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WMO Full Form

The full form of WMO is World Meteorological Organization. It is an organisation under the UN which promotes cooperation internationally on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics.

Earlier the WMO was actually the International Meteorological Organization, which was a privatised organization and established its foundation in 1873 . Back then it was used as a place to exchange weather data and research. 

In 1947’s World Meteorological Convention there were many proposals made by the officials to change its structure and status into a IMO. The proposals were accepted on 23rd March 1950 and it then took around one year from then for the WMO to begin its working. 

Now the WMO organization had changed itself into an intergovernmental organisation which fell into the UN’s system of agencies. 

The organization has 193 member countries who are together for the free interchange of information and research data between their meteorological and hydrological agencies for a better surrounding knowledge. 

Hierarchy in WMO 

The hierarchy of the WMO is as follows :- 

  • The world meteorological Congress is the topmost body which determines the policy of the organization. There are representatives of each of the countries who are a member of the organization. The Congress usually meets every 4 years in order to elect the president and vice president of WMO. The world meteorological Congress is also responsible for selecting the members who would be a part of the executive council. The secretary general is also appointed by the Congress according to their will
  •  The decisions of the Congress are usually brought into action or are implemented by the executive council selected by them
  • WMO also follows a secretariat type of working. This organization has 200 people employed under them and these people are headed by the secretary general appointed by the Congress ,the secretary general can serve a term of 2 or 4 years in charge

Meteorological codes for WMO

The WHO is tasked with having to maintain a number of codes regarding meteorological, oceanographic and hydrological data. These codes are designed for the intention of easy portability along with extensibility and universality so that every member can clearly observe it. This is done to standardize the meteorological observations. 

These codes are used to record the data and provide clarity to every member of the organization. It can be accessed by all of them and the changes can be observed. For example, according to the reports of these codes 2016 was one of the hottest years on record. 

Some of the codes are as follows:-

  • SYNOP – It is the code used for reporting the weather. These reports are sent every six hours
  • CLIMAT- This is the code used for reporting climatic conditions based on meteorological surface observation of land
  • TEMP – It is the code which is used for reporting the weather ,but at the upper levels of the atmosphere 

The WMO’s strategic plan. 

Following are the strategic plan of WMO to fulfil its objectives :-

  • Firstly the WMO has a “Disaster Risk Reduction” plan for cases of any disaster affecting the human race
  • It has 2 bodies namely, The Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS). These work to fulfil the aims of the WMO
  • The WMO also provides guidance regarding Aviation meteorological services, Polar and high mountain regions, developing capacity and Governance on the matter

Conclusion

In these times of changing climate and the world being affected by global warming the WMO and their reports help the world in understanding the changes in a better manner. Using SI units enables all the countries to understand the calculations in a better way. The WMO has come a long  way in these 71 years from being a private organisation used for sharing reports to an international organisation under the UN which works with different countries in the world. 

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Frequently asked questions

Get answers to the most common queries related to the General Examination Preparation.

Where is the headquarters of the WMO?

The WMO has its headquarter located in Geneva...Read full

What are the details regarding the WMO's members?

There were a total of 187 Member States and 6 Member Territories till 2019 in the WMO.  ...Read full

What is WMO's take on SI units?

WMO supports the usage of SI units as they think that it should be used while calculating the meteorological element...Read full

Who is the head of the organization and how does it work?

The WMO is headed by the president Gerhard Adrian of Germany. He has been in power since 2019 . The general secretar...Read full