The Pacific commitment to ongoing enhancement of weather and climate services across the Pacific is an ongoing one. This World Meteorological Day we pay homage to the work undertaken by our national Met Services in the Pacific islands’ region, our partners that provide the necessary support, and the many staff that work 24/7 in this field, some in isolated areas throughout our Pacific islands.
This World Meteorological Day we also pay tribute to our Pacific island media that work with our Met Services across the region to bring news and information to Pacific islands people, in particular the information needed to help people prepare for weather and climate events ahead.
Helping to build this knowledge the “Understanding marine heatwaves and how they impact the Pacific” factsheet in the Ocean Toolkit for Pacific Media is now available.
“The Ocean, our climate and weather” is a fitting theme of the World Meteorological Day this year. Given 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by ocean with the Pacific Ocean being the largest, the role it plays on our weather and climate is significant.
The new factsheet in the toolkit aims to strengthen awareness and understanding of Marine Heatwaves, of our Pacific island media in the hope that this results in information being shared onwards to our Pacific island communities.
“We recognise the need for further supporting our climate, weather, ocean and water services, which is why this resource is timely being launched today to commemorate World Meteorological Day 2021,” said Ms Tagaloa Cooper-Halo, Director of Climate Change Resilience Programme at SPREP.
“We hope that this resource, as well as the full Ocean Media Toolkit, supports our media to report the issues facing our communities so they can prepare for natural hazards, reduce disaster-risk, and combat climate change impacts within our most vulnerable communities.”
The latest factsheet is part 11 of an ongoing Ocean Media Toolkit available for Pacific media to support scientific reporting. The toolkit is a living e-toolkit covering different topics related to the well-being of the ocean, with new factsheets being published continuously.
For more information about the ‘Understanding marine heatwaves and how they impact the Pacific’ factsheet or the Ocean Media Toolkit, please contact us at [email protected] or visit the webpage above to access the full toolkit.