GAW 2016-2023 SIP
FEB 13 2015
Draft 2.2
Annotated Version (with place holder text representing possible
content to build on – which Greg will work on over the next weeks).
There are TWO Action items related to Chapter 2 seeking input at this
time and they are highlighted in RED. Please provide inputs by the last
week of JAN 2015!
Comments are welcomed on all parts as well.
Note: The document (not counting ANNEXs) will be on order 15 – 20 pages, focused on overarching
goals and strategies. The detailed plans of the SAGs/ETs to support the plan will appear in the
ANNEXs, and will be developed/refined after the draft of the SIP (especially Chapter 2).
OUTLINE/STRUCTURE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Rationale and Objectives of GAW
The GAW mission is the: Systematic Global Measurements (Monitoring) of the Chemical
Composition of the Atmosphere; Analysis and Assessment in Support of International
Conventions; and Development of Air Pollution and Climate Predictive Capability.
1.2 GAW in the context of WMO Priorities
The new WMO plan focuses on «Science for service», with key elements: Disaster risk
reduction; Service Delivery including global integrated polar prediction system (GIPPS) and
Global Cyrosphere Watch (GCW); Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS); WMO
Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS), WMO Information System (WIS); and Capacity
development.
1
1. Congress noted the outline of the GAW Implementation plan for the period 2016-2023. It
expressed its satisfaction with the reflection of the WMO priorities within the programme and
noted with pleasure that the programme development is aimed at delivery of better products
and services to Members through cross-cutting application areas.
2. Congress noted with satisfactions that GAW set up an ad-hoc Task Team to review the user
requirements for atmospheric composition observations as well as the needs for satellite
measurements related to atmospheric composition. Congress expressed its satisfaction with the
progress made by this group on review of application areas requiring atmospheric composition
observations. These application areas include atmospheric composition forecasting, monitoring
of the state («health») of the atmosphere and support to environmental protocols and urban
services.
3. Congress noted that the GAW observational network continues to play an important role in
delivery of services to Members related to atmospheric composition. It expressed its gratitude
to the GAW Global stations supporting the GAW Programme for ten or more years. Congress
stressed that multi-component measurements are in line with the new GAW Implementation
Plan. Congress noted that further development of the observational part of the GAW
Programme should be coordinated with the implementation of WIGOS. Congress stressed that
evolution of the observing system should take place to address user requirements utilizing the
RRR process as specified in the proposed update of the Technical Regulations vol. 1 and the
WISOG Manual.
4. Recognising the close links between atmospheric composition and weather and climate and as
part of the implementation of WIGOS, Congress requested Members to consider an extension of
the measurement programme at the meteorological stations in their countries to include
atmospheric composition observations in all thematic areas of GAW. Taking note of the decline
in data submission of several GAW parameters, the Congress reminded Members that timely
data submission is required to deliver services and up-to-date information and urged Members
to submit GAW observational data to the respective data centres as agreed, normally within one
year after the measurement. Congress noted that for many applications data submission is
required in Near Real-Time and requested Members to ensure that observational data are made
available with minimum delay for such kind of applications (e.g. atmospheric composition
forecast verification, observational data assimilation and some others).
5. Congress recognized that the evolution of the observing system in support of application areas
indicated above would require a much better integration between ground based, aircraft and
satellite observations as well as utilization of more complicated modelling tools. Congress
requested Members to contribute with aircraft observations to the GAW Programme using the
quality assurance principles laid down in the programme. Congress encouraged Members
involved in the operation of satellites to take into consideration needs for the observations of
atmospheric composition variables and encouraged them to share observational data with
minimal delays. Congress requested Members to get more actively involved in atmospheric
composition modelling activities coordinated through the GAW Programme to tackle issues like
biomass burning plumes, volcanic ash plumes, sand and dust storms, air quality forecasting and
reanalysis, trend analysis and source attribution.
2
6. Congress noted that changes in atmospheric compositions have numerous two-way links with
agriculture. Congress urged Members to establish joint activities between agrometeorological
activities and GAW activities, especially in the context of food security focus of Global
Framework for Climate Services. Agricultural activities impact atmospheric composition in many
ways, e.g the use of fertilizer is one of the reasons for increasing N2O emissions, which is one of
the important greenhouse gases as well as a potential threat to the stratospheric ozone layer.
Congress requested Members to establish research linking agriculture and atmospheric
composition that can serve as a basis for bio cycle services (we may ask some wording here from
Bob Stefanski)
7. Congress noted the lack of collaboration between aerosol research undertaken in the GAW
Programme and Aeronautical meteorology. Congress stressed that aircraft observations will play
an even more important role in the future. Congress called upon Members to establish better
collaboration between Aeronautical meteorology and atmospheric composition observations,
especially in relation to volcanic ash observations and forecasting. (Aeronautical input)
8. Congress appreciated the publication of the Global Precipitations Chemistry Assessment. During
the work on this assessment in became clear that total deposition is more critical parameter for
understanding biogeochemical cycles than wet deposition alone. Congress encouraged the
Members to take further steps in developing their capacity to observe and models total
atmospheric deposition. Congress supported the recommendation of EPAC SSC to extend the
scope of the GAW Scientific Advisory Group on Precipitation Chemistry to cover total deposition.
Congress agreed with the proposed change of name of this expert group to the Scientific
Advisory Group on Total Atmospheric Deposition. Congress recognised that total deposition is a
critical environmental issue in many parts of the World. Congress stressed that through total
deposition observation and analysis the current research on aerosols and on nutrients
deposition to the ocean through the GESAMP Project can be better linked together to deliver
user relevant information.
9. Congress noted that the implementation of GAW in support of the application areas highlighted
in paragraph 2 would require increased modelling capacity in the programme. Congress agreed
that many issues related to alteration of atmospheric composition are cross-cutting in nature
and require involvement of several thematic groups within GAW. Congress further noted that
many applications, including atmospheric composition forecasting on different time and space
scales require observational data delivered in NRT for forecast verifications. Congress
recognized that efforts to address cross-cutting application areas must be strengthened within
GAW. In this respect Congress supported the recommendation of EPAC SSC to extend the scope
of the GAW Expert Team on Near Real-Time Chemical Data Transfer to cover atmospheric
composition forecasting on regional and global scale. Congress agreed with the name of the
revised group “Expert Team on Atmospheric Composition Forecasting”. Congress noted that this
expert team would be the proper element of the GAW organizational structure to address the
issues related to air quality at regional and global scales, sand and dust storms, biomass
emission estimates in NRT to support air quality, transport of bio aerosols, fluxes of greenhouse
gases as well as weather and emergency applications.
(I am not sure that this is a good group for second application areas (re-analysis and conventions) – as
this is done through the SAGs)
3
10. Congress noted the Implementation Plan for the Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information
