Access to Meteorological Data
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National and Internationala Aspects of Accessing Meteorological Data
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Currently, there is a lot of discussion on the conditions of access to
meteorological data. One main reason for this is the progress of
commercialization in Meteorology. There are fears, that this process
leads to restrictions in the international data exchange, and some developments
in this direction have indeed already been observed.
The free and unrestricted (and, let me add, efficient) international
exchange of meteorological and related data and products
is one of the preconditions for a successful conservation and development
of scientific and technical expertise almost all meteorological fields.
As a consequence, in June 1995 the Twelfth World
Meteorological Congress of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has
adopted a resolution (WMO CG XII
Resolution 40) entiteled
"WMO Policy and
Practice for the Exchange of Meteorological and Related
Data and Products Including Guidelines on Relationships in
Commercial Meteorological Activities".
This resolution is dealing with the exchange of data between national weather
services, and the provision of data to third parties, including both the
private sector and scientific research. Not unexpectedly, the practical
effect of Resolution 40 to the amount of measurements put into the
WMO Global Telecommunication System (GTS) and the handling of data requests
can be interpreted in different ways.
A further aspect is, that while Resolution 40 has no legally binding character,
there are laws in the different nations and on an international basis
that may be directly applicable to the availability and the condititons
of meteorological data.
As a consequence, the Rhineland branch of the German Meteorological Society
(DMG) had organized a panel discussion on
National and internantional aspects of the access to meteorological
data
on October 10th, 1996 at the University of Cologne.
Summaries of the talks given are printed in Section B below. The relevant laws
and resolutions are also available in this section. A hardcopy of
the talks and most law/resolution texts will be available from the society
at printing costs (email to DMG@meteo.uni-koeln.de).
The outcome of the talks and discussions is, that meteorologists (and, in
particular, those working in research institutions) must take an active role
in order to maintain and develop data availability conditions that are
fruitful for research, but also meet the needs of the national weather
services and the private sector.
As one step towards this goal, a collection of data politics of different
institutions (including scientific bodies) shall be provided in section
C below. Any information that can be of use for the discussion and which
may be made available on this web-page should be mailed to
diskussion@meteo.uni-koeln.de.
Laws and Resolutions:
Gesetz über den freien Zugang zu Informationen über
die Umwelt (Deutschland) (
Gesetz über den Deutschen Wetterdienst (DWD-Gesetz) (
Resolution of the 25th General Assembly of ICSU (The
International Council of Scientific Unions)
Informations and trends
Information collection of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA)
WMO position on the WIPO Draft Treaty on
Intellectual Property in Respect of Databases
Scientific data: access vs. copyright?
German Weather Service's Price List:
Since the 01/01/2000 the DWD introduced a price list for providing data, products and special services (including partly also products not created by the DWD). The list mentions prices according to certain groups of users. The total price consists in each case of a supply payment and an information price. The exact pricing cannot not be presented here because of the DWD's exclusive publishing rights. Inquiries are referred to Data Service
To avoid the DWD too high prices (calculated for special services) inquiries should - if possible - ask explicitly for Synop Data (or another coded standard data) which are cheaper, but have to be decoded. Worth remarking is a blanket rate available from the 'Global Database' including current 'essential' data.
American National Weather Service
Echanges Internationaux de Donnees Meteorologiques
Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC): No original data,
just gridded products
IGBP / Data politics of the International Geosphere-Biosphere
Programme (IGBP)
The Mesoscale Alpine Programme,Switzerland
Dr. Uwe Ulbrich, email: ulbrich@meteo.uni-koeln.de
A - The Current Situation
B - Basic Information and Discussion Seeds
Presentations on 10th October:
Prof. Dr. H. Graßl, WMO, Direktor des Welt-Klima-Forschungsprogramms
(WCRP)
Title of presentation:
Wie der Erfolg der Meteorologen den
Datenaustausch behindert (
)
Dr. U. Gärtner, Präsident des Deutschen Wetterdienstes
Title of presentation:
Datenpolitik des Deutschen Wetterdienstes ()
Prof. Dr. R. Bleck, Universität Miami
Title of presentation:
Datenzugang an amerikanischen Universitäten ()
Mr. Ed Gross, NOAA, Leader of the Industrial Meteorology Department
Title of presentation:
Public-Private Partnerships: An Issue for National Meteorological Services
Around the World
Dr. R. Röger, Lehrstuhl für allgemeine Staatslehre, Staats- und
Verwaltungsrecht, Universität zu Köln
Title of presentation:
Die Bedeutung des neuen Umweltinformationsgesetzes für die
Beschaffung und Verwertung meteorologischer Daten. ()
Inge Niedek, Meteo Consult, Ingelheim
Title of presentation:
Der Wetterbericht im Fernsehen: zwischen Zuschauer, Daten und Politik ()
Dr. H. Scheuer, Brüssel, Abteilungsleiter e.h. EU-Komission
Title of presentation:
Allgemeine Fragen des Zugangs zu Informationen über die Umwelt im Rahmen der EU ()
Resolution No. 40 of WMO (Original: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/im/wmocovr.htm)
Richtlinie des Rates der Europäischen Gemeinschaften vom 7. Juni
1990 über den freien Zugang zu Informationen über
die Umwelt ()
)
)
A Primer On The Proposed WIPO Treaty On Database Extraction Rights
That Will Be Considered In December 1996
(Source: International STEP Newsletter)
C - Data Politics of Different Institutions
C.1 Data policits of National Weather Services
Fax.:+49-(0)69-8062-4499
E-MAIL: datenservice@dwd.de
IMPORTANT:
C.2 Data Policy of other Institutions
ECSN data policy Recommendations
(Original:
http://aire.inm.es/recomm.html)
Current information
Further information concerning access to meteorological data are welcome (other WWW-sites; information for printing on this page).
Gregor Leckebusch, email: gcl@meteo.uni-koeln.de
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Last Modified: Sun Jun 13 12:33:03 2004 |
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