Centennial Observing Stations

Centennial Observing Stations

"These long-term measurements ... are the backbone of both weather forecasting and climate science. It is highly important that we ensure the long-term sustainability of these measurements."

 Prof. Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization

 

Long-term meteorological observations are part of the irreplaceable cultural and scientific heritage of mankind that serve the needs of current and future generations for long-term high quality climate records. They are unique sources of past information about atmospheric parameters, thus are references for climate variability and change assessments. To highlight this importance, WMO has a mechanism to recognize centennial observing stations. By so doing, the Organization promotes sustainable observational standards and best practices that facilitate the generation of high-quality time series data.

The mechanism involves close collaboration between WMO climate, network and instrument experts representing WMO Technical Commissions, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), Members and the WMO Secretariat. The May 2017 WMO Executive Council meeting recognized a first set of WMO centennial observing stations (see Recognized stations below). Another call for the nomination of candidate stations has been issued in November 2017. Further calls are planned to be released every two years.

 

Videos

 

WMO Centennial Observing Stations - State of Recognition report 2021 (WMO-No. 1296)

WMO Centennial Observing Stations - State of Recognition report 2021 (WMO-No. 1296)

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