The International Radio Occultation Group (IROWG) was established as a permanent Working Group of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) at the 37th meeting on 26-30 October 2009 (Jeju Island, South Korea). The IROWG is co-sponsored by CGMS and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The IROWG serves as a forum for operational and research users of radio occultation data. Links to the other Working Groups of CGMS can be found here (CGMS SCIENCE WORKING GROUPS). An excellent overview of Radio Occultation and its capabilities is given in R. A. Anthes' article in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

The CGMS secretariat is run by EUMETSAT since 1987 - Link: http://www.eumetsat.int

PURPOSE

The IROWG intends to build upon the expertise of scientists who are currently involved in the use and analysis of radio occultation data. It is established to foster the:

• Development of better measurements, and improvement of their utilization;
  
• Improvement of scientific understanding;
  
• Development of international partnerships.
  

MEMBERSHIP

The Working Group shall be comprised of representatives nominated by the satellite operators of the CGMS, other members of CGMS and relevant research satellite operators. Following the current highly successful practice in ITWG, IWWG and IPWG, the Working Group, shall also be widely open to participation from any representative of the user community expressing interest and/or willing to contribute to RO science and its applications.

Working arrangements

The Working Group will be co-chaired by two chairpersons initially appointed by the CGMS Plenary. The Co-chairs shall compile a report on relevant activities for the regular plenary meetings of the CGMS. The active dialogue with satellite operators will be supported by a Rapporteur who will attend and report to the CGMS meetings.

Under the lead of the two Co-chairs, the IROWG will organize workshops every two years, co-sponsored by CGMS and WMO. The workshops will be open to the widest community involving RO users and suppliers, with the aim of promoting the exchange of scientific and operational information between the RO data producers, the research community and the user community.

The format of these workshops will follow that of other CGMS working groups, with a conference first followed by dedicated sub-working group meetings that formulate recommendations. These are collected in a final report and are presented at the following CGMS meeting. Sub-working groups cover the areas: Numerical Weather Prediction, Climate, Research to Operations/Mission Consolidation, Payload Technology, Innovative RO Techniques (research), Space Weather.

Further information on the workshops is available at: (http://www.irowg.org/workshops.html).