System (IGIS). Congress agreed that such a system can serve for an independent assessment of
reported greenhouse gas emissions. As greenhouse gases have direct impact on climate, IGIS
implementation will support GFCS. Congress was pleased with efforts of Canada in support of
IGIS through establishment of 11 new stations for GHG observations. Congress especially
pointed out that a substantial part of Canada is in the polar region and such network
development is crucial for early detection of the biogeochemical cycle alterations in polar
regions. Congress appreciated the development of the GHG observational network in Brazil,
which covers the Amazon basin – also a critical area for understanding of the global carbon
cycle. Congress noted that IGIS will become an important tool in view of the climate
negotiations taking place in Paris in 2015. In this context Congress adopted Resolution ( )
11. Congress recognized that aerosol observations and analysis are critical for climate and human
health. Congress appreciated the efforts toward development of an Integrated Global Aerosol
Observation System. Congress noted that this system should address observational gaps,
standardization of measurement methods and data archiving protocols, improvement of data
quality and the data delivery/data management system to serve multiple users. Congress
encouraged Member to improve their capacity in aerosol observations and analysis. Congress
recommended better integration of regional and national aerosol networks in the GAW
Programme. Congress further recommended that this activity should foster aerosol-related
process studies, satellite validation, model development and validation, assimilation of
observational data into operational models, and the creation of a comprehensive aerosol
climatology on a global scale in collaboration with WWRP and WCRP. Congress appreciated
developments of the GAW Lidar Observational Network (GALION) especially in support of
volcanic ash observation and verification of satellite products. Congress further recommended
that Members continue lidar observations of aerosols and extend regional networks.
12. The Congress acknowledged, in view of the IPCC AR5 report, the importance of aerosols and
reactive gases (NOx, VOCs, tropospheric ozone) as short-lived climate forcers/pollutants
(SLCFs/SLCPs). It urged Members to establish reactive gas observation stations, to join the GAW
Programme and to share their data for use in global assessments. The Congress noted that
WMO has an opportunity to participate in several initiatives of the Climate and Clean Air
Coalition (CCAC), though limited to specific initiatives, and to nominate a person for the roster
of the Scientific Advisory Panel. Recognizing that GAW can provide atmospheric composition
information relevant for observing the mitigation of SLCFs, that the observations for these are
not satisfactory currently and that there could be benefits for GAW if fuller collaboration
existed, the Council recommended for WMO to seek to become a Partner in CCAC and to
endorse the Framework Document of the Coalition
(http://www.unep.org/ccac/Portals/50162/docs/Framework_for_the_Climate_and_Clean_Air_
Coalition_Dec_2012.pdf), further noting that, e.g., UNDP, UNIDO, WHO, the World Bank and
European Commission are partners. (I do not know what is our status on that, also taken from
EC doc)
13. Congress noted with appreciation the arrangement by the WMO Secretariat in collaboration
with the Ozone Secretariat (UNEP) of the 9th Meeting of the Ozone Research Managers of the
Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, which took place in
Geneva in May 2014. The Ozone Research Managers agreed on a number of recommendations
pertaining to research needs, systematic observations, capacity development and data archiving
4
and stewardship. Congress encouraged the Members to take note of these recommendations.
Congress also noted with satisfaction that the Vienna Convention Trust Fund for Research and
Systematic Observations was prolonged until the end of 2020 at the Conference of the Parties to
the Vienna Convention that took place in Paris in November 2014. Congress urged the Members
to contribute to this Trust Fund since these funds are used to maintain the high quality of the
ozone observations performed at GAW stations and to arrange training workshops for station
personnel.
14. Congress took note of the publication of the WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone
Depletion and stressed the importance of long term continuous time series of total ozone as
well as profile ozone for the detection and attribution of ozone recovery during coming decades.
Congress urged the Members to maintain their observations of stratospheric ozone and other
parameters of relevance to the ozone depletion problem.
15. UV moved focus of health effects
16. The Congress recognized that quality assurance and control (QA/QC) of the observational data
constitutes one of the corner stones of the high quality products delivery. The Congress
requested Members to implement the WMO Quality Management Framework (WMO-No. 1100)
for atmospheric composition measurements. The Congress appreciated efforts of Members that
support GAW Central Facilities in their countries. Congress noted the increasing cooperation
with BIPM and appreciated involvement of GAW community in BIPM activities through joint
workshops and projects.
17. Congress noted with appreciation a number of important publications coordinated by the GAW
Programme. Congress expressed its satisfaction with the timely publications of the annual
Greenhouse gas Bulletin that provides information for policy makers on the state of the
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere before the meeting of the parties of the UNFCCC. Congress
appreciated the publication of the WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletins during the Antarctic ozone
hole season and urged all Members that carry out observations in and around Antarctica to
provide data in near-real time for use in these Bulletins. Congress noted publications of the
Aerosol Bulletin. Congress recommended that more publication in support of application areas
are delivered by the GAW Programme. Congress requested that observations and analysis
implemented within the GAW Programme are better communicated. Congress further
supported the idea of the regular cross-cutting publication on the state of the atmospheric
composition (“health of the atmosphere”).
18. Congress appreciated the efforts on capacity development and collaboration activities by USA,
Germany, France and Finland, especially in relation to observational capacity building in South
America and Africa. Congress noted with a special satisfaction the contribution of Switzerland in
the global observational capacity development through CATCOS projects that helps to fill in the
gaps in observational network and increases the knowledge of several Member countries on
how to detect and address environmental issues related to atmospheric composition change.
19. Congress expressed its appreciation to efforts of Germany in support of the GAW Training and
Education Center (GAWTEC) for more than 10 years. Congress recognized that this training plays
5
an important role in the building the technical expertise in the countries and in establishing
international networking. Congress encouraged Members who do have a potential for
collaboration to undertake partnership projects with individual countries to help establish the
observational capacity in less developed countries.
20. Congress noted that stronger collaboration should be developed between GAW and WWRP in
addressing cross-cutting applications. Congress stressed that development of meteorological
models can benefit substantially to atmospheric composition modelling especially in the cases of
addressing high impact weather and related pollution episodes. S2S projects can be useful for
establishment of the similar time scale forecasting of biomass burning. Congress encouraged
(computational centres of large capacity and experience) to get involved in BB forecasting and
(consider potential hosting?)
21. Congress noted that example of collaborations between WWRP and GAW in the Sand and Dust
Storm forecasting systems should be considered while developing Biomass Burning services.
Furthermore Congress noted that observational requirements of SDS verification should be
reflected in the GAW observational network development.
22. The Congress recognized that the rapid urbanization that is currently taking place will require
new types of services making best use of science and technology. The Congress noted that city
services will heavily rely on high resolution coupled environmental prediction models that will
