The role of WMO in the legal regulation of the use of modern technologies for processing meteorological data and forecasting

Svetskiy Arseniy Vladimirovich ORCID: 0000-0002-0678-4841 Junior Researcher of the Environmental, Land and Agrarian Law Sector of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences 119019, Russia, Moscow, Znamenka str., 10 arseniy1107@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Natural phenomena such as weather and climate do not have state borders. That is why international cooperation is essential for meteorology and operational hydrology, as well as their effective application.

Ecology is an important aspect in the sustainable development of all states on the planet. Organizations such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Meteorological Organization and others apply a wide range of measures to ensure environmental protection ^{[8, p. 16]}. Coordination of international cooperation in the field of weather and climate is provided by the World Meteorological Organization – WMO, which was established in 1950. The range of activities of this international professional non–political organization is wide - monitoring and forecasting of weather, climate, the state of the oceans, environmental pollution, climate services.  The supreme governing body of the WMO is the WMO Congress, which meets every 4 years and considers strategic issues of the organization's activities and development ^{[1, p. 11]}. At the moment, more than 180 countries are members of the WMO, including, since April 2, 1948, the USSR, whose successor is the Russian Federation. In the system of the World Weather Service of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia ensures the fulfillment of the international obligations of the Russian Federation on the international exchange of prognostic information and hydrometeorological observation data and functions as:

World Meteorological Center (MMC-Moscow);

Regional Specialized Meteorological Center in the European region;

National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasts.

WMO can be attributed to a group of specialized UN agencies that are engaged in technical development for the most effective solution of social problems ^{[5, p. 39]}. One of the goals of this international organization is to promote global cooperation in creating a network of stations for meteorological, hydrological and geographical observations ^{[7, p. 115]}. The objectives of the WMO are defined in Article 2 of the "Convention of the World Meteorological Organization" (URL: https://docs.cntd.ru/document/1901324 (accessed: 05/24/2023)):

1) to promote worldwide cooperation in the creation of a network of stations for meteorological observations, as well as hydrological and other geophysical observations related to meteorology, as well as to promote the creation and maintenance of centers responsible for the provision of meteorological and related services;

2) promote the establishment and maintenance of systems for the rapid exchange of meteorological and related information;

3) promote standardization of meteorological and related observations and ensure uniform publication of observations and statistics;

4) promote the application of meteorology in aviation, shipping, water management, agriculture and other human activities;

5) to promote activities in the field of operational hydrology and further close cooperation between meteorological and hydrological services;

6) to encourage research and training in the field of meteorology and, if necessary, in related fields and to facilitate assistance in coordinating the international aspects of such research and training.

WMO carries out its activities through scientific and technical programmes aimed at assisting members in providing and benefiting from meteorological, climatic and hydrological services, as well as solving current and emerging problems. It should be noted that the WMO cooperates with other international organizations whose activities are related to the regulation of climate and weather issues. For example, the basis of international and national regulation of meteorological support for civil aviation flights are the recommendations of the WMO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, Federal Aviation Regulations (FAP) and Regulations in the field of meteorological support ^[6].

Practice shows that a cooperative approach to using the knowledge base, which was created and continues to be created in the world through the joint provision of meteorological, climatic, hydrological and relevant information among members, is mutually beneficial. The WMO programmes are based on this concept and enable the provision of meteorological and related services around the world at costs significantly lower than the costs that members would incur acting alone.

WMO projects are global, regional and national measures coordinated in partnership with other stakeholders: United Nations agencies, non-governmental agencies and Members. Developed in synergy with projects and initiatives of other relevant stakeholders, WMO projects are aimed at strengthening the capacity to improve the quality of forecasting. WMO projects are funded both from extra-budgetary funds and from the regular budget, and are also often associated with several programs.

