GCOS Implementation Plan - WMO

Implementation Plan for the Global Observing System for Climate in Support of the UNFCCC
(2010 Update)
Ecosystems are characterised, inter alia, by a range of biodiversity and habitat properties that are at
present too complex to define as an ECV, mainly due to the large variability of scales, the absence of
universally-accepted indicators and non-systematic data collection. Nevertheless, at a range of ocean
and land sites, long-term monitoring of biodiversity and habitat properties should be developed to
better support studies of the influences of climate change on ecosystems. Where such monitoring is
undertaken, it is essential that collocated measurements of ECVs and other factors that may impact
ecosystems are made. It is a major challenge to ensure that such observations are sustained over
decades and are conducted to commonly-agreed standards. Because of the importance of ecosystem
changes to the goals of the UNFCCC, such long-term and collocated measurements are recognised
in this Plan as ”Essential Ecosystem Records” (cf. section 6.1).
1.4. Earth System Cycles and the Structure of this Document
Describing and understanding Earth system cycles, such as the water, carbon, and energy cycles,
generally requires knowledge of sets of ECVs and their variability in time and space, for example, for
the estimation and validation of fluxes. This requires an integrated view of these ECVs, sometimes
across the domains (atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial) used in this Plan. Moreover, an individual
variable often serves multiple application areas, such as within the nine GEOSS Societal Benefit
Areas, or links with multiple cycles.
To simplify the presentation, this document deals with each variable individually and assigns it to a
single domain (the atmospheric domain is treated in section 4; the oceanic domain in section 5; the
terrestrial domain in section 6) even though an ECV may also be relevant to the other domains. The
approach taken is a practical one, but it is recognised that some of the important links between the
domains and within the cycles and application areas may be obscured. However, the various links
among ECVs, and of ECVs with Earth system cycles, have been considered in developing this Plan.
2. The Strategic Approach to Implementation
2.1. Basis
As in the IP-04, this IP-10 proposes implementation Actions on all the ECVs that are both currently
feasible for global implementation and have a high impact on UNFCCC and the IPCC requirements
for climate change detection, attribution, prediction, impact assessment, and adaptation. While
implementation of this Plan is fully dependent on national efforts, success will be achieved only
through internationally-coordinated action. Thus, while many of the Actions noted are directed at the
international and intergovernmental organizations in their roles as programme coordinators, it should
be stressed that actual progress is dependent on national actions.
The strategic approach adopted in the Plan is based on:
• Global coverage of surface-based in situ and remote sensing observing networks – this largely
involves:
o
Improvements in existing networks to achieve the recommended technical,
operational, and maintenance standards, especially in developing countries, for the
atmospheric and terrestrial domains;
o Expansion of existing networks and, especially, improvement of the density and
frequency of observations for the oceanic domain and in remote data-sparse regions,
including the high latitudes;
o Improvement of data acquisition systems and data management programmes,
including adherence to the GCMPs;
o
Establishment of, and adherence to, internationally-accepted standards for
observations;
• Consideration of the needs for national and regional-scale data for those variables that have a
direct impact on adaptation and impacts;
• Effective utilization of satellite data and products through continuous and improved calibration
and/or validation, effective data management, and continuity of current priority satellite
observations;
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