Meteorol. Appl. (Supplement), 49–53 (2006)
doi:10.1017/S1350482706002544
World AgroMeterological Information Service (WAMIS) Robert Stefanski & M. V. K. Sivakumar World Meteorological Organization, 7bis Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Email:
[email protected]
During an Inter-Regional Workshop on Improving Agrometeorological Bulletins in Barbados in October 2001, participants recommended that a dedicated web server be developed for distributing agrometeorological products from WMO members. Subsequently, an Expert Group Meeting on Internet Applications for Agrometeorological Products was held in Washington, DC, during May 2002, to discuss the practical steps needed to develop this web server. Discussions from this meeting led to the development of the World AgroMeteorological Information Service (WAMIS). WAMIS is a dedicated web server on which countries and organisations can place their agrometeorological bulletins and advisories. Provision of such a central location for agrometeorological information enables users to quickly and easily evaluate various bulletins and gain insight into improving their own bulletins. Also, these bulletins represent the expert knowledge of the individual countries and provide the possibility to assess extreme events and disasters in a historical perspective, especially when an archive of bulletins is present. Placement of agrometeorological bulletins on WAMIS also increases the visibility of the National Meteorological/Hydrological Services (NMHS). In March 2005, a tools and resources section was added to WAMIS to provide users with additional papers, links to software tools, Internet links, and other resources to help improving their agrometeorological bulletins and advisories and services. Keywords: Internet, agrometeorological products.
1. Introduction In October 2001, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), along with the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, sponsored an Inter-Regional Workshop on Improving Agrometeorological Bulletins, which was held in Barbados (Sivakumar 2002). The objectives of the workshop were to evaluate how the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) determine the contents and present information in their countries’ agrometerological bulletins, identify shortcomings and limitations in the agrometeorological bulletin preparation, review the new methods and tools that can improve the content and presentation of information in agrometeorological bulletins and the timely dissemination of the bulletins to decisionmakers, and formulate an effective training strategy to build the capacity of NMHS to rapidly implement the improved systems of preparing and disseminating agrometeorological bulletins (Sivakumar 2002). The purpose of the workshop was to assess the current status of agrometeorological bulletin preparation across the world and to determine different methods of
improving the contents of these bulletins to facilitate timely and efficient operational farming decisionmaking that relies on agrometeorological information. During the brainstorming sessions of the workshop, the participants developed the concept of establishing an Internet server for all agrometeorological bulletins from various countries. The specific recommendation stated that a web server be created to share experiences in order to aid in the preparation of agrometeorological products and also to facilitate exchange of new ideas and that the new server should be in a location where all countries could routinely post their agrometeorological products. The view of the participants was that by having as many agrometeorological products and bulletins on one website, personnel from NMHS could then readily compare, evaluate, and use these ideas to improve their own agrometeorological products and bulletins. After this workshop, the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) of the WMO recognized the need for improved access to agrometeorological products by members and initiated a meeting to enhance the use of Internet technology. An Expert Group Meeting on Internet Applications for Agrometeorological Products was held in Washington, DC, in May 2002, organized jointly by NOAA, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and WMO.
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Robert Stefanski & M. V. K. Sivakumar The objectives of the Expert Group Meeting were • to discuss how the Internet could be used as an effective medium in the presentation and dissemination of improved agrometeorological products; • to evaluate different tasks involved in creating a dedicated Web Server for Agrometeorological Products (WESAP) from agrometeorological services around the world; • to review and make available on the Internet simple and effective training modules including simple software packages and tools to help the agrometeorological services develop suitable contents for agrometeorological products; • to develop guidelines for the agrometeorological services to post routinely their agrometeorological products on the Internet; • to discuss and develop a monitoring and evaluation tool for obtaining the user feedback on the agrometeorological products to ensure that the service provided on the WESAP is continuously improved and updated for the users.
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recommended that systems administration be done by ISP, especially in Phases I and II. A Steering Body should be established to approve WESAP activities (web page, life cycle), execute decisions (performance issues, funding, resource identification, marketing), develop longterm vision, and nurture workgroups for planning. A focal point should be designated from each member country to communicate with WESAP Project Manager and internal bulletin preparers/ users. WMO could send a circular letter to all members requesting each country to designate focal points, who must be knowledgeable of their countries agrometeorological products. The primary method of data upload will be by FTP. An alternative or secondary choice will by email. It is essential that bulletins specify file size to indicate wait time. Appropriate publicity materials such as posters could be prepared to announce the WESAP and the International Society for Agricultural Meteorology (INSAM) could consider offering an e-forum option to promote the WESAP project. A suitable logo should be developed for WESAP.
