Name: _Melesse Lemma_____________        Institution: _National Meteorological Agency

1.	What are the most important forecasting challenges for your NMS?

2.	How many forecasters work for your national meteorology service?

3.	What qualifications are needed to be a meteorologist/forecaster in your country?

To be a meteorologist one needs to have Degree in meteorology or related fields like Physics, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry and soon. 
To be a forecaster one needs to have Diploma in Meteorology or related fields like Physics, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry and soon. But if the fellow is not from meteorological stream he should undergo forecasting in order to become a forecaster. 

4.	What is the current state of your observational network?  In particular what is the approximate number of  functioning:

a) Surface synoptic stations
17 stations
b) climatological stations with daily rainfall measurements
1154 surface manned stations (including the 17 synoptic stations), 37 Automatic stations, 4 Automatic Observing stations report rainfall. 
c) Meteorological radars
	  	One exists but non functional
	
5.	Are any upper air observations (radiosonde or pilot balloon) made routinely by your NMS?   If so please describe very briefly the specific sites and kinds of observations being made.  

There are two upper air observations stations. One is working well but the other is not in operation.  The upper air station which is now in operation is located at Addis Ababa, the capital.  It does both radiosonde and pilot balloon observations. Radiosonde observation made at 11:00 UTC each day once in a day. The parameters being observed are pressure, height, temperature, relative humidity and dew point. Pilot ballon observation is made once in a day. The parameters being observed are elevation angle, azimuth angle, wind speed and direction.

6.	What types of numerical model guidance and Internet products do meteorologists in your country use to make forecasts?

7.	Are there any particular improvements would you personally like to see made to your current observational network?

Yes. We want to expand our automatic station networks. Currently we have 37 and we need to have more automatic stations.  Currently we are now trying to establish one new RADAR station, but according to the master plane we need 4 more RADAR sites. Regarding surface manned station we want to make them 1200.

8.	What kind of education is most needed by your staff?

Meteorological, computer trainings (operating system, application software’s, programming) information technology, networking, GIS, Marketing at different levels both long term and short term. Meteorological education is needed at post graduate level, diploma level, advanced diploma level and certificate level. We also need short term trainings in different fields, satellite, radar, networking, climate change, project proposal writing, research and study, numerical weather prediction, climatology, hydrometeorology, meteorological instruments and etc.  

9.	Are there separate meteorological services for different purposes in your country?  For example, does the Civil Aviation community depend on forecasts from a specialized forecast agency, or does the military have their own forecasting staff.  (This information is very important for designing possible educational activities, for example.)

We are currently serving the Aviation sector. We have an office at the airports and provide data needed for flight. In fact the Ethiopian air lines has got some staffs who have taken meteorological education. But we are the one currently providing whatever information needed for the flight services.

The Ethiopian air force does have meteorological staffs.

10.	 Please feel free to provide any other comments that you wish here: