<strong>CEOP</strong>-<strong>HE</strong> 2
Foreword The main purpose of the <strong>HE</strong> Science Plan is to set priorities and strategies of the <strong>CEOP</strong>-High Elevations initiative, providing a general overview of key science issues associated with water and energy cycles in high altitude regions and their important role in physical, chemical and dynamical processes over remote areas worldwide. This document represents the starting point of the <strong>HE</strong> initiative within the GEWEX/<strong>CEOP</strong> and provides an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to global hydro-climate studies. 1. General Background The need for an integrated approach to observe, model and investigate hydro-meteorological phenomena and physical and dynamical processes in high altitude regions has been recognized by major international organizations and programs. The Group on Earth Observation (GEO) has implemented the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), in order to support nations in producing and managing their information for the benefit of the environment and people. The GEO Work Plan includes tasks relevant to high elevations (e.g. EC-O9-02d). The main international environmental organizations, such as WMO, UNEP and ICSU, are developing several specific networks and research programs in the fields of climate, atmospheric physics, chemistry and hydrology, which also include a subset of activities for high altitudes. The <strong>HE</strong> project will address a number of issues of importance to the above programs and organizations. The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) aims to improve climate predictions and understanding of the human influence on climate, through observations and modelling of the Earth system and the policy-relevant assessment of climate conditions. The WCRP’s two broad objectives are to determine the predictability of climate and to determine the effect of human activities on climate, achieving a multi-disciplinary approach and organizing large-scale observational and modelling projects. WCRP encompasses studies of the global atmosp<strong>here</strong>, oceans, sea-and land-ice, the biosp<strong>here</strong> and the land surface, which together constitute the Earth’s climate system (http://wcrp.wmo.int/wcrp-index.html). The Global Energy and Water-cycle Experiment (GEWEX) is a core project of WCRP involving studies of the dynamics and thermodynamics of the atmosp<strong>here</strong>, the atmosp<strong>here</strong>’s interactions with the Earth’s surface, especially over land, and the global water cycle. It is an integrated program of research, observations and scientific activities, mainly leading to the prediction of global and regional climate change. In particular, the goal of GEWEX is to reproduce and predict, by means of suitable models, the variations of the global hydrological regime, its impact on atmospheric and surface dynamics, and variations in regional hydrological processes and water resources and their response to changes in the environment (http://www.gewex.org/gewex_overview.html). GEWEX is composed of several projects designed to address the elements of the scientific focus, the global energy and water cycle, and grouped by research focus area into the following categories: radiation, modelling and prediction, hydroclimate. The activities in each category are coordinated and supervised, respectively, by the GEWEX Radiation Panel (GRP), the GEWEX Modelling and Prediction Panel (GMPP) and the Coordinated Energy and water cycle Observations Project (<strong>CEOP</strong>). 1.1 The Coordinated Energy and water cycle Observations Project (<strong>CEOP</strong>) The merger in January 2007 of the previous WCRP’s GEWEX Hydrometeorology Panel (GHP) and the ‘<strong>CEOP</strong>’ (Lawford et al., 2006), an element of WCRP initiated by GEWEX, led to the establishment of a new entity, now designated the Coordinated Energy and water cycle Observations Project (<strong>CEOP</strong>). <strong>CEOP</strong> now better coordinates similar international activities <strong>CEOP</strong>-<strong>HE</strong> 3