The Full Picture

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extensive reference document. Consequently, thematic priorities in

Germany are reflected in this plan. And in fact, as the TYIP focuses

on global issues, most of them also concern Germany. Some issues

receive particular attention though, in their prominence on the polit-

ical agenda, their echo in the media or their relevance for the German

business community. Climate change is one of these issues, sustain-

able energy, water supply and disaster management are others.

Importantly, these issues are each understood in their national and

global facets. Not only have these issues stirred public discussion and

prompted the development of national policies; they have also

strongly influenced German development cooperation for many years.

To mitigate the effects of climate change Germany is highly active

in pursuing the evolution of international agreements on climate

change, and implementing them nationally. Germany also set up a

national research program, ‘

klimazwei

’, which focuses on investi-

gating adaptation measures for climate change. This is in addition to

a substantial climate change priority in the current seventh European

research framework programme.

Climate-relevant observation networks in Germany are coordinated

with international efforts through the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and the activities of its world climate programme

in particular. These are the main building blocks of GEOSS in the

‘climate’ context – and Germany has both benefited and contributed

to these efforts for several years. Because the relevant observation

networks are operated by different national entities, national coordi-

nators have been identified for the Global Climate Observing System

(GCOS) at the DWD and for the Global Ocean Observing System

(GOOS) at the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, respec-

tively. These arrangements facilitate the international coordination.

International agreements on standards and protocols for climate

monitoring, including the GCOS Climate Monitoring Principles, are

implemented by the responsible national agencies. The DWD also

funds and operates the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre

(GPCC), which analyzes the global distribution of precipitation

based on in situ observations. It also leads the EUMETSAT Satellite

Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM-SAF). Similarly,

the Federal Institute of Hydrology has taken the responsibility for

operating the Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC), which collects,

stores, and disseminates discharge data from rivers around the world.

The World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere at

the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Integrated Global

Carbon Observation components of the Max-Planck Institute in Jena

constitute other important German contributions in this context.

Even though Germany is rarely directly affected by major natural

disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or hurricanes, these

events concern Germany through its many and diverse relationships

with other countries. Also, Germany’s high population density,

concentration of economic value and sensitive infrastructure

frequently result in relatively high damage figures due to storms or

floods, even though the events themselves may not appear dramatic

compared to those occurring in other parts of the world.

Operational processes using earth observation information for disas-

ter management in Germany mainly exist in the form of severe weather

warnings by the DWD and flood warning centres. However, substan-

tial research and development activities during recent years have created

competences and demonstrators that are now approaching a level of

maturity to be considered for operational implementation. The Center

for Satellite-Based Crisis Information (ZKI) at the German Remote

Sensing Data Center (DLR-DFD) has demonstrated convincingly how

satellite data can be integrated with other available infor-

mation to support specific tasks in emergency response

activities.

ZKI has contributed to GEOSS through several

European research projects in preparation for GMES and

has supported the activities of the International Charter

Space and Major disasters. Another substantial contri-

bution towards supporting GEOSS in achieving its goals

in the ‘disaster’ area was the successful launch of the

TerraSAR-X satellite. This was not only the most promi-

nent achievement of the national space program during

2007, it will also be a valuable element of a future ‘virtual

constellation’ for risk management.

The way forward

Numerous projects and systems for observing the state of

the earth system and its changes have been implemented

and are available as contributions to GEOSS. The crucial

first steps for GEO, as well as at the German national level,

involve coordinating the plethora of efforts and ensuring

the long-term availability of the key systems.

The national GEO secretariat has been set up to coor-

dinate EO initiatives across disciplines and organizational

divides, bridging gaps between governmental agencies

and research institutions within Germany. The secretariat

is also responsible for connecting Germany to the inter-

national GEOSS.

The work of the D-GEO secretariat has been largely

successful, and the D-GEO advisory group is making

good progress towards presenting their national imple-

mentation plan. The next challenge will be to broaden

participation in the D-GEO progress to stakeholders of

those SBAs that do not yet make significant use of EO

information, or are unaware of it. Bringing these players

together and agreeing on common requirements for

shared EO systems will constitute a substantial benefit

from GEOSS in Germany.

Building and sustaining these shared systems in

Germany and Europe will remain a national and

European enterprise, though the activities will be coor-

dinated with related activities around the world within

GEOSS. Consequently, working to ensuring the long-

term financing and operation of the European and

German EO systems is the most significant contribution

Germany can offer to GEOSS.

While GEO has helped raise the visibility of these

systems and thereby supported arguments for their

sustained operation or improvement, the main challenges

remain with the owners of the system. Germany has been

working hard to ensure a truly sustainable implementa-

tion of GMES by the European Union and will continue

to do so. We will also continue to maintain national in

situ networks, operate them according to agreed proto-

cols and make data and metadata available through the

national spatial data infrastructure, according to the

provisions of the INSPIRE directive. And while we

continue to support GEO in building GEOSS, we will be

learning to use it in new ways, many of which we may

not even be able to anticipate ourselves yet.

ATIONAL

& R

EGIONAL

EPORTS