include realistic city specific processes, boundary conditions and fluxes of energy and physical
properties. New observational systems focused on the urban environment will also be required,
as will be data sharing between institutions, and skill and capacity to make best use of latest
technologies, to produce services in the challenging and rapidly evolving city environment. The
Congress acknowledged that these services will assist cities in facing hazards such as storm
surge, flooding, heat waves, and air pollution episodes. The Congress concedes that integrated
urban services will be provided through urban cross-cutting activity, Integrated Urban Weather,
Environment and Climate Service. The Congress recommended that the climate service needs
for megacities and large urban complexes be considered as a priority in GFCS.
23. The congress recognized that GAW Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME)
projects provides an important contribution to urban services. Noting that GURME is actively
involved with WHO, the Council recommended that GURME enhance this co-operation by colocating city projects with WHO to provide further information to address this issue.
24. More cross-cutting activities with WWRP are reflected in the joint document
25. Congress endorsed the GAW Programme description as given in the Annex to this paragraph and
adopted Resolution (…..) that reflects the major aspects of the GAW Programme.
1.3 GAW in the context of CAS Priorities
Need to reflect priority areas identified by CAS-16, which identified six emerging areas: high
impact weather; water; Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System (IG3IS);
aerosols; urbanization; and new technologies, including geo/climate engineering.
6
GURME – Vision Paper in advance of Congress 16 and WMO SIP 2016-20??
Preamble
GURME is held as an example within the GAW programs for providing the means to a service and the
services themselves through its partners and projects. GURME has been successful in bringing the
concepts of real-time prediction to the international community and build a capacity in different part of
the world that is adapted to their means. The level of complexity varies from forecasting the transport
of CO as an indicator for other pollutants to full-scale 3D in-line chemical/transport models integrated
within advanced dissemination systems. In doing so, GURME has encouraged where feasible research
projects to further advance the field, such as the data assimilation project with CMA building on China’s
rapidly advancing satellite capacity.
In the next strategic plan for WMO, GURME is called upon to be a major player in the development of
urban services. To rise to the challenge, GURME will need to refocus its activities. Building on its
strengths in predictions, forecasting and assimilation, GURME is well placed to coordinate reviews in the
current state of science in urban-scale forecasting and associated monitoring and establish activities
where gaps exist. Given the integrative nature of modelling, the on-going scientific trend towards
seamless predictions and the evolution of technology, GURME also has an opportunity to leverage and
actively engage other WMO advisory and working groups within WWRP, GAW and the rest of its
organisation, to address this complex and multidisciplinary challenge.
Vision & main thrusts
GURME is evolving to be a major coordinator and facilitator of integrated forecasting projects for the
urban environment, building on its experience and strengths in air quality and health. It will center its
activities on those research questions/issues that transcend disciplines and require leveraging a broader
community to develop improved forecasting concepts and tools to resolve complex urban environments
at increasing scales; through this process, it expects to support the implementation of derived services.
While megacities will continue to receive particular attention, GURME pledges to orient its research to
cover the full array of urban environments that are key to the broader scientific question of urban-scale
modelling.
Recognizing that the dynamic, physical and chemical processes governing the urban environment are
highly interconnected, GURME will contribute actively to numerical modelling and data assimilation
efforts focuses on integrated/coupled models and the seamless representation of processes, harnessing
research that occurs outside the conventional forecasting time-scale.
GURME will continue to nurture its engagement with the health community as the main partner in
assessing the needs, evaluating the benefits and communicating resulting services to society within
these urban environments.
Finally GURME will seek to build capacity through its research projects, identifying those environments
that constitute gaps in the overall directions of the GURME program.
7
1.4 Implementation Principles 2016-2023
To be added
2
RESEARCH ENABLING SERVICES
The high level theme is “GAW research enabling services”. The document needs to
identify the overarching research foci, application areas and products and services.
The SSC brainstormed ideas and initially identified services including: climate, high
impact weather, urban (air quality/health), ecosystems, and support of conventions. A
summary after the SSC meeting of the areas discussed and the relation of the GAW
SIP to the WMO Science to Service (S2S) focus are presented below. The diagram,
identifying research areas and the accompanying application/service areas (to be
modified to reflect subsequent discussions), provides a possible way to focus the SIP.
8
GURME activities result largely in the establishment of air quality numerical prediction systems which
serve as the basis for health-related prediction services. There are both growing needs and growing
potential to cover other environmental conditions (such as heat stress, pollen conditions, disease
potential indices at some latitudes…). In the urban environment where complexities grow rapidly with
the size of the city, there is a strong potential through prediction capacity to contribute to the
management of emergency situations (caused for example by smoke plumes from forest, industrial or
accidental fires).
Numerical systems are also becoming the tools of choice to integrate data from multiple and diverse
sources and produce consistent and continuous (in all three dimensions) information in real-time on the
state of the atmosphere or more broadly the biosphere. It opens many new approaches for research
and applications from exposure research to smart monitoring systems to real-time pollution or health
management.
GURME’s research will be targeted at paving the way for existing services to improve in coverage
and accuracy and for new ones to emerge where demand is expressed or societal gains foreseen;
linkages will be established and consolidated with partners within WMO and elsewhere to deliver
the predictive capacity and build the derived suite of services
2.1 Application areas
The document needs to reflect on all the applications of importance such as those related to weather,
climate and ecosystem services. The WIGOS/WMO level application areas that have been identified are
given by the three below. A list of the other WIGOS/WMO applications are also listed.
Forecasting Atmospheric Composition (F) – Covers applications from global to regional scales (with
horizontal resolutions similar to global NWP (~ 10 km and coarser) with stringent timeliness
requirements (NRT) to support operations such as sand and dust storm and chemical weather
forecasts.
9
Analysis and Monitoring of Atmospheric Composition (M) - Covers applications related to
evaluating and analyzing changes (temporally and spatially) in atmospheric composition regionally
and globally to support treaty monitoring, climatologies and re-analyses, assessing trends in
composition and emissions/fluxes, and to better understand processes, using data of controlled
quality (and with less stringent time requirements (not needed in NRT)), and used in products such
as Ozone and Greenhouse Gas Bulletins, and State/Health of the Atmosphere reports.
Providing Atmospheric Composition information to support services in urban and populated areas
(U) - Covers applications that target limited areas (with horizontal resolution of a few km or smaller
and stringent timeliness requirements to support services related to weather/climate/pollution,
such as air quality forecasting. (The GURME SAG will review all related entries)
The WIGOS/WMO application areas are given below.
High-resolution numerical weather prediction (HRNWP)
Nowcasting and very short range forecasting (NVSRF)
Seasonal and inter-annual forecasting (SIAF)
General weather forecasting
Aeronautical meteorology
Atmospheric chemistry
