Status of the Global Observing System for Climate
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STATUS OF THE GLOBAL OBSERVING SYSTEM FOR CLIMATE FULL REPORT OCTOBER 2015 Atmosphere Land Ocean GLOBAL CLIMATE OBSERVING SYSTEM GCOS Secretariat | c/o World Meteorological Organization | 7 bis, avenue de la Paix�� P.O. Box 2300 | CH-1211 Geneva 2 | Switzerland Tel.: +41 (0) 22 730 8275/8067 | Fax: +41 (0) 22 730 8052 | E-mail: [email protected]�� http://gcos.wmo.int STATUS OFTHE GLOBAL SYSTEMOBSERVING STATUS FOR CLIMATE JN 152282 GCOS-195 Status of the Global Observing System for Climate October 2015 GCOS-195 © World Meteorological Organization, 2015 The right of publication in print, electronic and any other form and in any language is reserved by WMO. Short extracts from WMO publications may be reproduced without authorization, provided that the complete source is clearly indicated. Editorial correspondence and requests to publish, reproduce or translate this publication in part or in whole should be addressed to: Chairperson, Publications Board World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 7 bis, avenue de la Paix Tel.: +41 (0) 22 730 84 03 P.O. Box 2300 Fax: +41 (0) 22 730 80 40 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected] NOTE The designations employed in WMO publications and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WMO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WMO in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in WMO publications with named authors are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of WMO or its Members. ii iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents .................................................................................................................................... iv Foreword ................................................................................................................................................ ix Background and outline ......................................................................................................................... xi Overall conclusions ............................................................................................................................... xiii 1 Introduction and background .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context and purpose of this report ............................................................................................ 1 1.2 Scope and concept of the global observing system for climate................................................. 1 1.3 Cycle of assessment and identification of requirements ........................................................... 2 1.4 Outline, basis and limits of this report ....................................................................................... 3 2 Climate Observation ........................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Need for systematic observation ............................................................................................... 5 2.2 Nature of climate observation ................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Implementing agencies and international coordination ............................................................ 7 2.3.1 National and regional agents for implementation .............................................................. 7 2.3.2 International arrangements for coordination and assessment ........................................... 8 2.3.3 Principal atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial observing systems ...................................10 2.4 Tiered observing networks and constellations ........................................................................11 2.5 Essential Climate Variables ......................................................................................................12 2.6 Climate-system cycles ..............................................................................................................14 3 Overarching and cross-cutting elements .......................................................................................15 3.1 Planning and reporting .............................................................................................................15 3.2 Towards sustained networks and systems ...............................................................................16 3.3 International support for critical networks ..............................................................................16 3.4 Space-based observation .........................................................................................................17 3.4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................17 3.4.2 Sustained satellite observing systems for weather and climate .......................................17 3.4.3 European Copernicus programme .....................................................................................20 3.4.4 Missions for research and development, and challenges of continuity ............................21 3.4.5 Data monitoring .................................................................................................................24 3.4.6 Fundamental forms of climate data records .....................................................................24 3.4.7 Intercalibration of data records .........................................................................................25 3.4.8 Data archives .....................................................................................................................26 iv 3.5 Generation of data products ....................................................................................................27 3.6 Reanalysis .................................................................................................................................28 3.7 Recovery of instrumental data .................................................................................................30 3.8 Proxy reconstructions of past climates ....................................................................................32 3.9 Data management ....................................................................................................................33 3.10 Climate impacts ........................................................................................................................35 4 Atmospheric observation ..............................................................................................................36 4.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................36 4.2 Meteorological surface networks ............................................................................................36 4.2.1 Comprehensive surface networks .....................................................................................37 4.2.2 Baseline and reference networks ......................................................................................43 4.2.3 Data archives .....................................................................................................................44 4.3 Surface variables ......................................................................................................................45 4.3.1 Air temperature .................................................................................................................45 4.3.2 Wind speed and direction ..................................................................................................49 4.3.3 Water vapour .....................................................................................................................50 4.3.4 Pressure .............................................................................................................................52 4.3.5 Precipitation .......................................................................................................................54 4.3.6 Surface radiation budget ...................................................................................................58 4.4 Meteorological upper-air networks .........................................................................................61 4.4.1 Comprehensive radiosonde networks ...............................................................................61 4.4.2 Observations from aircraft ................................................................................................63 4.4.3 Baseline upper-air networks ..............................................................................................65 4.4.4 Reference upper-air networks ...........................................................................................66 4.4.5 Data archives .....................................................................................................................67 4.5 Upper-air variables ...................................................................................................................68