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Short Notice Update on Working Group with Member States on Support to Climate Monitoring. Lothar Schüller EUMETSAT. Introduction.
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Short Notice Update on Working Group with Member States on Support to Climate Monitoring Lothar Schüller EUMETSAT
Introduction • During the 52nd PAC and 66th Council meetings, Member States emphasised the importance for EUMETSAT to promote its contribution to Climate Monitoring and provided a set of priorities for implementation. • In a first step, the Secretariat sought agreement from Member States on the remit of EUMETSAT activities in support to Climate Monitoring, and ensures their optimal complementarity with activities developed at European level and in Member States. This approach has been elaborated in line with Article 2 of the EUMETSAT Convention, and based on an analysis of the different categories of climate related satellite products (Data Records) and processes. • As a result, Council adopted at its 67th Meeting in June/July 2009 a Resolution on EUMETSAT Activities in Support to Climate Monitoring, with the following items:
Council Resolution on Climate Monitoring • I: That taking into account the climate-specific requirements in the planning of new programmes including activities of the SAF Network is a specific responsibility of EUMETSAT, and that this constitutes a major contribution of EUMETSAT in support of climate monitoring needs. • II: That the generation of Fundamental Climate Data Records (FCDR) at EUMETSAT’s Central Facility and through its Satellite Application Facility Network should be the main focus of EUMETSAT activities to support climate monitoring. • III: That the generation of Thematic Climate Data Records (TCDR), making best use of the expertise available in the EUMETSAT SAF Network, should be the second focus of EUMETSAT activities in support of climate monitoring. • IV: To encourage all EUMETSAT SAFs to take into account climate monitoring needs in their proposals for the planned SAF CDOP-2 phase. • V: To task the Director-General with the coordination of EUMETSAT’s contribution to climate monitoring at international level with the aim of preserving the visibility, interests and assets of EUMETSAT and of the European Meteorological Infrastructure (EMI). • VI: To task the Director-General with the elaboration and maintenance of an implementation plan covering the activities to be carried out by EUMETSAT in support of climate monitoring, to be reported to the EUMETSAT Council on a regular basis.
Working Group on EUMETSAT’s Activities in Support to Climate Monitor • As was recommended at the 66th Council meeting, during the elaboration of the Implementation Plan, the Secretariat interacted with Member States and international experts to ensure that the proposed activities are also fully complementary with other initiatives in Europe and at the global level. This will be achieved via a Working Group involving Member States to review the different activities. • Key Objective. • to support the Secretariat in the elaboration of an Implementation Plan proposing activities in support to Climate Monitoring at EUMETSAT, in line with the Resolution adopted at the 67th EUMETSAT Council Meeting.
Working Group Approaches and Functions: • The Working Group reviews the draft Implementation Plan prepared by the EUMETSAT Secretariat. • The Working Group seeks inputs and feedback from the relevant users within the EUMETSAT member states to adequately address the different needs and priorities. • The Working Group proposes priorities of the planned activities and data sets to be generated, based on the needs of the EUMETSAT member states and taking into account scientific, technical and programmatic considerations. • The Working Group gives advice and makes recommendations to ensure: • that the EUMETSAT Climate Monitoring Activities will be well integrated into international activities and initiatives as well as activities in the member states. • that the proposed activities are in line with the EUMETSAT Council Resolution. • that the Implementation Plan adequately responds to the needs of the Climate Monitoring user communities as expressed by GCOS. • that the EUMETSAT activities will facilitate the availability of satellite climate data records for re-analyses, climate model evaluation and the use of the satellite records for investigating climate variability and trends.
All EUMETSAT Member States were invited to be represented in the EUMETSAT Climate Monitoring Working Group. The members are listed in the table below: Table 1 Nominated Members of the Working Group on EUMETSAT’s Activities in Support to Climate Monitoring Working Group Composition All EUMETSAT Member States were invited to be represented in the EUMETSAT Climate Monitoring Working Group.
Structure and Initial Elements of the Implementation Plan • The Secretariat drafted a structure and initial elements of an Implementation Plan (responding to Resolution Item VI, EUM/C/67/09/RES/8), proposing a set of activities supporting the execution of the highlighted approach in a coordinated and complementary manner. • This first draft version was provided to the Working Group for review and is also attached as Annex II to this Document.
Outcome of the 1st WG meeting 17 December 2009 • The working group agreed on its Terms of References as presented by the Secretariat and nominated Pirkko Pylkkö (FMI) as the chair of the group. • The Working Group agreed on the principle scope of the Implementation Plan, which should be to document and compile the committed activities of EUMETSAT on support to Climate Monitoring, allowing a proper management, coordination and monitoring and as such to provide a framework of commitments as part of the SAFs, the EUMETSAT Secretariat including the CAF and the Programmes. The IP will make reference to the established EUMETSAT decision processes, e.g. the SAF proposal approval process. It is not intended to establish a new line of decision processes and procedures. • The discussions of the Working Group provided a number of suggestions and ideas that should be considered for the Implementation Plan.
Current status and way forward • The EUMETSAT Secretariat provided in January 2010 an updated draft of the Implementation Plan according to the outcome of the 1st WG meeting. WG members provided comments and inputs. • The EUMETSAT Secretariat working on the IP update based on this contributions, that will be input to the next WG meeting • The next Working Group Meeting is scheduled for 23 March 2010 at EUMETSAT Headquarter in Darmstadt. • Following these two meetings, the EUMETSAT Climate Monitoring Working Group will conclude its tasks and the Implementation Plan will be presented at the next STG Meeting in spring 2010. • An endorsement of the first version of the Implementation Plan is foreseen at the EUMETSAT Council Meeting in June 2010. Following Council decision, a yearly update of the Implementation Plan will be submitted to Council.