The Full Picture

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In order to facilitate implementation of network

improvements specifically in Africa, a meeting was orga-

nized by GCOS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April 2006,

with the meteorological community, the communities

of users of climate information, and potential donors. It

lead to an agreement to launch a ten-year programme

called ‘Climate for Development in Africa’ (ClimDev

Africa), that would focus on improving climate infor-

mation in support of achieving the Millennium

Development Goals.

It received the initial support of the African Union

Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa

and the UK’s Department for International Development,

and a number of countries and agencies have declared

their intention to join. Following these endorsements,

ClimDev Africa is intended to be a fully integrated, user-

driven programme that addresses not only needs for

improved climate observations as expressed in the

GCOS regional action plans, but also needs for climate

services, climate risk management, and associated policy

development and implementation.

GCOS as a component of GEOSS

The GCOS community has been closely involved in the

development of GEOSS since the beginning, and actively

participated in the first Earth Observation Summit in

Washington DC in July 2003. GEOSS basically extends

the GCOS concept of a ‘system of systems’ to a wide

range of societal benefit areas (SBA), which require

timely, high quality long-term global information as a

basis for sound decision making, and in order to better

serve societal needs. The main thrusts of the climate

SBA, ‘understanding, assessing, predicting, mitigating

and adapting to climate variability and change”, are in

great part reflected in the thrusts of GCOS, and it is

natural to consider GCOS as the climate component of

GEOSS. However, as mentioned in GEOSS 10-year

Implementation Plan: ‘the climate has impacts in each

(IPCC), and a range of international programmes or projects that

make use of climate information for societal or economic applica-

tions.

GCOS has more specifically conducted, with the funding of donor

countries, a programme of renovation or establishment of new surface

and upper air observing stations, complemented by technical support

projects in developing regions of the world. The two main atmospheric

GCOS networks are the GCOS Surface Network (GSN) and the GCOS

Upper Air Network (GUAN). Other networks of importance for

climate monitoring, dedicated for example to the measurement of

atmospheric constituents, surface radiative measurements, and hydrol-

ogy related variables have been formally associated with GCOS, and

benefited from GCOS support and expertise. The programme has also

greatly supported the development of the research based ocean observ-

ing system, including the Argo profiling float network (comprising

approximately 3000 floating stations worldwide), with the goal of a

transition into a fully operational network.

With respect to space observation, a close consultation has been

developed with space agencies, under the Committee on Earth

Observation Satellites (CEOS) and the Coordination Group for

Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), and in coordination with the

WMO Space Programme, in order to encourage the development

of the space component of GCOS, along the lines of the IP. A

specific document prepared by GCOS entitled Systematic

Observation Requirements for Satellite-Based Products for Climate

has been presented to the UNFCCC and published in 2006,

serving as a basis for the preparation of a coordinated plan by space

agencies.

Action on national and regional levels is central to the improve-

ment of global observations for climate. The GCOS Regional

Workshop Programme, supported by the Global Environmental

Facility and United Nations Development Programme has since

2000, through the development of regional action plans and follow-

up activities in ten regions worldwide, identified national and

regional needs and deficiencies for climate data, including needs for

assessing climate impacts, conducting vulnerability analyses, and

undertaking adaptation studies. It also has a great impact on capac-

ity building in developing countries.

Muir Glacier (Alaska) in August 1941 and 2004

The global monitoring of glaciers, under the World Glacier Monitoring Service, is one of the numerous types of observations undertaken through GCOS

Source: US National Snow and Ice Data Center, W. O. Field, B. F. Molnia

GEOSS C

OMPONENTS

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BSERVING

YSTEMS