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International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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Parameter<br />

C<br />

T<br />

Measurement Range<br />

Measurement<br />

Accuracy<br />

Resolution<br />

Spatial Temporal<br />

Comment<br />

or Principal<br />

O<br />

L H U V U V U V U<br />

Driver<br />

Snow Cover C 20 100 % 15-20 % 1 km day e.g. MODIS<br />

T 0 100 % 10 % 0.5 km 1 day Hydromet<br />

O 0 100 % 5 % 0.1 km 12 hr<br />

Snow Water Equivalent, C 0 0.2 m 2-10 cm 25 km 1 day e.g. AMSR-E<br />

satellite (Shallow)<br />

T 0 0.3 m 3 cm 0.5 km 6 day Hydromet<br />

O 0 0.3 m 2 cm 0.1 km 12 hr<br />

Snow Water Equivalent, C none – – – – – – – – Need HF SAR<br />

satellite (Deep)<br />

T 0.3 3 m 10 % 0.5 km 6 day Hydromet<br />

O 0.3 3 m 7 % 0.1 km 12 hr<br />

Snow Water Equivalent, in C 0 3 m 1 cm 1 m 30 day Hydromet<br />

situ (Shallow)<br />

T 0 3 m 1 cm 1 m 7 day Hydromet<br />

O 0 3 m 1 cm 1 m 1 day<br />

Snow Depth, satellite C 0 -0.7 m 5-35 cm 25 km 1 day e.g. AMSR-E<br />

(Shallow)<br />

T 0 1 m 10 cm 0.5 km 6 day Hydromet<br />

O 0 1 m 6 cm 0.1 km 1 hr Transportation<br />

first time this has been done internationally for the<br />

cryosphere. The community that started with CliC<br />

and SCAR expanded through CryOS. The Cryosphere<br />

Theme team has been, and continues to be, an active<br />

participant in several related IPY initiatives in which<br />

the Theme Report has proved its usefulness as an<br />

authoritative source of requirements in cryospheric<br />

observations and recommendations on the means<br />

to establish them. The Space Task Group for IPY has<br />

been an important implementation mechanism for<br />

some of the space-based recommendations of the<br />

Theme. In particular, the GIIPSY project has worked<br />

with space agencies to develop new satellite products<br />

and special acquisitions (examples of new satellite<br />

products developed for IPY are given on Figs. 3.1-2 and<br />

3.1-6 in Chapter 3.1).<br />

The Theme activities and recommendations<br />

played an important role in the three IPY Workshops<br />

on Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) in<br />

2007 and 2008 (Stockholm, Edmonton and Helsinki),<br />

as well as in the 2008 U.S.-Canada GEO Workshop on<br />

Water and Ice (Washington, D.C.). The Committee on<br />

Earth Observation Satellite (CEOS), which was an IGOS<br />

Partner and is a GEO Participating Organization, has<br />

evaluated a number of potential gap analysis “threads”,<br />

where gaps in the observing system were identified<br />

by following a thread from a high level question,<br />

through products and service, to models and satellite<br />

measurements. One of the threads addresses the<br />

question “How do changes in the cryosphere impact<br />

sea level?” Currently, the Theme is contributing to the<br />

Arctic Council’s Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in<br />

the Arctic (SWIPA) project (www.amap.no), which will<br />

produce a report in 2011 on the state of cryosphere in<br />

the Arctic.<br />

Thus, there is no question that the development of<br />

the IGOS Cryosphere Theme has been a worthwhile<br />

effort, resulting in a comprehensive assessment of<br />

the cryosphere observing system and a significant<br />

contributor to other observing system efforts.<br />

The development and acceptance of the IGOS-P<br />

Cryosphere Theme Report, which provided the<br />

conceptual framework for a Cryosphere Observing<br />

System (CryOS), may now provide the basis for a<br />

more comprehensive, coordinated and integrated<br />

cryospheric observing system (Figs. 3.7-2 and 3.7-3)<br />

and be a central part of <strong>WMO</strong>’s new initiative, Global<br />

Cryosphere Watch (GCW).<br />

Table 3.7-1. A portion<br />

of the observational<br />

requirements and<br />

gaps table for snow,<br />

from the IGOS<br />

Cryosphere Theme<br />

report.<br />

o b s e r v I n g s Y s t e m s a n d d a t a m a n a g e m e n t 413

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