat Pipe thermal issue.

The available GOES-16/17 data access options, including direct readout (GOES-R rebroadcast,
HRIT/EMWIN, GNC-A) and terrestrial access modes (PDA, CLASS, Big Data Access) were
presented. On the web GOES-16/17 data is available through the website
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/goesdata.html.

In relation to dissemination via GNC-A, it was noted that swapping out Band 10 for other data, as
suggested by the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group should be considered (see Recommendation 3.2).

7
7. JPSS DATA FOR RA III AND RA IV

Mitch Goldberg, NOAA/NESDIS JPSS Chief Programme Scientist, presented an overview of JPSS
observations and products available via GNC-A. He compared using GOES-16 data to the
experience of watching a movie, while using JPSS data resembled the experience of reading a book.

Information on all the JPSS products is available at https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/jpss/.

The CGMS Flood Pilot project was introduced. New operational weather satellites such as JPSS,
GOES-16/17, HIMAWARI, FY3D, FY4A for the very first time have the spectral bands for inundation
mapping and large geographic and temporal coverage. These satellites have real-time distribution
capabilities allowing fast generation and utilization of disaster products for critical decision making.

NOAA demonstrated new flood mapping capabilities from JPSS and GOES-R and on this based
launched a pilot study which will include an evaluation stage where potential users from National
Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) working through the WMO will be asked about
the utility of the product.

NMHS are invited to provide feedback using the Proving Ground Flood Mapping Website at:
https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/flood-map-demo/ and www.ssec.wisc.edu/flood-map-demo/flood-
products/ (see Action 4.10).

NOAA is also planning to provide training related to the project in coordination with the WMO-CGMS
Virtual Laboratory for Education and Training in Satellite Meteorology (WMO-CGMS VLab7) (see
Action 4.11).

8. DISCUSSIONS ON HOW TO UPDATE REGIONAL SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS

Glendell De Souza (Caribbean Meteorological Organization, British Caribbean Territories) presented

a proposal by the co-chairs, on the process for continuing the update of regional satellite data
requirements, as required by the Terms of Reference of the Group (see Annex V).

A spreadsheet, including 384 datasets provided by NOAA, EUMETSAT and INPE, was last updated
in 2015.

The proposal was accepted by the meeting and is reflected in relevant actions (see Actions 4.1 and
4.2).

9. CAPACITY BUILDING ACTIVITIES AND REGIONAL TRAINING PLANS

Kathy-Ann Caesar, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) and from the WMO-
CGMS VLab Center of Excellence (CoE) in Barbados8, presented the Recommendations from the
RA-III-IV-SDR-Group Training Task Team (SDR-TTT), which followed up on an action to formulate
a training agenda for the regions.

The team had reviewed RA-II-IV-SDR-Group presentations for training needs and challenges. In
response to requests made at the 2017 meeting, the Satellite Foundation Courses, SatFC-G and
SatFC-J, had been created9.

7
see https://www.wmo-sat.info/vlab/.
8
see https://www.wmo-sat.info/vlab/barbados/.
9
see http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/shymet/.

8
NOAA established the Satellite International Training Working Group (SITWG) to identify and
coordinate satellite international user training needs in RA III and RA IV. It meets regularly to evaluate
the opportunities for GOES-R Series training involving the international community and is led by
Janel Thomas, GOES-R Product Readiness Operations (PRO) Training & User Liaison, and Steven
Goodman, GOES-R Programme Senior Advisor. These activities were also coordinated with the
WMO-CGMS VLab.

The SITWG has recently included JPSS into the group and training events for 2019 and beyond.
The Group works through NOAA/NESDIS/NWS International Affairs to assist in determining the
training requirements based on the WMO Survey on the Use of Satellite Data10 and on the
requirements expressed by the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group. It organizes two-week long training events,
one in RA-III and one in RA-IV each year. Countries in those regions can request training through
the following webpage: https://tinyurl.com/SITWG.

VLab CoEs also continued to provide training. For upcoming trainings please check the VLab
calendar at the VLab website.

Additional training resources, many of which are also available in Spanish and Portuguese language,
are available from the COMET Program website11.