It seems necessary to consider the WMO project, established back in 2009. This is the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). The goals and objectives of the GFCS can be analyzed on the basis of the WMO Model document "Disaster Risk Reduction" for the platform for interaction with users of the Global Framework for Climate Services ^{[3, p. 10]}. The paper illustrates a vision of how the development and application of targeted climate products and services within the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) can contribute to disaster risk reduction efforts related to hazardous hydrometeorological phenomena. The GFCS has identified 6 categories of activities in which it can most effectively contribute to efforts to reduce the risk of hydrometeorological disasters:

· risk assessment;

· loss data;

· advance warning systems;

· reduction of risks in the sectors;

· investment in risk reduction planning;

· financing and risk transfer ^{[4, p. 5]}.

As noted earlier, one of the activities of the organization is the collection and study of information in the field of meteorology and climate to prevent the occurrence of natural hazards. Such work is carried out by international, regional and national organizations under the coordination of WMO. According to UN estimates for 2013, natural hazards and natural disasters affect more than 200 million people annually ^{[9, p. 262]}. As noted on the organization's website: "the global expected average annual damage in the anthropogenic environment associated with tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods is currently estimated at 314 billion US dollars. This risk poses a real threat to the global programme of Action for sustainable development" (URL: https://public.wmo.int/ru/опасные-природные-явления-и-снижение-риска-бедствий#:~:text=Global%20 expected%20 average annual%20usherb%20(AAL,in%20314%20bn%20dollar%20SH. (accessed: 05/27/2023)). Accordingly, natural hazards pose a threat not only to the population, but also to the economic development of the world community. Given the economic crisis on the territory of certain regions and the instability of a number of economic sectors, this fact is of particular importance.

Due to the threat posed by dangerous natural phenomena, the importance of new technologies in modern life becomes even more obvious. New technologies allow us to more accurately predict and track natural disasters, as well as respond more effectively to them and minimize their consequences. Thanks to the development of technologies, it is possible to improve warning and evacuation systems, create stronger and safer structures of buildings, equipment of other various infrastructure, as well as use modern methods to quickly restore destroyed objects. In general, new technologies play a key role in ensuring the security and sustainability of the economic development of the world community in the modern world.

The organization has a WMO Strategic Plan for 2020-2030, namely “Super-scale computing and data management” and a Strategic Plan for 2020-2023 (WMO-No. 485, WMO-No. 1060, WMO?No. 1061, WMO-No. 1160, WMO?No. 1225) (URL: https://library.wmo.int/?lvl=notice_display&id=15797 (accessed: 05/25/2023)). These documents are the technical regulations for the members participating in the WMO. The manuals contain standard practices and procedures and recommended practices and procedures. Definitions of these two types are contained in the Manual. 

Standard practices and procedures according to this document:

(a) Represent practices and procedures that need to be followed or implemented by member countries; and therefore they

b) have the status of requirements in the technical resolution; and

c) are characterized by the constant use of the term "must" or the verb in the present tense, the indicative mood in the Russian text and the corresponding equivalents in the English, Spanish and French texts.

Recognizing the importance of meteorological data for everyone, not just for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS), the WMO Congress commissioned the creation of the WMO Information System (WIS) back in 2007. The WIS was to be based on the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) and includes it in its structure, while also adding a data catalog, a portal for searching and identifying data and additional mechanisms for users to subscribe and download data transmitted to the Global Telecommunication System (GTS). Currently, members provide the activities of centers that publish data and provide services to meet national and regional needs, as well as the needs of WMO programs.

Satellites, radars and numerical models provide more data than ever before, while the WMO Congress at the 17th World Meteorological Congress in 2015 concluded that most members were not sufficiently prepared for this change. Expensive infrastructure is needed to store, manage and process so-called "big data". Another problem is that the volumes of data are becoming so large that it is already difficult to download data fast enough to meet operational needs.

 On behalf of the European Commission, the European Center for Medium-Term Weather Forecasts (ECSPP) has commissioned a Climate Data Repository (CDD) as part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The HCD is designed to provide web-based access and the ability to work with petabytes (101?) bytes of existing sets of climate data: observational data and regional analysis data, as well as climate projections.