Ocean applications
Agricultural meteorology
Hydrology
Climate monitoring (as undertaken through the Global Climate
Observing System, GCOS)
Climate applications
Space weather
Cryosphere applications
Energy sector
Transportation sector (not endorsed yet)
Health sector (not endorsed yet)
Terrestrial ecology (not endorsed yet)
Operational air quality forecasting
Atmospheric composition forecasting (GAW leads)
Atmospheric composition monitoring and analysis (GAW leads)
Large urban complexes (lead yet determined)
1- Application areas
It is foreseen that GURME activities will deliver capacity in the following areas of applications:
- forecasting of atmospheric composition for health services;
- forecasting of related atmospheric conditions for health services, in particular in the urban
environment;
- real-time integrated monitoring of atmospheric composition (analyses).
10
These areas align well with the two of the areas of applications defined for GAW observations, namely:
- Forecasting Atmospheric Composition (F) – Covers applications from global to regional scales
(with horizontal resolutions similar to global NWP (~ 10 km and coarser) with stringent
timeliness requirements (NRT) to support operations such as sand and dust storm and chemical
weather forecasts.
- Providing Atmospheric Composition information to support services in urban and populated
areas (U) - Covers applications that target limited areas (with horizontal resolution of a few km
or smaller and stringent timeliness requirements to support services related to
weather/climate/pollution, such as air quality forecasting.
Note: The GURME SAG has been tasked to review all related entries to the later (U) area.
GURME will benefit from access and advancements in the GAW network in the two areas highlighted
above. It will also play an instrumental role in collaborating with the observation leads to further the
concepts of real-time analyses and derived products.
2.2 Products/services
ACTION ITEM #1. SAGs/ETs/SSC please provide your inputs into the overarching focus
areas (including application areas) for GAW and the types of products and services.
These will drive the SIP.
Specifically what do you think are the overarching priority focus areas and envisioned
applications, products and services?
==================From SAG PC ===========================================
Comment 1: The field of air pollution has always been focused on human health
endpoints, yet “human health” does not appear in this document.
Comment 2: A major task of the SAG TAD in the coming year is to set a framework for
the deposition program, and try to integrate between the SAGs. There is certainly also a
need for integration between measurement and modelling activities, which will be more
and more important in the future. One important product, which is frequently requested,
is benchmark datasets -as the one the SAG produced for the Global Assessment.
Comment 3: An overarching priority focus is to induce/stimulate the scientific
community to maximize the geographic coverage of the atmospheric observations
(physical and chemical observations) in such a way to cover all areas of application.
Namely, to induce the globalization of observations, adapting to regional needs and
seeking ways to minimize the limitations (instrumental and human resources).
See Action Item #2. Some comments there fit here as well.
11
From UV SAG
Nowcasting and very short range forecasting (NVSRF) Some NMI
and other institutions provide daily UVI and few-days UVI
forecast for their sites. Users: General Public, Welfare government
agencies, Broadcast stations, TV stations, Newspapers.
Seasonal and inter-annual forecasting (SIAF) The above-mentioned
institutions provide climatological, seasonal, etch, UVI for their
sites. Users: General Public, Welfare government agencies,
Medical and Epidemiological studies.
Climate monitoring (as undertaken through the Global Climate
Observing System, GCOS) UV data to determine trends at some
stations, not all of them due to instruments specifications as
stablished in GAW Report No 198. Users: Welfare government
agencies, Medical and Epidemiological studies.
Health sector (not endorsed yet) UVI daily and short term forecast
(erythema). UV effective radiation, climatologies and future trends
(skin cancer, vitamin D, immunological diseases, etch).
Terrestrial ecology (not endorsed yet) Some studies have shown
changes in species competition with high UV levels. Then, UV
values may be of interest for terrestrial ecology.
While addressing the research barriers to advance the predictive capacity at increasing resolutions, and
in the urban context in particular, GURME will endeavour to encourage in its projects the development
and testing of derived services. The products themselves would take the form of forecasts, alerts and
warnings and/or real-time/NRT maps or databases.
Embedding such products in dissemination systems in a form that is well suited for large or targeted
audiences is key; the linkages benefit from being created early on as the predictive capacity emerges.
For GURME this means forging stronger collaboration with CBS within WMO and facilitating the
inclusion of individuals with responsibilities similar to CBS in the home institutions piloting the projects.
2.3 Major new initiatives/Overarching/cross cutting strategies…..
While much has been accomplished over the past 25 years, GAW will continue to evolve in
response to societal needs for meteorological and environmental services to reduce risks from
high impact weather (including air pollution) and to mitigate and adapt to our changing climate.
These services will continue to move towards user driven products that require integrated
observing and prediction systems.
The future will build upon the GAW measurement networks, which provide long-term “climatequality” data on trends and spatial distributions of a variety of important chemical and climate
parameters. The comprehensive/global atmospheric chemical information provided by GAW will
continue to be used in a wide variety of applications including their use to calculate changes in
radiative forcing since the pre-industrial era, to constrain budgets of emissions and losses at
global to regional spatial scales, to verify bottom-up emission inventories and process models,
and in analysis and assessments, among others
12
GAW data will also play a growing role in support of advanced numerical weather prediction
and climate models that include interactions among meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, air
quality, and radiation on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, and the further
development of warning networks for long-range tracking of intense, episodic events (e.g.,
volcanoes, sand/dust storms, wildfires, nuclear accidents).
GAW surface based observations will also continue to aid the validation of retrievals of
distributions from satellite radiance measurements. This use will become of increasing
importance as the space based observing system evolves and as the assimilation of satellite
retrievals of aerosols and trace gases in weather forecast systems grows. Services will also
continue to expand to support “large-urban complexes”, which requires expanded efforts to
evolve the GAW networks to these smaller scales, and to extend collaborations across a
spectrum of organizations and authorities (e.g., public health, city planners, …).
To meet these demands increased efforts will be directed to: i) encouraging and supporting the
use of GAW data for global and regional scale model evaluation; ii) improving observational
systems to allow near real-time provision of GAW data for data assimilation; and iii) supporting
the scientific and technical integration of surface, vertical profile, and column datasets from
different platforms to provide a unified understanding of aerosol and gas distributions.
These activities will need to be accompanied by enhanced database architectures allowing for
improved metadata exchange and interoperability, and to promote and facilitate the near-real
time delivery of data.
Efforts will be made to minimize gaps (including both geographic and species/parameter
coverage) in the in-situ measurement networks at the Earth’s surface and vertical profiles,
particularly in data-poor regions like the tropics, climate and pollution-sensitive regions like the
Arctic, and other regions where observations are used to verify compliance with emissionreduction treaties.)
Advance observations and analysis of chemical constituents of the atmosphere and UV
radiation to help reduce environmental risks to society from high-impact weather and air
pollution, and to mitigate the impacts of, and adapt to, changing climate.
Continue to improve observational systems and data processing to:


allow near real-time provision of GAW data,
support integration of surface, vertical profile and column datasets from different
platforms to provide a unified understanding of aerosol and gas distributions,
13

minimize gaps in the measurement networks in data-poor, ecosystem-sensitive,
industrial and agricultural developing regions,
 support the service needs of megacities and large urban complexes, and
 track trends and support conventions and assessments.
In addressing those priorities, GAW can contribute for example:






Through observations, analysis and prediction of pollution episodes due to extreme
weather events, like heat waves, or forest fires
Through information on short-lived climate forcers in polar regions (including aerosol)
Through megacities activities addressed by GAW and building upon GURME
Through global observations of long-lived greenhouse gases and aerosols, that can be
used as a tool for climate mitigation, which goes together with adaptation
Through integration of different spatial and temporal scales that can be considered as a
contribution to WIGOS
Through long term observations and analysis of UV radiation and determining
parameters (clouds, aerosols, ozone), in order to forecast future levels and contribute to
mitigate health and ecosystems detrimental effects.

In a view of the WMO priorities, a GAW strategy for 2016-2019 should cover the
following aspects:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
User driven products: on Air Quality, deposition, UV, dust including volcanic ash, climate,
NWP including seasonal weather forecasts, atmospheric chemical input to marine
environment
Towards “one chain”: Research driven and operational observations, model
development and application, and services
Core GAW activity: Doing Good Observations, not only collecting others’
Policy facilitation: through Air Quality regulations, environmental conventions (e.g.
CLRTAP), GFCS, IPCC, new global/regional alliances, and fewer parallel processes in the
technical activities underpinning policies
Data stewardship: through WIS (WIGOS) and user-data provider interaction
Foster country contributions to research, infrastructure, education, institutional building
Management structure should be through community of practice.
The priorities for the GAW Programme development were discussed by the participants.
In response to the question of “THE priority”, Prof. Hov stressed that background
observations is a unique feature of the GAW Programme and it must be preserved as
well as attempt should be made to consider where those observations can be moved to
services. He also stressed that regional networks (that a capable of detecting pollution
14
episodes) should be encouraged to join GAW and implement its Quality Assurance
principles.
•
•
•
The participants also requested if the principle «Science for service» refers to scientific
or commercial services. Prof. Hov explained that WMO works to address user needs, so
the services are user driven. Redundancy of activities should be avoided. The general
evolution of the system should be aligned with the changing user requirements. For
example, meteorological data is a public good, but funding is needed to provide it,
hence specific information should be priced.
The GAW Symposium 2013 meeting report also has a summary from the breakout
groups will be integrated into the SIP. The breakout groups were: Communication and
outreach; QA/QC and Rolling Review of Requirements Current socio-economical and
policy priorities and sustainability and expansion of networks; and Integrated use of
observations
Most recent input from SAGs et al.,
•
•
•
•
•
- What sets GAW apart from other research-driven observing programs are the notions
of long-term, known quality observations primarily in very remote areas or at least in
areas reasonably spared from local influence. That is what GAW contributors are proud
of, that is where their commitment originates, that is what needs to be protected.
- We need to strengthen (and speak about) our service-orientation. I think the recent
IGAC meeting demonstrated nicely that GAW contributes a lot to integrating global
atmospheric chemistry and climate observations. It is not always clear who benefits
who. GAW doesn't provide the funding to do observations per se, yet without GAW, I
am convinced many of the long-term observations would not have been taken up. At
the very least, I think GAW can claim some stewardship. If our WDCs and contributing
regional or program data centres can be integrated with GAWSIS and OSCAR, and if we
can develop these applications to provide one-stop-shops to harmonized metadata (and
eventually, by way of links, data), WMO and GAW will continue to provide useful
services.
- This vision of further integration needs the strong commitment by SSC and the
Secretariat. As an ET, we can only facilitate interoperability by improving standards and
by giving guidance, but we cannot push this other networks to buy into GAW.
- I personally believe it makes a lot of sense to increase the efforts to engage regional
networks more formally as contributing networks for the mutual benefit of both these
networks and GAW. This includes in particular EMEP and AERONET.
- WMO/MeteoSwiss are building OSCAR to integrate metadata of all meteorological and
climatological (incl. hydrological and oceanic) observations in one place. This is a major
undertaking under WIGOS. GAW(SIS) will also be part of this database. At present,
15
GAWSIS integrates WOUDC, WDCGG, WDCA and WRDC, as well as (parts of) EMEP.
BSRN will also be integrated. With several other contributing networks, there is not yet
any automated metadata exchange. And then there are networks that are active in the
"realm" of GAW that have not formally agreed to contribute at all, but that are critical to
display a global picture (e.g., AERONET). WMO-GAW should boost efforts to bring them
on board.
•
•
•
One general comment. Historically the SAG UV has been attached to ozone, but at
present, and future, other factors affecting UV are becoming more important, as
consequence of climate change. In the past, the concern about UV increases related to
ozone decreases was the main driver. At present, UV research is oriented to the study of
the effect of other factors, in addition to ozone. This is reflected by the fact that UV is
