Formulating the UK views on climate observation requirements
The UK is formulating its national response to the GCOS Implementation Plan for the Global Observing System for Climate in Support of the UNFCCC. This report contains specific recommendations - 34 atmospheric, 40 oceanic, 40 terrestrial and 23 cross-cutting actions.
DECC, with the support of the UK-EOF, have undergone a consultation involving many members of the climate science community and are currently formulating the UK response. The consultation which has generated an informed view of each of the 137 recommendations will be made available in early 2012.
Useful information on relevant UK observations:
The 'Research and Systematic Observations' chapter of the UK's 5th National Communication gives a starting point on what's going on in the UK.
A summary of UK Contributions to GCOS was produced in 2008 in the 'UK Report on National Activities with respect to the GCOS Implementation Plan, 2008'.
The UK-EOF catalogue also contains information on observation programmes.
The EUGENE project has recently reviewed climate observations for Europe based on GCOS recommendations. This report summarises the situation and looks specifically at the Essential Climate Variables (ECVs).
