|
|
|
|
PROJECT TITLE : Updating of the ASEAN Compendium of Climatic Statistics
I. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
There is no exaggeration to say that climate dictates all human activities. Accurate, comprehensive and up-to date climatic information are prerequisite for the understanding of the behaviour of climate and for the generation of useful products needed by planners and policy makers to plan and take mitigative and preventive actions to alleviate the adverse impacts of such conditions, to carry out land use planning, work scheduling and many other activities. As climate recognizes no national boundaries, cooperative efforts in the regional scale are needed in order to address these issues more effectively.
The ASEAN meteorological community has long recognized such needs. Through the Sub-Committee on Meteorology and Geophysics (ASCMG), they have undertaken the first co-operative project to produce and publish the "ASEAN Climatic Atlas" and the "ASEAN Compendium of Climatic Statistics" in the Seventies. That project was successfully completed in 1982.
The ASEAN family has expanded over the last few years to ten member states and encompass the whole of Southeast Asia geographically. The data coverage of the ASEAN Compendium, which stops at the year 1975, need to be updated and also to be expanded to cover all member states.
In order that users can derive maximum benefit from the data set, they should be able to easily access the data set and, together with data continuously collected, conduct assessments and subsequently utilize the results to make better informed decisions for national social economic development and for addressing climate-related issues. This calls for the development of a PC-based software package for the region to equip ASEAN users with the above capabilities.
II. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The project aims to widen the data coverage of the ASEAN Compendium to include all the ten member states of ASEAN as well as to extend the period of the data set till the last day of year 2000. The new data set shall be archived in CDs in appropriate and user friendly formats.
The project also aims to develop a PC- based software package to equip ASEAN users so that they can access the data stored, analyze them together with current information available to enable them to make better informed decisions.
The Project also aims to increase the capacity of the ASEAN meteorological agencies to manage and analyze climate data.
III. PROJECT DETAILS
A. Outputs
1. An expanded and updated set of ASEAN climate data on CDs archived in easily accessible formats for primarily use on PCs, consisting of various observed surface elements useful for climatic applications, and covering up to year end 2000.
2. A PC - based software package for updating and analyzing climatic data and presenting climatic products.
3. Better equipped ASEAN meteorological agencies in handling climate data and serving clients.
B. Activities
1. Determination / Formulation of the types of data and data archival format;
2. Determination / Formulation of the data input format for member countries to submit data to project centre;
3. Determination of the dates of submission of data by member countries;
4. Visit of project manager and data/software manager to member countries for discussion with focal persons on data preparation and submission;
5. Acquisition of relevant hardware and software for project centre and member countries;
6. Data processing and preparation by project team for archival;
7. Development and maintenance of a web-site by the project team for posing of project implementation information, status reports, announcements. The task of maintaining the web-site after the project could be taken over by the host country or any other member country if deemed desirable.
8. Development of documentation on data file storage format and relevant information;
9. Development of the software package for accessing, presentation, analysis of data.
10.Generation and duplication of the final data set, software and documentation in CDs;
11.Organizations of a regional seminar to share relevant skills, knowledge and experience and to equip participants from member countries to handle the software package developed.
C. Institutional Arrangements
1. The proposed project is hosted by the National Meteorological Service of a member state and the said agency shall provides the necessary institutional supports for implementing the project;
2. The project is implemented by a dedicated project team comprising of a project manager, a data/software manager and two meteorological assistants, all with necessary technical background and experience in climate data management;
3. The project shall have the service of a project consultant/software expert to formulate in detail all tasks and to provide technical advice and assistance necessary to accomplish the objectives of the project including the development of the PC - based software package;
D. Events From January 2001
The Government of Japan has approved funding support under
the Japan-ASEAN Exchange Programme (JAEP) for the
implementation of the project. The Malaysian
Meteorological Service (MMS) was appointed as the implementing agency in
October 2000. The project has commenced on 1 January 2001 .
The staff of MMS recruited as members of the Project Team, are :
Ms. Leong Chow Peng - Project Manager
Dr. Chan Ah Kee - Data/Software Manager
Mr. Abd. Wahab Abd. Razak - Assistant Meteorological Officer
Mr. Tan Kah Poh - Meteorological Assistant
All ASEAN countries have submitted to the Project Manager the names and particulars of their national Focal Persons. A questionnaire was recently sent to the Focal Persons in all ASEAN countries to obtain feedback on their climate data availability, format used and data quality.
Mr. Yoshio Shimazu from Japan Meteorology Agency has been appointed as the Project Consultant / Software Expert to the project in June 2001.
