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World Meteorology Day is observed on 23 March every year all over the world. Each year the World Meteorological Organisation with the active participation of its 188 Members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day. This Day commemorates the entry into force of the WMO Convention on the 23rd March 1950 creating the World Meteorological Organisation. Subsequently, in 1951, WMO was designated a specialized agency of the United Nations.

The objectives of the celebration of World Meteorological Day are listed below:

• To promote global cooperation in the establishment of meteorological observation stations;
• To promote establishment of stations for hydrological and geophysical observations;
• To promote maintenance and upkeep of observation stations and equip them adequately with resources for research and equipment;
• To promote the establishment and maintenance of systems for the rapid exchange of meteorological and related information;
• To promote standardisation of meteorological and related observations and to ensure the uniform publication of observations and statistics;
• To increase the scope of meteorology to other areas like aviation, shipping, water problems, agriculture and other human activities;
• To promote development in operational hydrology and encourage close co- operation between Meteorological and hydrological Services;
• To promote research and training in meteorology and in related fields and To promote international collaboration in research and training.

Meteorology means:

Meteorology is defined as a "Scientific study of atmospheric phenomena, particularly of the troposphere" (the lowest atmospheric layer) "and lower stratosphere" (The region of the atmosphere above the troposphere and below the mesosphere which means The portion of the atmosphere from about 30 to 80 kilometers (20 to 50 miles) "above the earth's surface....", "Meteorology entails the systematic study of weather and its causes, and provides the basis for weather forecasting".

It is ".....Meteorology and climatology are rooted in different parent disciplines, the former in physics and the latter in physical geography. They have, in effect, become interwoven to form a single discipline known as the atmospheric sciences, which is devoted to the understanding and prediction of the evolution of planetary atmospheres and the broad range of phenomena that occur within them. The atmospheric sciences comprise a number of interrelated sub-disciplines".

The World Meteorological Organisation(WMO)

International Meteorological Organisation (IMO), the predecessor of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), was established (Vienna) in 1873. In 1950, the 1947 WMO Convention entered into force. World Meteorological Organisation has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. World Meteorological Organisation is a specialized agency of United Nations and it deals with Meteorology (weather and climate), Operational hydrology and Geophysical sciences.

Vision and Mission of WMO:

The vision of WMO is to provide world leadership in expertise and international cooperation in weather, climate, hydrology and water resources and related environmental issues and thereby contribute to the safety and well-being of people throughout the world and to the economic benefit of all nations

The mission of WMO is to:

To Facilitate worldwide cooperation in the establishment of networks of stations for the making of meteorological observations as well as hydrological and other geophysical observations related to meteorology, and to promote the establishment and maintenance of centres charged with the provision of meteorological and related services;

To promote the establishment and maintenance of systems for the rapid exchange of meteorological and related information;

To promote standardisation of meteorological and related observations and to ensure the uniform publication of observations and statistics;

To further the application of meteorology to aviation, shipping, water problems, agriculture and other human activities;

To promote activities in operational hydrology and to further close cooperation between Meteorological and Hydrological Services;

To encourage research and training in meteorology and, as appropriate, in related fields, and to assist in coordinating the international aspects of such research and training.

Functions of WMO:

"I would like to pay tribute to the meteorological community worldwide working together continuously beyond all borders to save and protect people, their homes and their livelihoods," Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General, said in a message marking the Day.

The agency works around the clock to facilitate the provision and exchange of nearly real-time information from its 189 NMHSs and 35 regional specialized meteorological centres around the world. Data is collected from some 10,000 land stations, 3,000 aircraft, 1,000 upper-air stations and 1,000 ships and nearly 70 satellites.

With natural hazards posing a serious threat to human security, WMO is working on early warning systems and effective preparedness measures, which have help to drastically reduce the loss of lives.

Through monitoring surfaces and groundwater as well as through quality controls, the agency has been able to issue authoritative warnings on dwindling water supplies, especially in the face of population growth and water pollution.

Since its founding, WMO's achievements include issuing timely alerts on the thinning of the ozone layer and, together with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), setting up the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Celebration of WMD

The World Meteorological Day is an occasion to "pay tribute to the meteorological community worldwide working together continuously beyond all borders to save and protect people, their homes and their livelihoods". It is celebrated mainly by organizing a number of workshops, seminars and a variety of other programs. Several themes are prescribed to mark the day such as 'Our future climate'; 'Weather, climate, water in the information age'; 'Weather, climate, water and sustainable development'; 'Preventing and mitigating natural disasters'; 'Polar meteorology': 'Understanding global impacts' etc. 'Climate for you' is the theme selected for the World Meteorological Day of the year 2011.

Many companies, collective expositions of federal agencies and establishments, public corporations, major holding companies and associations, regional standardisation, meteorology and certification centers and metrological institutes take active part in the celebrations all over the world.

Symposiums are organised on vital topics like power efficiency and resource safety, nuclear technologues, space technologies and telecommunications, computer technologies and programs, medicial technology and pharmaceutics.

Conclusion

New interdisciplinary problems, approaches, and techniques characterize the modern subdisciplines of the atmospheric sciences. Specialties in cloud physics, atmospheric chemistry, satellite meteorology, and climate dynamics have developed along with more traditional programs in weather analysis and prediction. The U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research and many new departments of atmospheric science date from the 1960s. Fundamental contributions have been made by Edward Lorenz on the chaotic behavior of the atmosphere, by F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina on potential damage to stratospheric ozone by chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) compounds, and by Charles David Keeling on background measurements of carbon dioxide, to name but a few.

Meteorology has advanced through theoretical understanding and through new technologies such as aviation, computers, and satellites, which have enhanced data collection and observation of the weather. Economic and social aspects of meteorology now include practical fore-casting, severe weather warnings, and governmental and diplomatic initiatives regarding the health and future of the planet.