Weathermen Attend Regional Seminar
By DK Suria Rina PHA

Bandar Seri Begawan - In collaboration with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Brunei is hosting the Regional Training Seminar for WMO members from the ASEAN region as well as some from Regional Association 2 (China, Korea, Mongolia and India).

The event marks a significant milestone in the development of meteorological services.

The opening ceremony for the Regional Training Seminar on interpretation of global data processing and forecasting systems (GDPFS) products and improvement of public weather services (PWS) was held at the Centrepoint Hotel in Gadong yesterday.

The seminar aims to improve the level of service and delivery of information to the public. The Brunei Meteorological Service is actively pursuing its development programme. The convening of the seminar also signals the commitments made by the Ministry of Communications.

“Through several projects under the country 8th National Development Plan, namely, the establishment of automatic networks of stations to monitor weather and lightning activities, this network would lay a much more comprehensive observation infrastructure, which can surely contribute towards a better support for all services to be provided by the Brunei Meteorological Service,” said Dato Paduka Haji Awang Abdullah, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications,.

He said that the role of National Meteorological Services, in any nation’s development and prosperity, is a vital and indispensable one.

He said that the mass media play an important role in relaying and distributing weather information and warnings to the users and the public.

He said that the aim of this WMO programme is to assist in strengthening the capabilities of WMO member countries to meet the needs of the community through provision of comprehensive weather and related services, with emphasis on public safety and welfare.

In his speech, Representatives of the World Meteorological, Mr Joel Martellet, Scientific Officer, Data Processing System Division, said one of the main long-term objectives is to ensure that WMO member countries can make the best use of the available weather watch data and products.

He added that today, there are 16 meteorological centres around the world, which are producing forecast date on a global scale.

Some of these forecasts can be received by national meteorological centres either through the global telecommunication networks of the WMO World Weather Watch or through Internet or through direct satellite dissemination systems.

Awg Hj Kasim Haji Latip, the Director of Civil Aviation, said that the seminar is placing a high emphasis on the subject of access and utilisation of global data available to WMO member countries, which has the primary objective of enabling National Meteorological Services in member countries to enhance their weather forecasting capability.

The two-week seminar is divided into two parts with the main purpose for the first week seminar to update and widen the knowledge of staff responsible for weather forecasting and development and to ensure the optimal use of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) products, and in particular of Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS) which include hands-on practical sessions on workstations and case objectives statistical studies.

The second part of the seminar will deal with a broad area of topics related to the improvement of Public Weather Services including impacts of a changing environment on service delivery to the public, verification and service delivery to the public, verification and service assessment, improved relations with the media and emergency management.

The use and interpretation of Global Data Processing and Forecasting Systems Products at the seminar would provide a valuable contribution in strengthening the capacities of the Brunei Meteorological Service, and the participants’ respective National Meteorological Services, in the provision and delivery of meteorological and related products.

The training seminar will include practical session and demonstrations on the techniques and methodology in delivering weather forecast and warning through the media. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin 

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