Climate SBA ReportProgress on the 59 actions

CEOS coordination with GCOS

Mitch Goldberg, CEOS-GCOS Climate Coordinator

TOPICS

• Response from UNFCCC SBSTA on the CEOS Progress Report of the 59 climate actions

• Initiated 17 Priority 2 Actions• Examples of CEOS agencies contributions to

key climate datasets

CEOS 59 Climate Actions in response to GCOS-IP 107 • Action plan adopted by CEOS in September

2006• Overall goals

– Ensuring continuity of climate-relevant satellite measurements (13 actions);

– Taking a systematic approach to generating fundamental climate data records (FCDRs) (11 actions);

– Preserving climate data records (4 actions);– Ensuring access to climate data products (10 actions);– Coordinating international communities and interaction with users (10

actions); and– Addressing future measurement needs (11 actions).

CEOS 59 Climate Actions

• A first round of climate actions assessment, in coordination with GCOS, led in 2007 to identify:– 22 “Priority 1 actions”

• Deemed to be progressed immediately• Capable of delivering significant outcomes within a 1-2 year timescale.

– 32 “Priority 2 actions”• Continuous, on-going, or require additional information from potential

contributors in order to be suitably defined• will not necessarily deliver significant results in the 1-2 year timescale.

– 5 “Priority 3 actions”• Considered premature at this stage.

CEOS UNFCCC 2008 Report

• The status of the Priority 1 actions and plans for new tasks were detailed in the CEOS UNFCCC report.

• The updated progress report was presented to the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) at its 29th session in December 2008.

• 2009 Progress Report under preparation

UNFCCC SBSTA Response• Encourages the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites to

continue coordinating and supporting the implementation of the satellite component of the Global Climate Observing System;

• Urges Parties that support space agencies involved in global observations to enable these agencies to continue to implement, in a coordinated manner through the Committee on Earth Observation, the actions identified in the updated report of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, in order to meet the relevant needs of the Convention, in particular by ensuring long-term continuity of observations and data availability

• The SBSTA invited CEOS to report at its thirty-third session on progress made in its efforts to meet the relevant needs of the Convention.

• SBSTA also interested in terrestrial domain, particularly forest carbon tracking.

Assessment of Progress involving Space Agencies after 5 years into 10-year plan (88% above moderate)

Progress Low Moderate

/Low

Moderate

Good/moderat

e

Good

Number ofActions

2 1 5 8 9

Percentageof Actions

8% 4% 20% 32% 36%

GCOS Independent Assessment of Space Agency Progress is very favorable

Initiated Priority 2 Actions

• Initiated 17 CEOS-GCOS climate actions based on readiness and critical mass from CEOS in working these actions

• Progress reports are provided to GCOS and GEO Sec twice per year

(some highlights provided in backup section)

Significant progress in CEOS agencies commitments to sustained generation of climate data records

• WMO GSICS & SCOPE-CM efforts– Both efforts are engaging WCRP/GEWEX– GSICS held its first user workshop in September 09

• GSICS workshop report will be released in November

• EUMETSAT Climate SAFs• NOAA Climate Data Records Program• NASA on-going reprocessing of EOS datasets• ESA Climate Change Initiative• Availability of key datasets on clouds, sea surface

height, ocean color, sea ice, greenhouse gases, precipitation, aerosols … (see backup slides)

Long-term time series of AVHRR (clouds, aerosol, surface temperature, vegetation index) extended using NOAA-19•AVHRR climate records were generated for 2009 including those from NOAA-19 (launched February 2008).

•This extends the AVHRR Pathfinder Atmospheres Extended (PATMOS-x) data-record from September 1981 – July 2009.

•Products include clouds, land and sea surface temperatures, aerosols and vegetation index

Significance: Provides the longest satellite record of clouds, aerosols and surface temperatures for climate studies.

Project Lead: Andrew Heidinger

Comparison of AVHRR December Tropical High Cloud Amounts to those from ECMWF Reanalysis

Example of AVHRR image showing derived cloud reflectance and SST

Monthly anomalies in global cloud amount (1981-2008) – Taken from BAMS State of Climate 2008

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/patmosx

•The Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) monthly products was extended to over twenty-two years (July 1987 – September 2009)

•Products include rainfall rate, snow cover, and total precipitable water. Data is available from NCDC.

•Rainfall rates are used by the international Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP).

•Future work (funded through NOAA) includes reprocessing entire record using improved satellite intercalibration.

Significance: The extended time series of SSMI products allows us to more

accurately monitor and detect change in the amount and pattern of climatically

important surface and atmospheric processes such as rainfall.

Project Lead: Ralph Ferraro

Lower SST(La Nina)

El Nino

SSM/I total precipitable water, rain rates and snow cover products from July 1987 to September 2009

Reprocessed SCIAMACHY Products

Significance: Provides critical atmospheric chemistry datasets for monitoring

Project Lead: Thomas Trautmann, DLR

Ozone difference in % between SCIAMACHY and Brewer data from Hohenpeissenberg, Germany

SCIAMACHY provide products of O3, BrO, HCHO, NO2, SO2, OClO, H2O, CO, CO2, CH4 and properties of aerosols and cloudsThe data has been reprocessed from the start of operations – August, 2002 using the improved calibration and algorithms,

Climate Data Records for the SBUV(/2) measurement retrievals

The SBUV/2 data for NOAA-16 SBUV/2 (2004 to 2007) and NOAA-17 SBUV/2 (2003 to 2007) has been reprocessed with the latest instrument characterization and calibration to extend the previously released Ozone Climate Data Record (1979 to 2003) from SBUV(/2) instruments by four years.