Also presented were the Satellite Skills and Knowledge for Operational Meteorologists (WMO Pub
No. SP-1212), which describes the underpinning skills that support the WMO Competencies that
relate to the use of satellite data by operational meteorologists and that should be taken into account
when designing new training offers13.

SDR Group Members were asked to remind their NMHSs to implement national training plans in line
with WMO recommendations and to help coordinate within their NMHSs towards that effort (see
Action 4.12). It was suggested that each country should identify at least three prioritised, realistic
training requirements and based on this, the regional training plan could be updated.

The meeting agreed with the recommendation of Mark Higgins, WMO-CGMS VLab Co-Chair, that
the next meeting of the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group should include discussions on training requirements
for climate monitoring from satellites (see Action 4.13).

10. REVIEW OF ACTIONS

The Actions identified by and resulting from the meeting are included in Annex VI to this report. This
also includes remaining and updated actions and recommendations from previous meetings of the
RA-III-IV-SDR-Group.

Albert Martis noted that it was important for the group to continue bringing its work to the attention
of the overall work of the WMO, such as through the Regional Association meetings. It was further
noted, that the ongoing WMO Governance Reform14 aimed to strengthen the regional focus of the
work of the organization.

It was further decided to organize follow-up teleconferences to advance the inter-sessional work of
the Group (see Action 4.14).

10
see https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=5769.
11
see http://www.comet.ucar.edu/index.php.
12
see https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=5799.
13
see https://www.wmo-sat.info/vlab/ss/.
14
see https://public.wmo.int/en/governance-reform.

9
11. ELECTION OF NEW CO-CHAIRS

Under the guidance of the out-going Co-Chairs, Luiz Machado (INPE/CPTEC, Brazil) and Glendell
De Souza (Caribbean Meteorological Organization, British Caribbean Territories), who had
announced prior to the meeting that they would retire from their co-chair roles, the meeting
proceeded with the election of new co-chairs.

Nominations for candidates for the co-chair positions were received from Costa Rica and Brazil.
Their candidature was supported by the respective Permanent Representatives.

The meeting proceeded to elect the two new co-chairs, Marcial Garbanzo Salas (UCR, Costa Rica)
and Diego Souza (INPE, Brazil), by acclamation. Both have been actively involved with the work of
the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group since its creation.

NOAA and WMO thanked the out-going co-chairs for their excellent work and contribution to advance
the work of the RA-III-IV-SDR Group and welcomed the in-coming co-chairs.

The in-coming co-chairs addressed the meeting and expressed their commitment to take an active
role in contributing to advancing the work of the Group.

NOAA and WMO are looking forward to continuing the important work of the Group under the new
co-chairmanship.

12. ADJOURN THE MEETING

The second session of the meeting was concluded at 8 PM on 3 October 2019. The out-going and
in-coming co-chairs, NOAA and WMO thanked all participants for their active participation and for
their contributions to the work of the RA-III-IV-SDR-Group.

WMO expressed its gratitude to NOAA for hosting and to all co-sponsor for supporting the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.

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 ANNEX I: List of Participants

Last Name First Name Organization Country Email 29.09.2019 03.10.2019

Afzali Vesta UCI US vafzalig@uci.edu x
Arkett Matt Environment & Canada matt.arkett@canada.ca x
Climate Change
Canada
Balogh Werner WMO Switzerland wbalogh@wmo.int x x
Bojinski Stephan EUMETSAT Germany stephan.bojinski@eumetsat.int x
Caesar Kathy Ann CIMH BCT kacaesar@cimh.edu.bb x x
Caneo Marta DMC Chile marta.caneo@dgac.gob.cl x x
Figueroa
Chira La Rosa Jorge SENAMHI Peru jchira@senamhi.gob.pe x x
Clevenstine Seth NOAA/NESDIS US seth.clevenstine@noaa.gov x
Cornell Bernie CIRA US Bernie.Connell@colostate.edu x x
Cruz Edison INAMHI Ecuador ecruz@inamhi.gob.ec x x
De Souza Glendell CMO BCT gde_souza@cmo.org.tt x x
Donoho Natalia NOAA US natalia.donoho@noaa.gov x x
Fry Janel NOAA/NESDIS US janel.thomas@noaa.gov x x
Garbanzo Marcial UCR Costa Rica marcial.garbanzo@ucr.ac.cr x x
Salas
Griffin Vanessa NOAA/NESDIS US vanessa.l.griffin@noaa.gov x x
Higgins Mark EUMETSAT/VLAB Germany mark.higgins@eumetsat.int x x

