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Objective:
The U.S. GCOS program has been one of
the leaders in the global effort to maintain systematic
climate observations and the program provides support in
three-tiered approach of global, regional, and bi-lateral
support. As part of the global support for GCOS, and in
response to a U.S. Presidential Climate Change Research
Initiative (CCRI), the U.S. has formulated a Framework for
International GCOS Support plan. This plan focuses on the
status of GCOS, what is needed to bring GCOS to its
operational-design level, and the support needed from the
scientific, donor, and host communities to implement
selected improvements to it primarily through the support of
GUAN and GSN stations, but also via support for the GCOS
Lead Data Center at NCDC, the operation of the Global
Observing System Information Center, as well as support to
selected improvements in the Global Atmosphere Watch. On
the regional level, via State Department supported
bi-lateral climate agreements with Australia and New
Zealand, the program supports the Pacific Islands regional
GCOS program; with the Pacific being of critical importance
to climate (e.g., source of El Nino) and given the general
sparseness of data from this critical climate region, a
strong regional program in support of GCOS is a benefit to
the global climate observing effort. In the past year the
U.S. (via the State Department) has entered into a number of
important bi-lateral climate agreements. Specifically, the
U.S. GCOS Program Office is involved in funding projects
with Australia, China, New Zealand, and South Africa. These
bi-laterals cover a wide range of projects dealing with
climate prediction, ocean observing, stratospheric
detection, water vapor measurements, capacity building and
training, and communication of information, and will focus
the attention and resources of all these countries towards
developing a more sustainable and robust GCOS program.
International Program Background:
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. It is co-sponsored by the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO,
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the
International Council for Science (ICSU). GCOS is intended
to be a long-term, user-driven operational system capable of
providing the comprehensive observations required for
monitoring the climate system, for detecting and attributing
climate change, for assessing the impacts of climate
variability and change, and for supporting research toward
improved understanding, modelling and prediction of the
climate system. It addresses the total climate system
including physical, chemical and biological properties, and
atmospheric, oceanic, hydrologic, cryospheric and
terrestrial processes.
GCOS does not itself directly
make observations nor generate data products. It stimulates,
encourages, coordinates and otherwise facilitates the taking
of the needed observations by national or international
organizations in support of their own requirements as well
as of common goals. It provides an operational framework for
integrating, and enhancing as needed, observational systems
of participating countries and organizations 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 Observing System and Global
Atmospheric Watch of the World Meteorological Organization.
GCOS is directed by a Steering
Committee which provides guidance, coordination and
oversight to the programme. Three science panels, reporting
to the Steering Committee, have been established to define
the observations needed in each of the main global domains
(atmosphere, oceans, and land), to prepare specific
programme elements and to make recommendations for
implementation. The GCOS Secretariat, located at the WMO
headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, supports the activities
of the Steering Committee, the panels and the GCOS programme
as a whole.
Overall GCOS Objectives:
GCOS is intended to meet the
needs for:
- Climate system
monitoring, climate change detection and monitoring the
impacts of and the response to climate change, especially in
terrestrial ecosystems and mean sea-level;
- Climate data for
application to national economic development;
- Research toward
improved understanding, modelling and prediction of the
climate system.
GCOS' priorities are:
- Seasonal-to-interannual
climate prediction;
- The earliest
possible detection of climate trends and climate change due
to human activities;
- Reduction of the
major uncertainties in long-term climate prediction;
- Improved data for
impact analysis.
- GCOS will build, to
the extent possible, on existing operational and research
observing, data management and information distribution
systems, and further enhancements of these systems. The GCOS
will be based upon, inter alia :
- Existing and
enhanced World Weather Watch (WWW) systems;
- The Global
Atmosphere Watch (GAW) and related atmospheric constituent
observing systems;
- The Global Ocean
Observing System (GOOS) for physical, chemical and
biological measurements;
- The Global
Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) for land surface
ecosystem, hydrosphere, and cryosphere measurements;
- The maintenance and
enhancement of programmes monitoring other key components of
the climate system, such as terrestrial ecosystems
(including the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)),
as well as clouds and the hydrological cycle, the earth's
radiation budget, ice sheets and precipitation over the
oceans (including the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP));
- Programmes to
monitor the key physical, chemical and biological aspects of
the impacts of climate change (including the World Climate
Impact Assessment and Response Strategies Programme);
- Data communication
and other infrastructures necessary to support operational
climate forecasting (including the World Climate Data and
Monitoring Programme (WCDMP) and the Climate Information and
Prediction Services (CLIPS)).
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