Excerpt from GEOSS *Strategic Plan:
Several new Earth observing satellites, suborbital systems, surface networks, reference sites, and process studies are now producing unprecedented high quality data that have led to major new insights about the Earth-climate system. The United States is now contributing to the development and operation of several global observing systems which collectively attempt to combine the data streams from both research and operational observing platforms to provide for a comprehensive measure of climate system variability and climate change processes. These systems provide a baseline Earth observing system and include: Earth observing satellites; the global component of the Integrated Ocean Observing System; the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization; the Global Ocean Observing System sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; and the Global Terrestrial Observing System sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Coordination of Federal acquisition of climate information, and support for its application, is a required ongoing activity of Federal agencies that participate in the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and the Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP), under the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).

Earth observations are urgently needed by Earth system models. Earth observation models are scientists’ primary tools for: (1) integration of observations into a comprehensive analysis of the climate system; (2) forecasting of the climate system on multiple time/space scales; and (3) simulation of the impact of a particular gap or enhancement of GEOSS. Existing Earth system models (for example, from GFDL, NSIPP, GMAO, NCAR, NCEP, and those of our international partners) are now transitioning to an improved architecture, the Earth System Modeling Framework (see http://www.esmf.ucar.edu/), that will enable improved incorporation of new observations, comparison of multiple models, and testing and validation of new approaches to climate modeling.

Required observed variables include benchmark large-scale climate observations such as the total radiative energy output from the Sun that drives the Earth’s climate system, the Earth’s global average surface temperature, the atmospheric concentration of CO₂ and other atmospheric constituents, as well as climate variables such as precipitation, land use, and land cover, that undergo regional and local changes that have significant environmental and human impacts. In order to meet climate requirements, monitoring systems for climate must adhere to the 10 GCOS climate monitoring principles listed in the CCSP Strategic Plan. For satellite systems, CCSP specifies an additional 10 principles to ensure that observations meet the required stringent standards of calibration and sampling necessary for useful climate applications.

SERVIR Climate Links

• Cimate Change Scenarios
• Cloud Climatology