Affiliation:
1. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
2. European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
3. NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina
4. Global Climate Observing System Secretariat, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
5. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom
6. University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Abstract
Climate research, monitoring, prediction, and related services rely on accurate observations of the atmosphere, land, and ocean, adequately sampled globally and over sufficiently long time periods. The Global Climate Observing System, set up under the auspices of United Nations organizations and the International Council for Science to help ensure the availability of systematic observations of climate, developed the concept of essential climate variables (ECVs). ECV data records are intended to provide reliable, traceable, observation-based evidence for a range of applications, including monitoring, mitigating, adapting to, and attributing climate changes, as well as the empirical basis required to understand past, current, and possible future climate variability. The ECV concept has been broadly adopted worldwide as the guiding basis for observing climate, including by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), WMO, and space agencies operating Earth observation satellites.
This paper describes the rationale for these ECVs and their current selection, based on the principles of feasibility, relevance, and cost effectiveness. It also provides a view of how the ECV concept could evolve as a guide for rational and evidence-based monitoring of climate and environment. Selected examples are discussed to highlight the benefits, limitations, and future evolution of this approach.
The article is intended to assist program managers to set priorities for climate observation, dataset generation and related research: for instance, within the emerging Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). It also helps the observation community and individual researchers to contribute to systematic climate observation, by promoting understanding of ECV choices and the opportunities to influence their evolution.
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Reference89 articles.
1. Aguilar, E., I.Auer, M.Brunet, T. C.Peterson, and J.Wieringa, 2003: Guidelines on climate metadata and homogenization. WCDMP Tech Doc. 53, WMO Tech. Doc. 1186, 55pp.
2. Evaluation of the ECMWF ocean reanalysis system ORAS4;Balmaseda;Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc.,2013
3. A maturity model for assessing the completeness of climate data records;Bates;Eos, Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union,2012
4. Computing for the Large Hadron Collider;Bird;Ann. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci.,2011
5. State of the climate in 2012;Blunden;Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,2013
Cited by
657 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献