Secondment Program

Since 2008, seconded scientists from RIMES Member and Collaborating States have been receiving training in earthquake monitoring, tsunami watch, numerical weather and climate prediction, and hydro-meteorological applications at the RIMES Regional Facility in Thailand.

The RIMES Secondment Program aims at building scientific and technical capacities of scientists, forecasters, and technical specialists from RIMES Member and Collaborating States. This capacity building process involves technology transfer, sharing of knowledge and experience, and on-the-job training.

Under the Secondment Program, Member and Collaborating States deputes scientists and other technical staff, by invitation, to the RIMES Regional Facility in Thailand, for an initial period of 6 months, where they train with RIMES in-house scientists and specialists. After 6 months, the secondees, with consent from their offices, have the option to extend their training to one year. On completion of the training, scientists return to their country offices, transferring knowledge and skills among their colleagues, and supporting new developments in their institutions.

Regarding Earthquake and Tsunami, training of seconded scientists involves:

• monitoring of earthquakes using SeisComP and Antelope and evaluation of its tsunamigenic potential
• understanding the basic functionalities of systems including SeisComP, Antelope, REDAS and Tide Tool
• preparation of warning alerts/products including SMS, emails and bulletins
• knowledge in the use and application of standard operating procedures
• summarizing of activities undertaken during big events in a situation report
• rendering of shift hours on a rotation basis as a Watch Stander
• research on topics of their choice, such as development of ground motion prediction equations, seismic hazard assessment, tsunami modeling, and tsunami risk assessment.

In relation to Hydro-Meteorological research and development Support to National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), training of seconded scientists involves:

• understanding the dynamics of weather and climate over their respective countries and the neighboring region
• understanding the concepts of numerical weather and climate prediction
• acquiring the knowledge on generating weather forecast using numerical models
• customization of numerical weather prediction models by a series of systematic numerical experiments
• learn to analyze in depth, the forecast generated by the numerical weather prediction models, for applications in different sectors.

RIMES has received scientists from Thailand, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.