no longer part of the WMO/UNEP Ozone Assessment and a more comprehensive
chapter is now available in the UNEP Environmental Effects of Ozone Depletion and its
Interactions with Climate Change. Then, new objectives are directed to consequence of
climatological variations in parameters affecting UV, such as cloud cover and types,
earth reflectivity (albedo), aerosols, etch, resulting in an improvement in cross cutting
activities with other SAGs.
In light of the current state of the science, the SAG TAD (formerly SAG PC) will expand
into the areas of dry and total deposition, particularly as they relate to the transport
and fate of acidifying and oxidizing species, nutrient cycling, and climate forcers. The
SAG TAD will also work with regional organizations and programmes, such as the
Deposition of Biogeochemically Important Trace Species (DEBITS), in order to increase
spatial coverage of long-term global precipitation chemistry monitoring sites in
scientifically important locations (e.g., background areas, areas of increasing
anthropogenic emissions, areas of extreme ecosystem sensitivity, areas experiencing
rapid temperature change, and urban areas).
ACTION ITEM #2. SAGs/ETs/SSC please provide your inputs into the overarching new
initiatives/cross cutting strategies. These will drive the SIP.
Specifically what do you think are overarching new initiatives/cross cutting strategies
that GAW should concentrate on?
=====================From SAG PC=====================================
Comments:
Concerning overarching initiatives and crosscutting strategies… The new SAG TAD will
have to work closely with Aerosol and RG SAGS to improve estimates of dry and total
deposition and to determine the influence of new industrial and agricultural emissions
areas on ecosystem and human health. Relevant products and services include the
provision of basic tools necessary to support Air Quality Forecasting and critical loads.
16
A comment I received from one SAG member states: Since the data posted on the web
sites of contributing regional networks (e.g. NADP, EMEP, etc.) are typically 8 months to
a year+ old, perhaps the most useful product we can provide is a quality-assured global
data set for use in evaluating (1) spatial and temporal trends, (2) source-receptor
relationships and how these change on temporal and secular timescales, and (3) model
estimates. A goal might be to work closely with a modeler or team of modelers interested
in recurring measurement-model evaluations. These evaluations could be used to
prioritize measurement needs, that is to identify where measurement-model differences
are largest and of greatest potential importance and where measurements are needed to
ascertain the cause/source of these differences. Measurements, complemented by
verified model output, offers the best alternative for confirming the effect of emissions
on atmospheric composition and deposition. Note: It has been proposed to add a
modeler to SAG TAD meetings, perhaps as an expert or as a member.
In terms of applications for near-real-time effects of dust storms, volcanic eruptions,
tropical storms, etc., The SAG PC is not well placed to contribute to these efforts.
Contributing regional networks on the other hand, may be able to observe and report on
these effects on their respective web sites; and we continue to maintain links to these
sites. Ultimately if resources permit, we could generate retrospective analyses of the
effects of these events, but for now, it seems unlikely
Joint activities, like documents production and data exchange, with health and ecosystems
organizations and groups will be encourage. Implementing GAW data exchange in more friendly
formats for medical and biological communities would help to improve cross cutting.
• Modelling research in support of above
•
•
•
Numerical models are the basis of GURME’s strategy. It is therefore critical for GURME to foster
the research initiatives and collaborations that advance its goals. In the context of the urban
environment, this means, amongst other, facilitating the convergence of interests in improving
the modelling of the planetary layer with the sub-kilometer scale meteorology community,
fostering the emerging joint research in micro-physics and radiation, supporting the crossdiscipline initiatives to represent surface characteristics, and continuing to contribute to the
development of coupled meteorology/chemistry modelling systems and understanding the role
and importance of interactions at different temporal and spatial scales.
GURME will seek the appropriate expertise and engagement with the WWRP working group as
well as the broader community internationally. As capacity grows, GURME will consider to
explore opportunities for model intercomparisons under pilot and demonstration projects
and/or under WGNE.
Implementation
•
Major new initiatives
• Development of joint initiative(s) with Joint Mesoscale/Nowcasting WWRP working
group to advance urban scale modelling for weather and environmental prediction
17
•
•
•
Assessment of observation needs to advance urban research and predictions,
including:
• State of knowledge and lessons learned from the last 20 years of
research with a comprehensive look across meteorology and air quality
• What is missing to develop and evaluate prediction systems for the
urban environment and deriving a set of recommendations
Establishing a community of practice that builds on existing efforts in weather/air
quality/climate targeting the urban environment
• Facilitate the sharing of urban scale geophysical information
Foster a urban scale integrated pilot (Tokyo 2020?) with WWRP to advance integrated
high-resolution modelling in urban environment.
•
Overarching/cross cutting strategies
• Participation in integrated modelling initiatives and intercomparisons (CCMM
symposium, WGNE aerosol project, IWAQFR….)
• Establish/consolidate dialogue with health community with engagement of appropriate
GAW SAGs and TF.
•
Enabling elements
• Data management
• Does this applies to GURME?
ET-WDC reviewed the draft 2016-2023 GAW SIP. A suggested overarching theme from a data
centre perspective is the requirement for enhanced access and use of GAW data. The ETWDC has begun exploring strategies for meeting these requirements with a focus on enhancing
interoperability and delivering of data in near-real time.
Interoperability and Geospatial