According to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "The World Wide Web is the most successful distributed information system in the world." The WMO review on emerging data issues noted that web services are one of the technologies "presenting new concepts of functioning that will improve work efficiency, information exchange and service provision, and enable users to use data more efficiently" (URL: https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/data-sharing-sustainable-development-wmo-information-system-wis-20 (date of application: 01.06.2023)).

A system such as a Global Data Processing and Forecasting System is being introduced, the structure of which is specified in the WMO technical regulations. It is organized in the form of a three-level system of world meteorological centers (MMCs), regional specialized meteorological centers (RSMCs) and national meteorological centers (NMCs) that perform the functions of the GDPS at the global, regional and national levels (this follows from the WMO GDPS Manual No. 485).

Many National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) are already working with partners to develop modernization programs that use new forecasting technology and so-called BIG DATA (that is, huge amounts of data arriving at a higher speed, the volume of which is constantly growing. Due to this, meteorological services can more effectively control how their data is shared and with whom. Thus, at the 18th WMO Congress, the issue of data security, the possibility of protecting them from unauthorized access, modification, and so on was raised. The GDPR should also support other WMO programmes and relevant programmes of other international organizations in accordance with the Organization's policy decisions.

These technologies allow us to collect and analyze huge amounts of weather and climate data, which helps to improve the accuracy of forecasts and timely warn about natural hazards. New technologies also make it possible to create innovative systems for monitoring and controlling the state of the environment, which helps to prevent environmental disasters and minimize their consequences.

However, it must be remembered that new research and attempts to introduce new technologies are not a universal solution in predicting natural disasters. It is important to continue working on improving existing systems and developing new technologies in order to increase the effectiveness of combating natural hazards.

WMO for the period from 2020 to 2023, within the framework of its Strategic Plan, WMO-No. 1225 is implementing management system reforms aimed at bringing the form and functions of WIS 2.0 into line. The WMO Manual-No. 1061 and the WMO Strategic Plan-No. 1225 were submitted for consideration by the 18th World Meteorological Congress in June 2019. data and information play an important role in this, ensuring that WMO meets the demands of a technologically advanced future and enabling members to make an effective contribution to disaster risk mitigation and sustainable development.

Contribution to the UN global agendas

1. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

2. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change”

It also seems necessary to mention another WMO project – the WMO Integrated Global Observing System -No. 1243. The document contains information on the expected evolution of systems in the centers of digital modeling and forecasting, as well as a number of guidelines designed to promote the active involvement of the public, private and academic sectors in order to better serve governments, businesses and citizens. We are talking about the integration of observation networks, not the integration of observations themselves (the integration of observations, for example, by assimilating data or creating products for the end user, remains outside the scope of the WIGOS). The following are five specific aspects of the integration of WIGOS:

· integrated network design;

· integrated multi-purpose surveillance networks;

· suppliers of integrated observation systems;

· IGSNV as a system of multilevel observation networks;

· Integrated space and ground observation systems (URL: https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10299 (date of application: 01.06.2023)).

The aim of this project is to provide a global framework and provide tools

management and design to meet the needs of society in weather forecasting. When designing observation networks, it is necessary to take into account not only the requirements that they will meet, but also what other aspects will be provided by the IGOS component observation systems and how to optimally complement the observations carried out by these systems. This is formulated in the principles of designing WIGOS networks, which are part of the Manual on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WMO-No. 1160).

The planning of ground-based observation systems differs significantly from the planning of space-based observation systems, which is more centralized and can be organized for decades to come. The development cycle of space observation systems allows for a reliable multi-level approach, but for ground-based observation systems, a multi-level approach for various types of instruments or observations (for example, surface observations of weather or climate) is adopted on a case-by-case basis. 

This year, from May 22 to June 2, the 19th World Meteorological Congress was held in Geneva, which unites 193 member States of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The Russian delegation was headed by the head of Roshydromet. During the Congress, a Strategic Plan for 2024-2027 was presented. It identified the following priorities in the WMO policy:

1. increasing preparedness and reducing the number of human casualties, critical infrastructure and livelihoods as a result of extreme hydrometeorological events;

2. support the adoption of climate-optimized solutions to create or enhance adaptive capacity or resilience to climate risks;

3. increasing the socio-economic value of meteorological, climatic, hydrological and environmental services.

