Pacific Island GCOS Action Plan 26 March 2002 i Pacific Island GCOS Action Plan 26 March 2002 Jim Salinger1, Garry Clarke2, Dean Collins3, Howard Diamond4, Pene Lefale5, Arona Ngari6, Kim Nitschke7, Neil Plummer8, Cristelle Pratt9, Rishi Raj10, Henry Taiki11 1 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited (NIWA) 2 Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited 3 Bureau of Meteorology 4 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 5 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited (NIWA) 6 Cook Islands Meteorological Service 7 South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) 8 Bureau of Meteorology 9 South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) 10 Regional Adviser, Hydrology, Region V, World Meteorological Organisation 11 World Meteorological Organisation Sub-Regional Office Pacific Island GCOS Action Plan 2 March 2002 Foreword Background Long-term, high-quality observations of the global environmental system are essential for defining the current state of the Earth’s system, and its past history and variability. This task requires both space- and surface-based observation systems. The term “climate observations” encompasses a broad range of environmental observations. These observations include the following elements (1) Routine weather observations, which, collected over a long enough period, can be used to help describe the climatology of a region. (2) Observations collected as part of research investigations to elucidate chemical, dynamical, biological, or radiative processes that contribute to maintaining climate patterns or to their variability. (3) Highly precise, continuous observations of climate system variables collected for the express purpose of documenting long-term (decadal to centennial) change. (4) Observations of climate proxies, collected to extend the instrumental climate record to remote regions and back in time to provide information on climate change for millennial and longer time scales. Since 1998, Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) have noted with concern the mounting evidence of a decline in the global observing capability and have urged Parties to undertake programs of systematic observations and to strengthen their capability in the collection, exchange, and utilisation of environmental data and information. It has long been recognised that the range of global observations needed to understand and monitor Earth processes contributing to climate and to assess the impact of human activities cannot be satisfied by a single program, agency, or country. What is GCOS? The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was established in 1992 to ensure that the observations and information needed to address climate-related issues are obtained and made available to all potential users. While the GCOS Secretariat is housed at the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO ), it is not a solely meteorological endeavour and it is in fact co-sponsored by three other organisations in addition to the WMO. These are the (a) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO; (b) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and (c) International Council for Science (ICSU). Therefore, GCOS is intended to be a long-term, user-driven operational system capable of providing comprehensive observations across domains that are required for monitoring the climate system. The applications associated with this involve the detection and attribution of climate change, for assessing the impacts of climate variability and change, and for supporting research toward improved understanding, modelling and prediction of the global climate system. It should be important to note that there has to be close consultation and collaboration among the various organisation and programmes. GCOS addresses the total climate system across a number of scientific disciplines including physical, chemical and biological properties, and atmospheric, oceanic, hydrologic, cryospheric and terrestrial processes. While it neither makes direct observations nor generates data products, its purpose is to stimulate, encourage, coordinate and otherwise facilitate the taking of the needed observations by national or international organisations in support of their own requirements as well as of common goals. It provides an operational framework for integrating, and enhancing as Pacific Island GCOS Action Plan 3 March 2002 needed, the observational systems of participating countries and organisations into a comprehensive system focussed on the requirements for climate issues. GCOS builds upon, and works in partnership with, other existing and developing observing systems such as the Global Ocean Observing System, the Global Terrestrial Observing System, and the Global Atmospheric Watch network of observatories. GCOS focuses on in-situ measurements as satellite observations alone are not sufficient for the total global climate picture. Satellite observations require in-situ measurements for calibration and validation, and in-situ observations are required for the measurement of parameters that cannot be estimated from space platforms (e.g., biodiversity, groundwater, carbon sequestration at the root zone, and subsurface ocean parameters). These in-situ measurements also provide long time series of observations required for the detection and diagnosis of global change. These parameters include surface temperature, precipitation and water resources, weather and other natural hazards, the emission or discharge of pollutants, and the impacts of multiple stresses on the environment due to human and natural causes. Why a Pacific Island GCOS (PI-GCOS) Action Plan? In 1999, the UNFCCC, noted with concern the report made by Professor Bert Bolin, in “The Report to the Seventh Session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice on behalf of the IPCC”, October 1997; in that report he stated that “The current global observational network is declining. If this decline is not stopped we may, say, twenty years from now, be in a worse situation than today, when trying to determine to what extent and how climate is changing. We will have less capability of clarifying to what extent an ongoing climate change might be the result of human activities or be an expression of natural variability in the climate system. A continuous close observation of the climate system is an absolute requirement for dealing adequately with the climate issue.” In response to this recognised decline in observing networks, the UNFCCC directed the GCOS secretariat to begin staging a series of regional workshops for developing nations in order to see what actions could be taken to stem the decline. The first such regional workshop was conducted in August 2000 in Apia, Samoa. That workshop was jointly organised by GCOS and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme. An important outcome of the Apia workshop was a formal resolution in which participants agreed to develop a Pacific Island GCOS Regional Action Plan to address priority climate observing system needs for the region that included not only atmospheric observations, but also the vital oceanographic and terrestrial components that comprise GCOS. The intent of this action plan is to frame the goal and objectives for an improved Pacific GCOS. It sets the stage and develops a roadmap for the newly formed Pacific Island GCOS Working Group to use with a set of five specific objectives that include actions, projects, improvements, and the identification of resources that should lead to an improved GCOS system in the Pacific. How Does P-GCOS Fits in with Previous Regional Observing Planning? Due to some very good planning on the part of SPREP related to meteorological observations, the Pacific region, unlike other developing regions, has developed an excellent framework that should allow GCOS to become a robust and sustainable system. Key among these planning efforts are the Strategic Action Plan for the Development of Meterology in the Pacific Region for 2000-2009 (SPREP, 1999) and The Needs Analysis Final Report (Krishna et al., 2001) that was commissioned by SPREP in early 2000. The Krishna report, termed PMSNAP, forms part of SPREP’s initiative to identify the requirements of the National Meteorological Services (NMS) of twenty Pacific Island SPREP member countries and territories, and, amongst other assessments, recommend projects for aid consideration. The central goal of the PMSNAP project was to support continued Pacific Island GCOS Action Plan 4 March 2002 strengthening of the capability of NMSs in the Pacific region to meet growing public demand for improved weather and climate services and products. While this Pacific Island GCOS Action Plan draws heavily on those important planning documents, as stated earlier atmospheric or meteorological observations alone form only one part of the overall GCOS Fale. PI-GCOS Fale. Joint Exploration and Shared Problem SolvingToward Sustainable Development. The previous regional planning will go a long way to achieving the goal of an improved regional GCOS by outlining specific projects (with accompanying resource requirements) that can be presented to funding agencies for action. However, while the oceanographic and terrestrial elements of GCOS are less developed in the region, this action plan includes activities and elements that not only recognise their importance, but allow them to get wider review across the region and involve other parts of national governments, as well as other CROP organisations