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Last Name First Name Organization Country Email 29.09.2019 03.10.2019
Lindsey Dan NOAA/NESDIS US dan.lindsey@noaa.gov x
Machado Luiz INPE/CPTEC Brazil luiz.at.machado@gmail.com x
Madsen Eric NOAA US eric.madsen@noaa.gov x x
Martis Albert Meteorological Curacao albert.martis@meteo.cw x
Department
McNitt Jim NOAA/NESDIS US james.mcnitt@noaa.gov x x
O'Connors Chris NOAA/NESDIS US christopher.oconners@noaa.gov x x
Renkevens Tom NOAA/NESDIS US thomas.renkenvens@noaa.gov x x
Rodriguez Diana SMN Argentina dmr@smn.gov.ar x x
Sanders Erin CIRA US Erin.Sanders@colostate.edu x
Scott Dwayne NMS Belize dscott@hydromet.gov.bz x x
Solano León Eladio IMN Costa Rica esolano@imn.ac.cr x x
Souza Diego INPE Brazil diego.souza@inpe.br x x
Subrath-Ali Carol TIMS Trinidad and subrath_ali@yahoo.com x x
Tobago
Veeck Lucian Vlab UK lucveeck@gmail.com x
Vidal Luciano SMN Argentina lvidal@smn.gov.ar x

12
 ANNEX II: Agenda and Work Schedule

4TH MEETING OF THE WMO COORDINATION GROUP

ON SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR RA III AND RA IV

Agenda

First Session: Sunday, 29 Sept 2019, 4:00 to 6:00 PM

Second Session: Thursday, 3 October 2019, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Location: Marina-I, Lobby Level of the Westin Hotel

First Session, Sunday, 29 September 2019, 4:00 to 6:00 PM

Time Agenda Item Speaker(s)

4:00 1. Opening of the Meeting Co-Chairs
Welcoming remarks WMO, NOAA
Approval of agenda

4:15 2. Objectives of the Meeting Co-Chairs

WMO – Werner
NOAA – Eric

4:25 3. Review of Actions and Recommendations Co-Chairs and WMO

4:40 4. Review of Country Reports, followed by SDR Members

Discussions
Short summaries of the presentations prepared and
submitted by SDR members prior to the meeting.
Identification of major findings/issues, including
GOES and JPSS reception, applications, analysis
software and visualization, and training needs.

6:00 End of First Session

13
 Second Session, Thursday, 3 October 2019, 6:00 to 8:00 PM

Time Agenda Item Speaker(s)

6:00 Opening of the Second Session NOAA - M. Paese
(Deputy Assistant
Administrator for
Satellite and Information
Services)

6:10 5. GEONETCast-Americas (GNC-A) Updates Natalia Donoho (NOAA)

& Diego Souza (INPE)

6:25 6. GOES-R Series Data for RA III and RA IV NOAA – Dr. Dan Lindsey
GOES-16/17 data distribution updates and use cases (Senior Scientific Advisor
(data access, exchange, and archiving) - GRB / HRIT- for the GOES-R Series
EMWIM / GNC-A / BIG Data Project / Web / Other Program)

6:40 7. JPSS Data for RA III and RA IV NOAA – Dr. Mitch

JPSS Data Distribution Update and User Cases (data Goldberg (JPSS Chief
access, exchange, and archiving) - X-Band stations / Program Scientist)
GNC-A / Web
- DBNet Implementation Status in RA III and RA IV

7:00 8. Discussion on How to Update Regional Satellite Co-Chairs

Data Requirements

7:15 9. Capacity Building Activities and Regional Training VLab Co chairs – Kathy
Plans Ann, Mark Higgins

7:30 10. Review of Actions and Recommendations Co-Chairs, WMO, SDR

Members
7:45 11. Election of New Co-Chairs Co-Chairs

8:00 12. Adjourn the Meeting

14
 ANNEX III: Terms of Reference for the WMO Coordination Group on
Satellite Data Requirements for RA III and RA IV

1. The Group consists of a representative number of members from the satellite data
user community in the Region, joined, as associate members, by satellite data
providers and WMO. The Group is chaired by one or two representatives from key
satellite data user organizations of the Region.

