Interconnection of GISC Casablanca to the National Meteorological Centres within its area of responsibility

Introduction

Telecommunications have always been one of the main technical constraints limiting the global exchange of meteorological and climatic information. The implementation of the WIS has been compromised mainly by the inability of NMHSs, particularly those located in LDCs and SIDS, to liaise with their principal GISC. The design of WIS 2.0 attempted to remedy this situation by encouraging the use of new telecommunications technologies and by adopting a web-based architecture.

Project description

Two Global Information System Centres (GISC) have been designated for the Regional Association I (RA I): GISC Casablanca and GISC Pretoria. The African continent has the distinction of covering a vast geographical area and a large number of Members with varied economic potential and socio-cultural specificities.

The area of responsibility (AoR) of GISC Casablanca, for example, includes more than 37 WIS National Centres (NCs) and more than 8 WIS Data Collection or Production Centres (DCPC). For several years, it has been difficult to set up direct links between these national centres and their principal GISC, despite the efforts made in terms of awareness-raising and capacity-building.

The project aims to promote the use of the Internet as a support for the exchange of data between GISC Casablanca and the NCs and DCPCs within its AoR, given the difficulties encountered while trying to implement peer-to-peer links or point-to-point internet VPN.

Once the pilot project is completed, NCs and DCPCs in RA I will have open access to GTS data using secure protocols for the data transfer.

Project Lead

Rabia Merrouchi (Morocco)