Implement standards (OGC, ISO, WMO…) based data services
o A Web service is a method of communications between two electronic devices
over the World Wide Web. It is a software function provided at a network address
over the web with the service always on as in the concept of utility computing (on
demand).
 Catalog Service for the Web (CSW) - catalogue of geospatial records
 A Web Map Service (WMS) - georeferenced map images
 Web Feature Service Interface Standard (WFS) – discovery, query or
data transformation operations
o Users can dynamically mix and match Web services to perform complex
transactions with minimal programming

Develop standards based file formats for users who want to access GAW data files
18
o
o
o
o
Vector - OGC observations and Measurements standard (O&M)…XML
Raster – NetCDF, HDF, GeoTIFF
Station / Sensor Metadata – SensorML
Adopt metadata standards of the WMO Information System (WIS) and the WMO
Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) for improved interoperability

GAW data policy, citation rules and practice including doi application to better serve data
users

Reach out to existing long-term data centres outside the WDCs and integrate them in
GAW data management (not all “GAW data” are archived by WDCs)

Support development and use of common vocabularies
Near-real time delivery

Work with SAGs and data contributors to implement equipment and software at the sites
to transmit data in near-real time

WDCs to build software to convert files to standard file formats and to share on
GTS/WIS

WDCs can provide better feedback to laboratories and QA/SACs to support their
improvement of data quality.

GAW aims at collaborating with national, regional, and international networks operating
station infrastructures (e.g. US EPA, EC, UNECE EMEP) to facilitate near-real-time data
submission and dissemination.
DRAFT TEXT FOR INCLUSION IN THE GENERAL SUMMARY
WCRP, WWRP and GAW Joint Research
19
4.3(5).1
Congress acknowledged the existence of a number of joint research activities between the
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and, the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme and
the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP), both under the Commission for Atmospheric
Sciences (CAS), to address the complex feedbacks between atmospheric composition, and weather and
climate processes. Congress strongly encouraged the Programmes and CAS to explore further
integration of their objectives and programmatic components where applicable.
Working Group on Numerical Experimentation
4.3(5).2
Congress recognized the role of the Working Group on Numerical Experimentation (WGNE)
to foster cooperation on model development and model evaluation across time scales between CAS and
WCRP. Congress noted the importance of the WGNE project led by the Environment Canada and
focussing on the treatment of surface drag in models to compare the parameterized and physics
components of modelled surface stress. The WGNE aerosol project, led by Centro de Previsão de Tempo
e Estudos Climáticos (CPTEC) in Brazil, to evaluate aerosols impacts on weather and climate predictions,
and the grey zone project to evaluate model capabilities at the 1-10 km resolution range are two further
important WGNE research areas aimed at improving models and predictions. The Congress encouraged
Regional and Global NWP centres to actively participate in these WGNE activities.
4.3(5).3
Congress noted with satisfaction the progress made by the WGNE Madden-Julian Oscillation
(MJO) Task Force in the six sub-projects on: process-oriented diagnostics and metrics; boreal summer
monsoon intraseasonal variability; the analysis of CMIP5 model capabilities on intraseasonal variability;
the vertical structure of the MJO and diabatic processes; air-sea interactions; and the MJO over the
Maritime Continent.
4.3(5).4
Recognizing the importance of the two-way interaction between atmospheric composition
and weather/climate processes, congress solicited WCRP and CAS to further fully integrate GAW
research on atmospheric composition into the work of WGNE. Congress supported the idea to establish
a dedicated task force on seamless/coupled meteorology-chemistry modelling within WGNE.
4.3(5).5
Congress particularly recognized the importance of land-surface interactions with
atmospheric chemistry, and encouraged the development of appropriate coupled models designed for
short-term weather and climate studies. Congress encouraged WGNE to foster the development of a
seamless prediction system for this topic in close coordination with WWRP and WCRP and GAW.
Congress supported the idea that a first research priority could be on biomass burning and wild fires
prediction and on the development of pre-operational products.
20
How will the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP)
and the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme
collaborate together?
The WWRP background.
Three main legacy projects pursue and extend the THORPEX scientific objectives and
promote the development of a Seamless Prediction of the Earth System from minutes to
months, namely: i) the High-Impact Weather (HIWeather) Project; ii) the Sub- seasonal to
Seasonal Prediction Project (S2S), a joint initiative between the World Weather Research
Program (WWRP) and the World Climate Research Program (WCRP); iii) the Polar Prediction
Project (PPP), developed in collaboration with WCRP. The WMO Executive Council at its 66th
session, expressed its satisfaction with the recent progress of three THORPEX legacy projects
aligned to meet the requirements of Members and the GFCS namely.
The three projects address societal relevant topics and needs:

