Towards an Action Plan Three years to mid-Decade

1. Towards an Action PlanThree years to mid-Decade Session P8 2nd GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Workshop August 31 2012

2. Towards an Action Plan • Conveners: Paola Campus, ESF Jay Pearlman, IEEE Panel: Roberto Azzolini Alan Edwards Ells LeDrew Sybil Seitzinger

3. Goal from 2005 Plan • GEO will establish, within 10 years, its system of systems to provide timely data and products for local, national, regional, and international policy makers.

4. Purpose of GEOSS – implementation plan • The purpose of GEOSS is to achieve comprehensive, coordinated and sustained observations of the Earth system, in order to improve monitoring of the state of the Earth, increase understanding of Earth processes, and enhance prediction of the behavior of the Earth system. • GEOSS will meet the need for timely, quality long-term global information as a basis for sound decision making, • Provide a shared, easily accessible, timely, sustained stream of comprehensive data of documented quality, as well as metadata and information products, for informed decision making. [Data Target]

5. SBAs • Reducing loss of life and property from natural and human-induced disasters; • Understanding environmental factors affecting human health and well-being; • Improving management of energy resources; • Understanding, assessing, predicting, mitigating, and adapting to climate variability and change; • Improvingwater resource management through betterunderstanding of the water cycle; • Improving weather information, forecasting, and warning; • Improving the management and protection of terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems; • Supporting sustainableagriculture and combating desertification; • Understanding, monitoring, and conserving biodiversity.

6. SBAs and Targets SBAs • Disasters • Health • Energy • Climate • Water • Weather • Ecosystems • Agriculture • Biodiversity • Targets • Architecture • Data • Capacity Building • Science and Technology • User engagement • Agriculture • Biodiversity • Climate • Risk management • Ecosystems • Energy • Health • Water • Weather

7. GEOSS - Define an ArchitectureIntegrated Solutions (from Technical Plan) • Earth System Models • Oceans • Ice • Land • Atmosphere • Solid Earth • Biosphere Predictions • Earth Science Models • Oceans • Ice • Land • Atmosphere • Solid Earth • Biosphere • Earth Science Models • Oceans • Ice • Land • Atmosphere • Solid Earth • Biosphere Societal Benefits High PerformanceComputing,Communication,& VisualizationStandards &Interoperability Decision Support Assessments (technical)Decision Support Systems PolicyDecisions Decision Support Tools AssessmentsDecision Support Systems Decision Support Tools AssessmentsDecision Support Systems ManagementDecisions DATA • Earth Observation Systems • Remotely-sensed • In situ Monitoring & Measurements remotely-sensed in situ Monitoring & Measurements remotely-sensed in situ Observations On-going feedback to optimize value and reduce gaps

8. Science and policy – what are the challenges? • Scientific policy advice – chief scientist to the UN • or interface science-policy Policy/Society Science. Science. Policy/Society Science. Policy/Society

9. Integrative sustainability concept from the Helmholtz Association (Kopfmüller et al., 2001)

10. Debating Issues – defining actions • Data and Information • Communication • Capacity Building and Education • Strategy

11. Communication • Should GEO expand communication of directions and benefits of GEOSS to communities beyond GEO? • For communication with policy makers, how does GEO do it and does GEO have the right people?

12. Data and Information • To what extent does GEO provide access to decisionable information vs. data? • Should GEO encourage and facilitate the definition and implementation of “essential variables”? • How can insitu measurements be stimulated through GEO in conjunction with integration with remotely sensed observations? What is the role of citizen science data for GEOSS? Observatories of human impacts? • How does GEOSS address quality and timeliness of data? • Does GEO need a set of publically understood indicators and, if so, how are they to be defined? • Data sharing - Free and open access to data should expanded beyond GEO members?

13. Capacity Building and Education • Should we reinvigorate capacity building? • Should we engage the citizen scientists?