The main goal of the WMO was announced to conduct an innovative international campaign to protect people's lives from dangerous weather events with the help of "early warning systems".

The Congress also approved a new "Global Greenhouse Gas Monitoring System" designed to strengthen the monitoring of heat-trapping gases to inform about the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In addition, the idea of updating the WMO policy in the field of research, science and innovation was introduced to adapt new WMO projects and solutions to new research priorities, the use of supercomputers and artificial intelligence (URL: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/world-meteorological-congress-sets-new-strategic-priorities-era-of-rapid-climate (accessed: 06/03/2023)). The Strategic Plan for 2024-2027 includes advanced AI elements to ensure rapid progress in science and technology. According to the WMO Secretary-General, Professor Petteri Taalas, one of the key aspects under consideration is the implementation of the current weather forecasting project, which will provide invaluable support in the field of early warning in various fields. Large companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon are ready to cooperate with WMO, for example, Google Corporation wants to cooperate with WMO in pilot flood control projects and is currently working with the Global Information Network on Heat Protection sponsored by WMO to combat extreme heat and inform people about how to stay safe and protect yourself (URL: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/big-tech-and-artificial-intelligence-can-support-early-warnings-all (date of requests: 03.06.2023)).

However, the rules of intellectual property law applied to climate data create certain obstacles for scientific research, limiting access to the use of data.  As some authors note, this problem is partially solved due to the policy pursued by a number of states and integration associations, which is aimed at providing open access to data obtained by state scientific centers. However, without direct regulatory restrictions on the application of intellectual property rights to climate data, the practice of restricting or prohibiting access to climate information by non-governmental organizations will continue. It seems reasonable to remove classified climate data from the list of objects of intellectual property rights, which, in turn, will facilitate activities to solve global climate problems ^{[10, p. 22]}.

Artificial intelligence and high-resolution satellites can be used to map populations at risk and to assess damage after natural disasters, as was the case with the earthquake in Turkey this year. In the context of the Strategic Plan for 2024-2027, the Congress approved a regular budget of just over 278 million Swiss francs for the financial period 2024-2027, which is 2.4% more than in 2020-2023. In the future, more and more attention will be paid to providing extra-budgetary funding to further support the implementation of the Strategic Plan for 2024-2027.

As for various information systems using ground-based and space-based climate and weather monitoring systems, it seems necessary to note the following. The use of both space-based and ground-based components is necessary to achieve maximum efficiency in solving observation and measurement tasks in the atmosphere and on the Earth's surface. Combining data obtained from various sources allows obtaining more complete and accurate information about the state of the environment and its changes. However, the use of space components in observation systems, satellites and other equipment carries certain legal problems. Remote sensing of the Earth from satellites is regulated by international space law. Currently, the problems of legal regulation of Earth sounding are concentrated around the right of access to information extracted from data obtained as a result of sounding. Legal problems often arise related to the dissemination and use of information, images obtained in this way. For example, the transfer of images without the knowledge of the scanned state can damage its security, military or economic ^{[2, p. 14]}. These shortcomings of legal regulation limit the realization of the possibilities inherent in remote sensing.

It seems that the WMO goal set at the 2023 Congress to save lives with the help of early warning systems for dangerous weather events can be achieved by developing and implementing new technologies and methods for monitoring the atmosphere and the Earth, as well as improving existing systems. In addition, it is necessary to ensure the accessibility and effectiveness of these systems for all countries and regions of the world, including the most vulnerable and the poor.

In general, it is necessary to look for ways to improve access to climate information and increase the efficiency of its use, given the complexity of the problems being solved and the global scale of the challenges facing our planet. The main task in this process is to create conditions that will allow all interested parties to access climate data and use them to solve pressing environmental problems, without violating intellectual property rights.