HIWeather aims to promote cooperative international research to achieve a dramatic
increase in resilience to high impact weather, worldwide, through improving forecasts for
timescales of minutes to two weeks and enhancing their communication and utility in
social, economic and environmental applications. The scope of the project is defined by
the needs of users for better forecast and warning information to enhance the resilience
of communities and countries in responding to a carefully selected set of hazards. The
research will focus on five hazard areas (urban floods, wildfires, localized extreme
winds, disruptive winter weather, urban heat waves and air pollution), which cover a
wide range of impacts so that advances in building resilience to them may be expected
to have more general relevance.

S2S (http://s2sprediction.net/) aims to improve forecast skill and understanding on the
sub-seasonal to seasonal timescale through producing a multi-model ensemble system
database and assessing their skill in high-impact case studies, and to promote its uptake
by operational centres and exploitation by the applications community. From the enduser perspective, the sub-seasonal to seasonal time range is critical to many
management decisions in agriculture and food security, water, disaster risk management
and health issues. Improved weather-to-climate forecasts promise to be of significant
social and economic value.

PPP aims to “Promote cooperative international research enabling development of
improved weather and environmental prediction services for the polar regions, on time
scales from hourly to seasonal” (http://polarprediction.net/). This project constitutes the
21
hourly to seasonal research component of the WMO Global Integrated Polar Prediction
System (GIPPS). It is emphasized that the expected benefits go beyond the time scales
(hourly to seasonal) and regions (Arctic and Antarctic). Anticipated improvements in the
representation of polar key processes in (coupled) models such as stable boundary
layers and sea ice dynamics are expected to reduce systematic errors in climate models
and, hence, help narrowing uncertainties of regional climate projections. The Year of
Polar Prediction will complement the GIPPS observational effort with a targeted field
campaign with special observing periods between 2017 and 2019.
We are entering a new era in technological innovation and in use and integration of different
sources of information for wellbeing and ability to cope with multi-hazards. New predictive tools
in order to detail weather conditions to neighbourhood and street level, to provide early
warnings a month ahead, and to forecast from rainfall to energy consumption will be the main
outcome of the next 10 years research activities in weather science. A better understanding of
small-scale processes and their inherent predictability should go together with a better
comprehension of how weather related information influence decisional processes and with a
better communication strategy.
Key common scientific objectives.
The technical commission for atmospheric science (CAS) identified key long term goals:
1. High Impact Weather and its socio-economic effects in the context of global change
2. Water: Modelling and predicting the water cycle for improved DRR and resource
management
3. Integrated GHG Information System: Serving society and supporting policy
4. Aerosols: Impacts on air quality, weather and climate
5. Urbanization: Research and services for megacities and large urban complexes
6. Evolving Technologies: Their impact on science and its use
Based on this long-term view, in the near future (2-3 years) WWRP and GAW can share three
main scientific objectives:
1. The development and improvement of atmospheric composition forecasting systems
with a focus on urban areas.
2. The development of new assimilation methods for chemistry compounds within the
context of earth system modeling framework.
3. The advancement of underpinning research for services delivery, considering as a
priority the link between sub-seasonal to seasonal forecast and chemistry compounds.
22
Future activities.
WWRP and GAW should prioritize their collaboration through these tasks:
1. The establishment of a systematic collaboration among GAW, WWRP and WGNE in
order to promote new collaborative numerical experimentations within the context of the
atmospheric composition forecasting.
2. The participation of GAW experts to HIW meetings with a target on air quality and
related applications.
3. Exchanging information and developing new initiatives between the Working Group on
Data Assimilation and Observing Systems (DAOS) and the new Expert Team on
Integrated Atmospheric Composition products.
4. The organization of joint initiatives with S2S programme.
3 FRAMEWORK
3.1 Observing network, evolution and RRR
3.2 Modeling elements
3.3 QA/QC
3.4 Data management
GAW data centers as a service to the community?
Value-added data products?
Doi
Recognition of regional networks/data centers
Role of data centers when more modeling is included; data centers versus portal
Nrt vs. long-term
Version control
Metadata – Oscar – wigos
Link databases of related variables (portal)
23
3.3 Outreach/communications
3.4 Capacity Building
a. Central facilities (?)
i. In the context of linking/exchanging databases, for major projects, or for
training, GURME may want to consider whether there would be a need for some
central functions distributed across a number of centres.
b. Outreach/communication (?)/reports
i. What collaborations should we develop to better address these areas (if
needed)?
c. GURME trust fund
i. The trust fund was created but has not been active. How is it feasible to change
that?
4 Implementations of GAW
4.1 SAGs and ETs (ToRs)
4.2 Central Facilities (TORs)
4.3 Station requirements and procedures
4.4. Network requirements and procedures
5. RESOURCES
6. OUTLOOK
REFERENCES
LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND BOXES
OVERVIEW OF RESPONSIBLE BODIES AND ASSIGNED TASKS
ANNEX: ACRONYMS and ABBREVIATIONS
GLOBAL ATMOSPHERE WATCH REPORT SERIES
24