GCOS Implementation Plan - WMO

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Implementation Plan for the Global Observing System for Climate in Support of the UNFCCC (2010 Update) ATMOSPHERIC DOMAIN – UPPER-AIR ECV Contributing Network(s) Status Contributing Satellite Data Status Wind Speed and Direction (cont’d) Radar (profilers). Commercial aircraft. Radar data are not globally distributed. Aircraft observations are valuable but limited to specific routes except near airports. . Water Vapour Reference network of highquality and high- altitude radiosondes (GRUAN). GCOS Upper-Air Network (subset of full WWW/GOS radiosondes network). Full WWW/GOS radiosonde network. Ground-based receiver network. Accurate reference sondes Microwave measuring uppertropospheric and lowerstratospheric humidity are needed. Accuracy of water vapour measurements is improving, but is still inadequate for climate purposes in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. imagers and sounders; Infrared sounders GNSS occultation; radio Infrared and microwave limb sounders Solar occultation GNSS Wider international exchange of data is needed NIR images over land Continuity assured for operational microwave and IR sounders; Continuity uncertain for microwave imagery Continuity uncertain for research satellites and GNSS constellation. Commercial aircraft. Aircraft data are potentially useful. Cloud Properties Earth Radiation Budget Surface observations (GSN, WWW/GOS, VOS). Cloud radar and lidar. Surface observations of cloud cover provide an historical but uncertain record, and continuity is a concern; Reprocessing of cloud data is needed. Research-based networks Visible, infrared and microwave radiances from geostationary and polar orbiting satellites; Cloud radar and lidar (research). Broadband short- and longwave and total solar irradiance GERB geostationary measurements provide high time resolution broadband data. Cloud top temperature, microphysical properties and coverage are all operational. Continuity and good calibration of measurements is of critical importance NPP/JPSS will provide a CERES-like record starting in 2010. GERB useful for process studies, but no follow-on instrument. For temperature, wind speed and direction, and water vapour, the WWW/GOS radiosonde network provides the backbone of the in situ global observing system for climate as well as for weather forecasting applications. Some problems in the performance of the radiosonde network occur because observations are not being taken due to a lack of resources. The data are unevenly distributed over the globe with relatively high-density coverage over much of the Northern Hemisphere, but with much poorer coverage over the Tropics and the Southern Hemisphere. The advent of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), including GPS technology has helped improve the accuracy of radiosonde wind measurements; however, it has also created problems for some nations due to increased operating costs. In order to take advantage of the enhanced accuracy, it is essential to implement the reporting of position and time of each measurement through implementation of the more complete reporting enabled by the BUFR code. It is also highly desirable to have observations twice per day as this allows radiation biases to be partly assessed. 56
Implementation Plan for the Global Observing System for Climate in Support of the UNFCCC (2010 Update) Figure 5: Frequency of receipt of temperature data from GUAN radiosondes reaching the stratospheric level of 10 hPa at GUAN Monitoring Centre 1994-2008 (Source: ECMWF). A continuing international effort is underway involving the WMO CBS, WMO CIMO and GCOS to help alleviate the negative impact of the high cost of radiosondes and obsolescent equipment on network performance. These groups are encouraged to continue their activities to promote testing of instruments and tracking equipment, technology improvements, capacity-building and policy actions to ensure that affordable high-quality sondes are readily available for global climate monitoring. The GCOS Steering Committee has designated a subset of the WWW/GOS radiosonde network as the baseline GUAN. GUAN currently consists of 164 radiosonde stations fairly evenly distributed over the globe. Figure 5 gives an indication of the increase in GUAN performance over the past years. The AOPC works with the WMO CBS, the WMO RAs and the NMSs to implement a programme for the sustained operation of GUAN, together with its associated infrastructure. For some individual stations, technical cooperation is necessary from other nations or agencies and/or the GCOS Cooperation Mechanism, to equip the stations, provide training of operators and in some instances to support continuing operations by Parties in need (e.g., provision of expendables). Action A15 [IP-04 A15] Action: Improve operation of the GUAN, including infrastructure and data management. Who: Parties operating GUAN stations, in cooperation with GCOS Secretariat and WMO CBS. Time-Frame: Ongoing. Performance Indicator: Percentage of data archived in WDC Asheville. Annual Cost Implications: 10-30M US$ (80% in non-Annex-I Parties). Outstanding issues concerning the quality of radiosonde measurements for climate monitoring and change-detection purposes have led to a proposal for a GCOS Reference Upper Air Network (GRUAN) of about 40 sites routinely deploying high-quality radiosondes and making other groundbased measurements such as from ozone sondes, GPS delay and lidars. In addition to making a vital direct contribution to climate monitoring across all climate zones, this network will be extensively used to calibrate and validate various satellite observations and is expected also to provide new information on humidity in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere needed to understand better the role of water vapour in the radiation budget. GRUAN planning was initiated at workshops held in 2006 and 2007 and further elaborated under the auspices of the AOPC Working Group on Atmospheric Reference Observations (WG ARO) by setting 57
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WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION I
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FOREWORD This 2010 Update of the Im
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6. TERRESTRIAL CLIMATE OBSERVING SY
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Implementation Plan for the Global
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GCOS Implementation Plan - WMO

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