Expert Group participants were divided into two 10 working groups where they discussed and formulated recommendations. The two working groups were Elements for the Design of the Web Page for WESAP and Training Modules on WESAP: Issues and Next 2. Project planning and schedule Steps. The working group on training modules targeted The project was conceived with two phases. In Phase 1, three audiences for the modules. The first audience the initial phase of the project, the primary tasks were has no opportunity to attend training, no resources the initial set-up of web server and initial web site (libraries), and no products, e.g. some of the Small development. The initial web page and logo design Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Grenada. The would be an interactive process between the WMO prosecond audience is producing some products, but has no ject manager and the web-hosting company. The webbulletins, and needs improvement (e.g. Laos). The third hosting company would deliver versions of the web audience comprises advanced members who already site and logo for approval by the WMO. The initial produce bulletins and products, but is looking for web page would then be put online. The WMO project improvement (e.g. Ethiopia). The training modules were manager would be the initial interface between the classified into the following themes of data, information, member countries and the web site and who would dissemination, and feedback. Three types of training update and maintain the web site with assistance from modules/tools were identified: those that are already the web-hosting company. Simple training modules available, those that need to be adapted, and those that (currently, tools and resources) would then be added need to be developed. (PDF, PowerPoint presentations). The goal of this phase was to set up the initial web server and web site, and ask The following is the summary of the recommendations member countries to participate. of the Expert Group: 1 The development of WESAP must be accomplished in phases, with Phase I considered as a prototype and work in progress (time scale: 1 year) and Phase II as a consolidation phase building upon Phase I (time scale: 1 year). 2 Emphasis should be placed on one centralized dedicated web server in Phase I. Mirror servers will be planned and implemented during later phases as deemed necessary. 3 The hosting platform should be maintained by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and it is strongly
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Phase 2 is the consolidation phase. After a period of time (within six months to one year), the number of products is expected to increase to a point where the maintenance and uploading the products will no longer be a simple task to be handled by the WMO project manager alone. At this point, the addition of bulletins will have to be streamlined. The original concept was to have bulletins uploaded directly from the member countries and generate the web pages dynamically. During Phase 2, more complex training modules, such as the GIS module, will be added. The web server hardware will be upgraded as needed.
World AgroMeterological Information Service (WAMIS) Following is the summary of the project schedule developed from the Expert Group discussions: Phase I (First Year) Within one month of signing the contract initial set-up of web server initial web site development officially online Subsequent months web page updates and refinements done by WMO project manager addition of simple training modules Phase II (Second Year) Develop the capability for member countries to start updating bulletins Development of database capabilities and dynamic web page Addition of more complex training modules
2.1. Initial development and implementation Soon after the Expert Group Meeting, a project manager was assigned to the project. One of the initial steps in the process was to develop an appropriate name and web address for the web server. After consultation with a group from the Washington meeting, the title of the World AgroMeteorological Information Service (WAMIS) was agreed upon. The necessary steps were then taken to obtain the web address, www.wamis.org. Since there were limited technical resources at the WMO to develop and maintain a dedicated web server for WAMIS, the technical aspects of web site development and maintenance needed to be done by an outside contractor. During the spring and summer of 2003, bids were obtained from four companies. Through the WMO bid selection process, the U.S.-based web-hosting company INETU from Allentown, PA, was chosen. During the autumn of 2003, INETU developed the web site and logo with feedback from the WAMIS Project Manager, and in December 2003, WAMIS officially went online with products from Peru and the United States. Shortly thereafter, in January 2004, thanks to colleagues from Italy (http://wamis.bo.ibimet.cnr.it) and South Korea (http://www.wamis.net), the WAMIS mirror sites went online. The actual Web Server Specifications are as follows: • • • • • •
dedicated web server, Intel Celeron Processor 1.7 GHz, memory (RAM): 256 MB, primary hard drive: 40 GB IDE, secondary hard drive: 40 GB IDE, bandwidth per month: 15 GB.
The objective of WAMIS is to provide a dedicated web server on which countries and organizations can place their agrometeorological bulletins and advisories. Provision of such a central location for agrometeorological information enables users to quickly and easily evaluate various bulletins and gain insight into improving their own bulletins. Also, these bulletins represent the expert knowledge of the individual countries and provide the possibility to assess extreme events and disasters in a historical perspective, especially when an archive of bulletins is present. Placement of agrometeorological bulletins on WAMIS also increases the visibility of the NMHS. In late 2004, after some discussions with Management Group members of CAgM, it was decided to rename the training modules section as “Tools and Resources” to better reflect the types of information that will be provided in this section. The “Tools and Resources” section went online during March 2005. The four themes are data (includes information on data management tools, guidelines for using agrometeorological data, and available software), information (includes all the different aspects of information gathering and analysis), dissemination (bulletin design, communication tools, Internet technologies, and Internet experiences from around the world), and feedback (guidelines). The “Tools and Resources” section was added in March 2005 and Phase I was then considered completed. Figure 1 shows the WAMIS home web page.