14. Strategy Questions • integration of top-down and bottoms-up; where do the two meet? • Should GEO actively and effectively engage social and economic sciences? • What are realistic boundaries - "own what we must and influence what we can” - what should GEO own? • Where does sustainability fit into GEOSS? • Should there be private sector engagement in the current work plan? • interrelation of global and national – how does GEOSS interact?

15. Data and Information 1 • How can insitu measurements be stimulated through GEO in conjunction with integration with remotely sensed observations? What is the role of citizen science data for GEOSS (human Observatories) • Insitu measurements provide an essential component of environmental information. Governments should provide a baseline for calibration of citizen observations. Citizens will both observe and use data. Ocean data is a good example of value of citizen observations. Better tools are required and need funding for both tools and observations. GEO should facilitate government support of insitu observations. Insitu should support real time availability in areas such as air quality water quality –beach- reports leading to personal adaptive management • How does GEOSS address quality and timeliness of data?

16. Data and Information 1 • How can insitu measurements be stimulated through GEO in conjunction with integration with remotely sensed observations? What is the role of citizen science data for GEOSS (human Observatories) • How does GEOSS address quality and timeliness of data? • Quality needs to be understood. GEO can facilitate understanding of quality for non science users. Feedback from users on quality is essential. WORK OF QA4EO, geoviqua, etc should be encouraged and included in GEOSS. The definition of quality needs to be better refined. GEOSS needs to be a facilitator for quality indicators among providers. GEOSS can provide feedback on usability user response

17. Data and information • To what extent does GEOSS provide access to decisionable information vs. data? • While GEOSS does not currently emphasize decision support products, we believe availability of decision support products should be a long term objective of the GEO plan and we should be addressing this in moving forward • Should GEO encourage and facilitate the definition and implementation of “essential variables”? • PROMOTING THE CURRENTLY ENVISIONED VARIABLES IN CLIMATE; OCEANS AND BIODIVERSITY SHOULD BE DONE BY geo; the communities need to make the decisions on. The definition of essential.The relation betrween essential variables and essential Indicators is important and the essential indicators needs to be addresses. In the near term, we should focus on those indicators that support GEO targets. Allow users to drive indicators.

18. Data and Information 2 • Does GEO need a set of publically understood indicators and, if so, how are they to be defined? • Yes – work should begin in the near term. Base indicator development on past research and experience with existing indicators – partciularly at the policy interface. Engage Columbia, Yale and others. Value may be more if use satellite data and would be a fertile area for GEO. • Data sharing - Free and open access to data should expanded beyond GEO members?

19. Communications • Should GEO expand communication of directions and benefits of GEOSS to communities beyond GEO? • For communication with policy makers, how does GEO do it and does GEO have the right people?

20. Capacity Building and Education • Should we reinvigorate capacity building? • Should we engage the citizen scientists?

21. Strategy 1 • What are realistic boundaries - "own what we must and influence what we can” - what should GEO own? • The glue only…synergies with repositories should Be further examined and encourage long term storage and access. Funding of data stewardship is still a significant funding issue and GEO should provide a forum on this subject. GEO can offer policy guidance and coordination at a global level. • Where does sustainability fit into GEOSS?

22. Strategy 2 • integration of top-down and bottoms-up; where do the two meet? • Should (how can) GEO actively and effectively engage social and economic sciences and in what ways? • IPCC recommendation to do this. Important with moving to decision support. For example these are very desirable for citizen observations. The mission of GEOSS is to support decision making and these decisions involve human elements. Can social data repositoriés be part of GEOSS?

23. Strategy 3 • Should there be private sector engagement in the current work plan? • interrelation of global and national – how does GEOSS interact?

24. Strategy 4 • Efforts be made to develop a sense of ownership amongst the users for the GEOSS Targets, with a strengthened role for the CoPs, as an important component of the annual work plan process

25. ACTIONS • stronger involvement of the users, international science programmes, policy and decision makers and industry in the entire workflow of the development of knowledge and products be developed; • capacity building and development of new and existing capacity with respect to the use of knowledge in evidence-based management for both providers and users of EO; • Nurture stronger interactions and partnerships between developed and developing nations