MetOffice Global Information System Centre for Western Europe
Original (non-English) name
Acronym
Met Office GISC
Citation
Abstract
The Met Office (UKMO) GISC is part of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Information System (WIS). WIS is an international initiative whose concept is to provide a single coordinated global infrastructure for the collection and sharing of information in support of all WMO and related international programmes.
The WMO GTS (Global Telecommunications System) has been an essential part of the distribution system of operationally-critical meteorological data. Advances in the computer industry and increasing use of the Internet has made it technically possible for many organisations who do not traditionally use meteorological data from the GTS, to access information online.
At the heart of the GISC is a catalogue of meteorological data, products and services. The Met Office will make their catalogue entries available in the catalogue via any of the GISCs globally, who will in turn, put their entries in the catalogue. This enables authorised users to Discover, Access and Retrieve (DAR) any of the available datasets or services from around the globe. These catalogue entries are also known as DAR metadata.
Initially the Met Office GISC catalogue will only contain WMO Essential and Additional data, as defined under WMO Resolutions, 40 (Cg-XII) and 25.