Regulation 5
Meteorological services and warnings
1 Contracting Governments undertake to encourage the collection of meteorological data by ships at sea and to arrange for their examination, dissemination and exchange in the manner most suitable for the purpose of aiding navigation. * Administrations shall encourage the use of meteorological instruments of a high degree of accuracy, and shall facilitate the checking of such instruments upon request. Arrangements may be made by appropriate national meteorological services for this checking to be undertaken, free of charge to the ship.
2 In particular, Contracting Governments undertake to carry out, in co-operation, the following meteorological arrangements :
.1 to warn ships of gales, storms and tropical cyclones by the issue of information in text and, as far as practicable graphic form, using the appropriate shore-based facilities for terrestrial and space radiocommunications services.
.2 to issue, at least twice daily, by terrestrial and space radiocommunication services, as appropriate, weather information suitable for shipping containing data, analyses, warnings and forecasts of weather, waves and ice. Such information shall be transmitted in text and, as far as practicable, graphic form including meteorological analysis and prognosis charts transmitted by facsimile or in digital form for reconstitution on board the ship's data processing system.
.3 to prepare and issue such publications as may be necessary for the efficient conduct of meteorological work at sea and to arrange, if practicable, for the publication and making available of daily weather charts for the information of departing ships.
.4 to arrange for a selection of ships to be equipped with tested marine meteorological instruments (such as a barometer, a barograph, a psychrometer, and suitable apparatus for measuring sea temperature) for use in this service, and to take, record and transmit meteorological observations at the main standard times for surface synoptic observations (i.e. at least four times daily, whenever circumstances permit) and to encourage other ships to take, record and transmit observations in a modified form, particularly when in areas where shipping is sparse.
.5 to encourage companies to involve as many of their ships as practicable in the making and recording of weather observations; these observations to be transmitted using the ship's terrestrial or space radiocommunications facilities for the benefit of the various national meteorological services.
.6 the transmission of these weather observations is free of charge to the ships concerned.
.7 when in the vicinity of a tropical cyclone, or of a suspected tropical cyclone, ships should be encouraged to take and transmit their observations at more frequent intervals whenever practicable, bearing in mind navigational preoccupations of ships' officers during storm conditions.
*Refer to resolution A.528(13), recommendation on weather routeing.
