GLOBAL CLIMATE OBSERVING SYSTEM (GCOS)

Description

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Context: According to a declaration released by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) conference, Climate observing system remains fragile and needs financing for strengthening and sustaining it.

Details:

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is a co-sponsored programme which regularly assesses the status of global climate observations and produces guidance for its improvement.
It is co-sponsored by the
- World Meteorological Organization (WMO),
- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO),
- United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), and
- International Science Council (ISC).
GCOS expert panels maintain definitions of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) which are required to systematically observe Earth`s changing climate.
The observations supported by GCOS contribute to solving challenges in climate research and also underpin climate services and adaptation measures.
GCOS conference was hosted by Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT ), from 17-19 October 2022.
Operational monitoring of the climate and detection of global climatic changes are thefundamental objectives of

Findings:

The status of climate observation systems has not improved much in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia since 2015, according to State of Global Observation Systems, 2021.
Africa, South America and South-East Asia urged prioritising advancements in climate observation systems. Prioritisation must also be given to polar and deep ocean observing systems.
There is a need to focus on improving data quality, availability, accessibility and utility. The climate observations are underexploited as the processing of the available data has been inconsistent, the declaration underlined.
More efforts are required to ensure the data is available for reanalysis in an easy-to-use format. Long-term time-series data on climate change is essential to understand and address the existential crisis.
The conference called for access to climate data through global data repositories. In addition, access to climate data must be made free and open.
The climate observations made by national agencies need support along with regional and global coordination, experts said. They called for advancements in local climate change information networks.
GCOS Implementation Plan2022, released by the WMO, also identified gaps in earth observations and areas that require improvement. The plan will be presented at COP27.