BALTEX Phase II 2003 – 2012. Science Framework and ...

BALTEX Phase II Science Framework and Implementation Strategy 73
In particular the gradual extension of BALTEX research activities to air and water quality studies
opens the option for a closer cooperation with projects of the International Geosphere-Biosphere
Programme (IGBP) such as LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone). Being firmly
anchored in one of the global change programmes (GEWEX) and contributing to at least another
global programme (IGBP), BALTEX is addressing objectives of the Earth System Science Partnership
(ESSP), a joint initiative of all four coordinated global change programmes 9 . One of the joint ESSP
projects (inter-programme projects) already established is the Global Water System Project (GWSP),
where BALTEX intends to contribute to, in cooperation with other, in particular IGBP projects. The
following sections outline the contributions and relations to the mentioned programmes and initiatives
in more detail.
10.2. GEWEX
The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) is a project initiated by the World
Climate Research Programme (WCRP) to observe, understand, model and predict the hydrological
cycle and energy fluxes in the atmosphere, at land surface and in the upper oceans. GEWEX is an
integrated study ultimately contributing to WCRP’s main goal of predicting global and regional
climate. By definition, BALTEX is a GEWEX Continental-scale Experiment (CSE) with the
overarching aim to address GEWEX objectives in a major water catchment, the Baltic Sea basin.
Since its launch in 1992, BALTEX has successfully contributed to meeting objectives of GEWEX.
Also GEWEX has recently revised its objectives for Phase II which is expected to span the time period
until 2012. The revised objectives of GEWEX Phase II (see e.g. WMO, 2001) are:
• To produce consistent descriptions of the Earth’s energy budget and water cycle and their
variability and trends, and data sets for the validation of models,
• to enhance the understanding of how the energy and water cycle processes contribute to
climate feedbacks,
• to develop improved parameterisations encapsulating these processes and feedbacks for
atmospheric circulation models,
• to interact with the wider WCRP community in determining the predictability of energy and
water cycles, and
• to interact with the water resource and applications communities to ensure the usefulness of
GEWEX results.
It is obvious that BALTEX Phase II objectives are directly contributing to GEWEX objectives at the
regional scale. For both BALTEX and GEWEX, the revised objectives for Phase II constitute a logical
further development and the objectives of BALTEX Phase II have been defined in accordance with
those of GEWEX Phase II. For both GEWEX and BALTEX, the improvement of process
understanding and models remains a central strategic aim, thus enhancing efforts to fill existing
knowledge gaps in these areas, thereby continuing to address Phase I objectives. Topics with higher
importance in both GEWEX and BALTEX are now climate variability and climate change issues.
Both strive to closer interact with stakeholders.
BALTEX is actively participating in the GEWEX Hydrometeorology Panel (GHP) and several of its
working groups. Besides several global projects and initiatives, seven other CSEs, together with
BALTEX, are contributing to GEWEX through GHP, all with a regional focus, either major rivers in
different continents such as the Mackenzie, Mississippi (with an extension to the entire continental
United States territories), Amazon, La Plata and Murray Darling, or climate regions of interest such as
the Asian Monsoon System and West Africa. The respective CSEs include 10 MAGS (Mackenzie
GEWEX Study), GAPP (GEWEX America Prediction Project), LBA (Large Scale Biosphere-
Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia), LPB (La Plata Basin), MDB (Murray Darling Basin), GAME
9 IHDP (International Human Dimensions Programme) and DIVERSITAS (International Programme on
Biodiversity Science) are not explicitly discussed here, but may have marginal relevance for BALTEX.
10 Status as of January 2005