05 JUL 2024
ASEANCOF, Workshops
Summary of the Twenty Second Session of the ASEAN Climate Outlook Forum (Hybrid, DMH Lao PDR)
Introduction
The Twenty-Second session of ASEANCOF (ASEANCOF-22) was hosted by the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology of Lao PDR, in collaboration with RIMES, the ASEANCOF Working Group, and WMO. It was held in a physical meeting format on 27-30 May 2024, including two days of pre-COF training on 27 and 28 May before the COF proper on 29 and 30 May. This was the first in-person ASEANCOF since November 2019 in Thailand. The theme of ASEANCOF-22 was ‘Agriculture and Climate Services’, with a focus on drought. Participants from the NMHSs of ASEAN Member States created a consensus forecast for the boreal summer monsoon (June – August) 2024, and then discussed the application of such climate information with sector representatives.
In-person participants of ASEANCOF-22. The forum was opened by H.E. Mr Chantaneth Boualapha, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Pre-COF Training, 27 – 28 May
The training was led by the UK Met Office under the WISER Asia Pacific project and RIMES and covered the basics of seasonal forecasting, including key climate drivers, how to interpret the outputs of dynamical model seasonal forecast systems, the main methodologies, and processes for forecast verification, and running the Climate Predictability Tool (CPT) and FOCUS – both used to analyse and post process global seasonal forecasts.
COF Proper, 29 – 30 May
After a warm welcome by the hosts, the first day of the COF proper covered the June – August outlooks by the NMHSs and the Global Producing Centres. For the latter, in-person presentations were given by representatives from UK Met Office and China Meteorological Administration. Virtual presentations were given by representatives from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Japanese Meteorological Agency, European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, and the APEC Climate Centre.
Towards the end of the day, the consensus outlook for the June-July-August (JJA) 2024 outlook was achieved, based on questionnaire responses prior to ASEANCOF-22, discussions regarding the current climate conditions and predictions for Southeast Asia, as well as using the JJA multi-model ensemble outlook for the foundation of the rainfall and temperature outlook. The consensus can be found here
On the last day of ASEANCOF-22, a sharing session was held which included presentations from Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Food Programme (WFP), under the theme of Agriculture and Climate Services. Lastly there were breakout discussions, each group with at least one user representative, to discuss how ASEANCOF could better support sectoral applications, information sharing, as well as the key takeaways from the forum.
A Visit to Department of Meteorology and Hydrology
ASEANCOF-22 ended with a visit to DMH headquarters. Participants learnt how staff prepare weather forecasts, hydrological forecasts, as well as perform seismic monitoring. Participants also got the chance to see the filming of the weather forecast, as well as to try presenting a forecast themselves.
ASEANCOF participants visiting DMH Headquarters in Vientiane.
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