OAR’s Craig Mclean signed an Implementing Arrangement with Dr. Andi Sakya, Director-General of Indonesia’s Badan, Meteorologi, Klimatologi, Don Geofisika (BMKG) Weather-Climate Service on Sunday, January 10, 2016 during the 2016 Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in New Orleans.
The overarching goals of this agreement between BMKG and NOAA are associated with Joint Activities on Ocean Observations and Climate Services Support capacity building so involves cross-line office cooperation from both OAR and NWS.
Through this resource-sharing partnership there will be several major activities each year including:
- 30 days of Indonesian ship time (valued at over $1M annually) for the maintenance of five NOAA RAMA buoys in the Indian Ocean,
- BMKG Graduate Studies at the University of Washington in the field of Oceanography,
- NWS-OAR Subject Matter Experts providing training for capacity development workshops in Indonesia, and
- BMKG scientist training at NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP) International Desk in College Park.
This agreement was shepherded by Sid Thurston of CPO’s Climate Observation Division and OAR/NWS International Affairs, and will help increase Indonesia’s and SE Asia’s resilience by providing information, knowledge and prediction capacity.
To learn more, visit: jakarta.usembassy.gov/news/embnews_150417en.html