2. The Group maintains an updated list of satellite data and products available to the
Region through existing dissemination services. Data and products shall be classified
by categories of variables and derived products.

3. The Groups regularly reviews sources of regional needs and undertakes, as needed,
further information gathering, such as surveys, to ensure that views of WMO
Members in the Region are adequately represented.

4. The Group analyzes the requirements for each relevant category of product, and
identifies which requirements are not adequately met by existing services. The unmet
requirements are prioritized, considering:

a. The applications supported and their impact

b. The number and representativeness of the users

c. The status of the required data or products

d. The quality and suitability of the required data or products.

5. In summary the Group formulates recommendations pertaining to:

a. Existing satellite data/products (with detailed references) to be included in existing

distribution services, or moving a product from one service to another, or
assigning lower priority to an existing product (or removing it if obsolete)

b. Amendments of existing products or development of new products

c. Evolution (upgrade, or consolidating) of data dissemination means, or other (e.g.

training, tools, user equipment)

d. Short-term action to implement these recommendations

6. The Group maintains a dialogue with satellite data providers of relevance to the
Region, and other partners as needed, to ensure that its recommendations are
implemented.

7. The Group uses the WMO Procedure for Documenting Regional Requirements for
Satellite Data Access and Exchange for guidance (see
http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/sat/documents/SAT-GEN_CBS-15-ProcedureRegionalDataAccessReq.pdf).

8. The Group meets in person at least every two years, and, to ensure continuity,
works through collaborative tools during the intersessional period.

15
ANNEX IV: Members of the WMO Coordination Group on Satellite Data
Requirements for RA III and RA IV
(STATUS: 14 October 2019)

Name Institution Country Email

Diana Rodriguez Servicio Meteorológico Argentina dmr@smn.gov.ar
Nacional (SMN)
TBC Meteorological The Netherlands -
Department, Aruba (Aruba)
Dwayne Scott Belize Meteorological Belize dscott@hydromet.gov.bz
Service
Luiz Augusto Center for Weather Brazil luiz.at.machado@gmail.com
Machado (outgoing Forecasting and Climate
Co-Chair) Studies (CPTEC), National
Institute for Space
Research (INPE)
Diego Rodrigo M. Center for Weather Brazil diego.souza@inpe.br
Souza (incoming Co- Forecasting and Climate
Chair) Studies (CPTEC), National
Institute for Space
Research (INPE)
TBC National Institute of Brazil -
Meteorology (INMET)
Glendell De Souza Caribbean Meteorological British Caribbean gde_souza@cmo.org.tt
(temporary Co-Chair Organization Territories (BCT)
for 2019 meeting)
Kathy-Ann Caesar Caribbean Meteorological British Caribbean kacaesar@cimh.edu.bb
Organization VLab Territories (BCT)
Representative
Matt Arkett Meteorological Service of Canada matt.arkett@canada.ca
Canada
Marta Noemi Caneo Dirección Meteorológica de Chile marta.caneo@dgac.gob.cl
Figueroa Chile
Eliecer David Díaz Institute of Hydrology, Colombia ediaz@ideam.gov.co
Almanza Meteorology and
Environmental Studies
(IDEAM)
Eladio Solano León Instituto Meteorológico Costa Rica esolano@imn.ac.cr
Nacional
Marcial Garbanzo University of Costa Rica Costa Rica marcial.garbanzo@ucr.ac.cr
Salas (incoming Co-
Chair)
TBC Dominica Meteorological Dominica -
Service

16
 Name Institution Country Email
Edison Cruz Instituto Nacional de Ecuador ecruz@inamhi.gob.ec
Meteorología e Hidrología
(INAMHI)
Jorge Chira Servicio Nacional de Peru jchira@senamhi.gob.pe
Meteorología e Hidrología
del Perú (SENAMHI)
Andre Joyeux Saint Lucia Meteorological Saint Lucia TBC
Service
Carol Subrath-Ali Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago subrath_ali@yahoo.com
Meteorological Service
Julio Cabanerit National Meteorological Venezuela TBC
Caraballo and Hydrological Institute
(INAMEH)
AmeriGEOSS FP
Angelica Gutierrez- NOAA NWS, US GEO USA angelica.gutierrez@noaa.gov
Magness
Satellite operators
Natalia Donoho NOAA NESDIS USA natalia.donoho@noaa.gov
Eric Madsen NOAA NESDIS USA eric.madsen@noaa.gov
Martin Medina NOAA NESDIS USA martin.medina@noaa.gov
Sally Wannop EUMETSAT International Sally.Wannop@eumetsat.int

