The WeatherPod (1 – 6)

Michael is the Director of the Central Institute of Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG), which is Austria’s national meteorological & hydrological service. He is also the Permanent Representative of Austria to the World Meteorological Organisation, and President of the WMO Regional Association VI (Europe).

Catalina coordinates the Forecast-based Financing concept worldwide for the Red Cross-Red Crescent Climate Centre and provides technical support for national Red Cross societies.

Forecast-based Financing is a highly innovative way of applying weather forecasts. The aim is to enhance humanitarian action to protect lives and livelihoods by making resources available to act before a disaster actually occurs.

Catalina also leads on knowledge management for the UK-supported Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience programme, working with stakeholders on science and solutions to improve risk assessment, preparedness, early action and resilience.

As well as her huge experience in the humanitarian sector, with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, UN agencies and others, Catalina has a background in industrial engineering, a master’s degree in humanitarian action, and a Doctorate in Early Warning and Early Action in conflict-affected contexts.

Peter, from Belfast Northern Ireland, is uniquely qualified to talk on this topic. From 2011 to 2020 has was the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Meteorological Service which was established as a state-owned enterprise on 1 July 1992.

This came about mainly as a result of pressures also being faced by an increasing number of national meteorological services – chiefly, the pressure to earn money on their activities rather than rely entirely on taxpayer funding.

But does such a change in status from a straightforward public service to a commercial enterprise charged with earning money on its services pose any problems or contradictions? For example, is the the requirement to issue public weather warnings or to provide national security support compromised as a result?

These are some of the key issues we discuss with Peter.

About the WeatherPod
Alan Thorpe is an atmospheric scientist who has worked as a Professor of Meteorology, as head of the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre and, most recently, as Director General of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts.

David Rogers is an oceanographer turned meteorologist, a former Chief Executive of the UK Met Office and now a consultant with the World Bank helping countries improve their weather, hydrological and disaster management systems and services.

Weather information is an international resource critical to saving lives, making business and society more efficient, and building resilience to the growing impacts of extreme weather & climate change.

Each month, WeatherPod will explore how the public, private and academic sectors – which make up what’s informally called the Global Weather Enterprise – co-operate to produce weather information and make it widely available. It will also examine how weather affected public and private enterprises actually use it.

Extreme weather often impacts the poorest the hardest. So the WeatherPod will look beyond the wealthier countries to the poorer and less developed ones – which host most of the world’s population – to examine how the rich and poor use weather & climate information – the differences, the things in common, and the lessons we can learn from each other.

In each episode Alan and David will invite a leading expert to join them to discuss a key topic. Alongside this there will be a section called: ‘Wow – That’s Interesting!’ which features a newsworthy story or two about the Global Weather Enterprise.

Christoph is a member of the senior management team at the Swiss weather services company, meteoblue, and was a lead researcher for the recent World Bank report on ‘The Power of Partnership: Public and Private Engagement in Hydromet Services’.

About the WeatherPod
Alan Thorpe is an atmospheric scientist who has worked as a Professor of Meteorology, as head of the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre and, most recently, as Director General of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts.

David Rogers is an oceanographer turned meteorologist, a former Chief Executive of the UK Met Office and now a consultant with the World Bank helping countries improve their weather, hydrological and disaster management systems and services.

Weather information is an international resource critical to saving lives, making business and society more efficient, and building resilience to the growing impacts of extreme weather & climate change.

Each month, WeatherPod will explore how the public, private and academic sectors – which make up what’s informally called the Global Weather Enterprise – co-operate to produce weather information and make it widely available. It will also examine how weather affected public and private enterprises actually use it.

Extreme weather often impacts the poorest the hardest. So the WeatherPod will look beyond the wealthier countries to the poorer and less developed ones – which host most of the world’s population – to examine how the rich and poor use weather & climate information – the differences, the things in common, and the lessons we can learn from each other.

In this episode, co-presenters Alan Thorpe and David Rogers talk to hugely experienced broadcast meteorologist, Gerald Fleming.

In this pilot episode, co-presenters Alan Thorpe and David Rogers talk to Dr. David Parsons about the role of the academic sector. David is Professor Emeritus of the Oklahoma University Department of Meteorology and, until 2018, the Director of the School of Meteorology at Oklahoma University.