Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS)

• DATE: Established 1967

Mission

Constructed in 1967, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) is Canada’s non-governmental society dedicated to promoting research in weather and weather extremes, global warming, ozone depletion, and surface air quality. Among approximately seven hundred members of CMOS in the mid-2020s were meteorologists, climatologists, oceanographers, limnologists, hydrologists, and cryospheric scientists. Governing the society is its national executive and council, the latter comprising the heads of fourteen regional centers and special interest groups located throughout Canada. The council, led by a president and vice president, appoints an executive director and members to serve on various committees, among them the Scientific, University, and Professional Education Committee; the School and Public Education Committee; the Prizes and Awards Committee; the Consultant Accreditation Committee; and the Media Weathercaster Endorsement Committee. CMOS is headquartered in Ottawa.

In addition to promoting professional and public education, CMOS accredits media weather forecasters and helps specialists study the meteorological aspects of hydrology, agriculture, and forestry. It publishes a scientific journal, Atmosphere-Ocean, as well as a bimonthly bulletin and Annual Review. It presents annual awards to scientists, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and volunteers and provides scholarships. It also sponsors precollege teachers’ participation in Project Atmosphere, run jointly with the American Meteorological Society and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Significance for Climate Change

In March 2007, CMOS issued its Comprehensive Position Statement on Climate Change. Noting that Canada’s climate was changing rapidly, affecting its ecosystems and wildlife, the statement insisted that there was strong evidence (95 percent confidence) that atmospheric and oceanic warming in the previous fifty years were mostly the result of fossil fuel burning and clearing of forest vegetation. Global warming, in fact, disproportionately impacts Canada and the Arctic. Accordingly, the CMOS issued a call to action.

Given the increasing, significant load of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, future warming seems inevitable. Changes occur rapidly, and appropriate adaptation policies and programs must be designed to help increase humans’ adaptive capacities to combat climate change and protect the environment. The global reduction of GHG emissions cannot be achieved by any single country, but each country must contribute to accomplish the global goal. The atmosphere, ocean, and biosphere together constitute a highly complex system. Climatologists’ ability to make comprehensive climate projections is hindered by the lack of accurate characterization of important processes and feedback within this system. Further process studies, assessments of paleoclimate evidence, modeling, and observations are necessary to understand and improve predictions of climate change at the global and, particularly, regional levels. Research is essential to mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Bibliography

“About.” Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS), 25 Mar. 2025, www.cmos.ca/site/about/cmos. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

“CMOS Private Sector Committee - the Meteorological Enterprise in the Government of Canada.” YouTube, Meteorological and Oceanographic Society CMOS, 15 Nov. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRznEzadl3c. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

"Draft CMOS Implementation Plan 2025-2026 (Based on Strategic Plan 2025-2030)." Canadian Meteorological and Oceanic Society, www.cmos.ca/site/about/plan/implementationplan?nav=sidebar&. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

"History of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society ." Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, cmos.in1touch.org/site/history. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.