TBC = To be confirmed

17
 ANNEX V: Regional Satellite Data Requirements

For the latest version of the list of the regional satellite data requirements, maintained by the
Coordination Group on Satellite Data Requirements in Region III and IV see:

http://satelite.cptec.inpe.br/geonetcast/br/docs/RA-III-IV-Requirements-
v20150707.xlsx

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 ANNEX VI: Actions and Recommendations

# Recommendation/Action Who? When? Notes and Follow-up

4th Meeting of the RA-III-IV-SDR Group

4.1 Data Providers to update the SDR Product List. NOAA, May 2020: - WMO Secretariat to send present
EUMETSAT and version of SDR Product List to Data
INPE Providers (March 2020)
- Data Providers to provide requested
updates (March 2020)

4.2 SDR Group to review the updated SDR Product List SDR Group September 2020
and rank products according to priority in line with Members
user requirements in the region.

4.3 Create a new website for the SDR Group. The new Diego Souza March 2020
website will be maintained by the SDR Group Co- (INPE), SDR Group
Chairs and linked to Co-chairs
https://community.wmo.int/activity-areas/wmo-
space-programme-wsp/ra-iii-and-ra-iv-sdr-group.

4.4 Create discussion groups on the new website to Diego Souza March 2020
facilitate the exchange of information and to host (INPE), SDR Group
dedicated group discussions on SDR Group Co-chairs and
matters. Members
4.5 To follow-up with WMO Members in RAIII/RAIV SDR Group Co- September 2020 Several countries with past
that have not yet nominated an SDR Group chairs representation are no longer
member in response to the WMO Letter of 31 May participating (Aruba, Dominica, Saint
2019. Lucia, Venezuela, Curacao, Bahamas,
Panama and Honduras). Other
countries have not yet nominated any
focal points (e.g.: Bolivia, Paraguay,
Uruguay, the Guianas, Guatemala,
some Caribbean islands, and others).

19
# Recommendation/Action Who? When? Notes and Follow-up

4.6 Create and maintain a "country status" webpage at Diego Souza March 2020
the SDR Group website with relevant key (INPE), SDR Group
information on means of data dissemination, Co-chairs and
capacity building to support the work of the SDR Members
Group.
4.7 To exchange information on good practices by SDR Group Co- July 2020
NMHSs for the internal dissemination, utilization chairs and
and storage of large amounts of real time Members
information as well as for product generation,
implementation and interpretation. The aim of
these action is to compile best practices and to
make them available through the SDR Group.
4.8 GEONETCast-Americas (GNC-A): SDR Group SDR Group 5th RA-III-IV-
members to remind their NMHSs, that GNC-A Members SDR-Group
stations will need to be upgraded from DVB-S to meeting
DVB-S2 before March 2020.
4.9 To check the status of JPSS products on GNC-A. NOAA May 2020 In connection with Action #4.1

4.10 SDR Group Members to bring to the attention of SDR Group May 2020 Any questions can be referred to
their NMHSs the NOAA Flood Products (see Members William Straka
https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/flood-map-demo/ and (wstraka@ssec.wisc.edu), Bill Sjoberg
www.ssec.wisc.edu/flood-map-demo/flood- (bill.sjoberg@noaa.gov) and Mitch
products/) and to provide feedback to NOAA. Goldberg (mitch.goldberg@noaa.gov)
Any technical and scientific issues can
be referred to Jay Hoffman
(jay.hoffman@ssec.wisc.edu), Sanmei
Li (slia@gmu.edu) and Donglian Sun
(dsun@gmu.edu)
4.11 One of the VLab Regional Centres in RAIII/RAIV to VLab Co- June 2020 Coordinate with Mitch Goldberg
step up and lead training on flood mapping related chairs/VLab (mitch.goldberg@noaa.gov)
issues. Technical Officer

20
# Recommendation/Action Who? When? Notes and Follow-up

4.12 SDR Group Members to remind their NMHSs to
implement national training plans in line with
WMO recommendations and to help coordinate
within their NMHSs towards that effort.
4.13 To add an agenda item on training requirements
for climate monitoring to the agenda of the 5th RA- and SDR Group
III-IV-SDR Group meeting.
4.14 To organize future SDR Group teleconferences. It is
proposed to have two annual teleconferences
hosted by the WMO Secretariat, supplement - as
needed - by additional teleconferences organized
by the SDR Group.
SDR Group May 2020 WMO-No.1083 (Manual on the
Members Implementation of Education and
Training Standards in Meteorology
and Hydrology), WMO-NO.1219 (An
International Agenda for Education
and Training in Meteorology and
Hydrology ), WMO-No.1205 (Guide to
Competency), WMO-NO.1209
(Compendium of WMO Competency
Frameworks), ETR-21 (Status of
Human Resources in National
Meteorological and Hydrological
Services), ETR-24 (A Compendium of
Topics to Support Management
Development in National
Meteorological and Hydrological
Services)
WMO Secretariat 5th RA-III-IV- Suggested by CGMS-WMO VLab Co-
SDR-Group Chair Mark Higgins. CGMS-WMO VLab
Co-chairs meeting would be prepared to follow-up on
recommendations resulting from the
discussions.
WMO Secretariat October 2020 WMO hosted teleconferences
and SDR Group and June 2020
Co-chairs

21
# Recommendation/Action Who? When? Notes and Follow-up

3rd Meeting of the RA-III-IV-SDR Group (New York, USA, 2017)

3.2 RECOMMENDATION 3.2: On a permanent basis,
the Group recommended to add Band 10 to the
GEONETCast-Americas.
3.1 ACTION 3.1: The Group to assist Members as
needed in applying for access to the PDA.
SDR Group 5th RA-III-IV- 4th Meeting: H. Qi suggested whether
Members SDR-Group users could trade Band 10 with Band 8
meeting or 9 since there was no extra space on
the GNC-A beam to simply add Band
10. B. Connell remarked that user
demand for Band 10 is a function of
the application (NWP, aviation).
Needs to be further discussed.
- - CLOSED: Access to PDA is frozen.

2nd Meeting of the RA-III-IV-SDR Group (Curacao, 2016)

2.1 RECOMMENDATION 2.1: The Group should use SDR Group 5th RA-III-IV- 3rd Meeting: G. de Souza noted that
opportunities such as the Hurricane Committee, Members SDR-Group at the recent session of the Hurricane
the Ibero-American meeting of NMHS and AMS to meeting Committee, Colombia announced to
increase awareness of the issues associated with use GNC-A to foster satellite
preparing for GOES-R. meteorology.

2.2 RECOMMENDATION 2.2: NOAA to inform on their NOAA 5th RA-III-IV- 3rd Meeting: In 2018, NOAA plans to
plans to put GOES-R data on the WMO GTS. SDR-Group put GOES-16 AMVs in BUFR format on
meeting the GTS.
2.3 RECOMMENDATION 2.3: Members of RA-3-4-SDR 5th RA-III-IV- 4th Meeting: See "Guide to
should work with their national regulatory SDR-Group Participation in Radio-frequency
agencies to ensure the protection of the meeting Coordination", WMO-No. WMO-No.
radiofrequency bands that they require for satellite 1159
data reception (and other meteorological (https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl
applications). =notice_display&id=19056)

22
# Recommendation/Action Who? When? Notes and Follow-up

2.4 RECOMMENDATION 2.4: NOAA to clarify in what
way sectors can be made available on GNC-A.
2.5 RECOMMENDATION 2.5: To ensure rapid
interaction between NOAA as the operator of GNC-
A and users, one or more RA-3-4-SDR
representatives (to be determined) should be
members of the GEONETCast-Americas User
Group.
- - CLOSED: It was determined that GNC-
A does not have capacity to
disseminate sectorized 0.5 km band.
- - CLOSED: GNC-A User Group Webinars
happens quarterly, with participation
of SDR representatives (the webinar is
open to anyone).

23