3. Current status In December 2003, the WMO Secretary-General (SG) sent a letter to all PRs requesting members to nominate a WAMIS Focal Point. WMO received responses from 99 countries or organizations. The following is the distribution by WMO region of members who have nominated WAMIS Focal Points: Region I (Africa) 30 Region II (Asia) 17 Region III (South America) 7 Region IV (North and Central America) 8 Region V (Southwest Pacific) 9 Region VI (Europe) 28 There are 140 CAgM members in WMO, so 71% have already sent in their nominations. Of those countries responding, about a half do not have a web page or do not have their agrometeorological products on the Internet. This is one of the objectives of WAMIS to promote and disseminate products from WMO members. As of the end of April 2006, there are 25 products from countries and organizations posted on WAMIS. The following table describes these products and how they are received by the project manager:
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Robert Stefanski & M. V. K. Sivakumar
Figure 1. WAMIS home web page as of April 2006 (www.wamis.org).
Number of web links only Number of actual bulletins (PDF) Received by email Accessed by web Automatically uploaded
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As of April 2006, there have been nearly 70,000 visits since the inception of the web site in December 2003 and about 6000 visits are made per month (Figure 2). Of the countries that have actual products on WAMIS,
29,703 products (bulletins) were viewed or downloaded in 2005. The largest numbers viewed or downloaded were from Peru (5972), Fiji (5063), Ethiopia (2776), Italy (2265), and the South Pacific Islands (1674). After a year of operation and after discussions with the web-hosting company, it was decided to develop a web form that the project manager could use to aid in uploading the bulletins. This web form would allow the user to add information about the file being uploaded in
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Dec-03 Jan-04 Feb-04 Mar-04 Apr-04 May-04 Jun-04 Jul-04 Aug-04 Sep-04 Oct-04 Nov-04 Dec-04 Jan-05 Feb-05 Mar-05 Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06 Apr-06 May-06 Jun-06 Jul-06
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Figure 2. Number of monthly visits to the WAMIS web page as of April 2006.
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World AgroMeterological Information Service (WAMIS) order to dynamically generate the bulletin web pages. If this is successful, the web form could then be used by WMO members to upload their bulletins. Both of these requirements will require the use of the freeware database MYSQL. The database will hold user id’s and passwords for uploading and viewing of all the products available on the web site. In October 2004, WMO organised an Expert Meeting on Meteorological Information for Locust Control in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the response from NMHS to the current Desert Locust plague. Representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization, AGRHYMET, Italy, and India attended the meeting. One of the recommendations from this meeting was for NMHS to upload daily rainfall and temperature data to WAMIS and then allow National Locust Control Centres to view the data. This activity received the approval from the WMO SecretaryGeneral and the web contracting company INETU developed the technical capability on WAMIS for this purpose and this capability went online in March 2005. In addition, users are able to download the data for use in analytical software programs. Both the data uploading and viewing are password protected. Also, WAMIS is being used as file storage for the web pages of WMO’s Agricultural Meteorology Programme (AGM) and the CAgM. The WMO web server does not have sufficient capacity for large files since the WMO
web server has to satisfy the demands of the many WMO programmes and activities. Therefore, WAMIS is being used to store presentations (MS PowerPoint and PDF files) from the AGM and CAgM meetings and archive past CAgM reports and brochures for the WMO AGMP web sites. This will be an ongoing process and the first CAgM reports went online in late March 2005.
4. Future projects, uses and issues The future plans include to steadily increase the number of bulletins and Tools and Resources on WAMIS. Several future projects have been discussed with CAgM members concerning the WAMIS project. One is the implementation of WAMIS as a Grid Portal under the new WMO Information System. Dr Byong Lee of the Republic of Korea has been working on these proposals for the CAgM (WMO 2004).
References Sivakumar, M. V. K. (ed.) (2002) Improving agrometeorological bulletins. In: Proceedings of the Inter-Regional Workshop, Bridgetown, Barbados, 15–19 October 2001. Geneva, Switzerland: World Meteorological Organization. WMO (2004) uCAgM: Implementation of WAMIS as a grid portal under FWIS. Interprogramme Task Team on the Future WMO Information System of the Commission for Basic Systems, ISS/ITT-FWIS 2004/Doc. 4 (3).
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