Project Lead: Lawrence Flynn

Significance: The SBUV(/2) ozone CDR’s are used to determine and monitor

atmospheric ozone trends and variations. These are compared to models and other results in creating the international ozone

assessments. The latest report is available at:

www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/assessments/2006/

This new data set is being used in the preparing the next assessment due out in

2010.

Figure from V. Fioletov et al. at the 2008 Quadrennial Ozone Symposium in Tromso Norway showing

deseasonalized global mean ozone time series from SBUV(/2) and other sources.

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Figure from C. Long et al., http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/sbuv2to/

sbuv2to_cohesive.shtml

Start of Recovery of

Ozone as resultof Montreal

Protocol

Reanalyzed global sea ice (1987 – 2008)

Significance: Provides critical ice cover datasets for monitoring sea ice and for

use in models.

Project Lead: Soren Anderson, Norwegian Ice SAF

Reprocessing of daily ice concentration products from SSMI for 1987 – 2008 using latest algorithms and most current ECMWF reanalysis for atmospheric corrections.

Reprocessing is on-going and is expected to be completed in December 08, using SMMR data (1978 – 1987)

http://sat.met.no in NETCDF

15

WCRP/GEWEX/Global Aerosol Climatology Project (GACP)

The complete GACP dataset is currently available at gacp.giss.nasa.gov and is composed of monthly 1 x 1 degree averages of AOT and AE for the period from August 1981 to June 2006. GACP represents the longest uninterrupted satellite record of aerosol properties.

Mishchenko et al., Science 315, 1543 (2007)

Long-term record derived as part of GACP from multi-decadal satellite data reveals a likely 20% decrease in the global amount of tropospheric aerosols

between the late 1980s and early 2000s. This decline makes aerosols less efficient in counter-balancing the warming effect of the greenhouse

gases.

New observing capabilities for GHGs• Thermal instruments (e.g., AIRS,

IASI, CrIS) measure mid-tropospheric column – Peak of vertical weighting is a function of T

profile and water profile and ozone profile.– Age of air is on the order of weeks or

months.– Significant horizontal and vertical

displacements of the trace gases from the sources and sinks.

• Solar/Passive instruments (e.g., SCIAMACHY, OCO II, GOSAT) & laser approaches measure a lower troposphere weighted total column average.– Mixture of surface and near-surface

atmospheric contribution– Age of air varies vertically.

SCIAMACHY

GOSATOCO II

AIRS/IASI/CrIS

Schneising et al., ACP, 2008

CO2 seasonal cycle NH from Sciamachy

AIRS, IASI (and soon CrIS) Provide a 20+ Year Self-Consistent Record of Satellite Sounder Retrieved CO2

19

Comparison of NOAA CO2 product with in situ aircraft at Carr, Colorado (Precision ~ 2 ppm)

Coal miningLandfills

Termites

Wastewater

Wetlands Rice

Ruminants

Hydrates

Natural gas

Energy

Methane as observed by SCIAMACHY (WFMDv1.0)

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AIRS observes methane variability over Asia

Xiong, X., S. Houweling, J. Wei, E. Maddy, F. Sun and C. Barnet, 2008:

Methane Plume over South Asia during the monsoon season: satellite observation and model simulation. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 9, p.783-794.

• Enhancement in AIRS methane product is seen in summer months over Asia.

– Green points is the AIRS methane product– Red points are TM3 model provided by

Sander Houweling, SRON

• Model agreement suggests methane is transport of local emissions during monsoon season.

• Evidence of strong transport from surface to mid-troposphere.

• Hold a 3 Day meeting to review new GCOS Implementation plan and to review and amend the 59 actions

• CEOS will provide progress report to SBSTA-33• The report needs to include progress on

Forest Carbon Tracking, GHG Monitoring, and CEOS climate data records

Plans for next year

BACKUP

Atmospheric Domain (5 initiated actions)

• Action A-1: CEOS agencies will review the capability of passive microwave sensors to make scatterometer-quality measurements and will work to ensure A.M. and P.M. satellite coverage of surface wind speed and direction by 2015.

• Action A-2: CEOS will strive to ensure continuity of GPS RO measurements with, at a minimum, the spatial and temporal coverage established by COSMIC by 2011. CEOS will continue efforts to exploit the complementary aspects of radiometric and geometric upper-air determinations of temperature and moisture.

• Action A-10: CEOS agencies will participate in planning, by 2011, the follow-on to the chemistry missions planned for the next 5 to 7 years. (ACC action)

• Action A-11: CEOS agencies will commit to reprocessing the geostationary satellite data for use in reanalyses projects before the end of the decade. (SCOPE-CM action)

• Action A-12: CEOS will determine options by 2010 for continuing improvements to wind determinations demonstrated by MODIS and to be demonstrated by ADM Aeolus.

Oceanic Domain (7 initiated actions)

• Action O-10: ISRO will lead planning of Oceansat-2, ESA and the EU of Sentinel-3, and JAXA of GCOM-C, which are all new missions planned to carry an ocean colour sensor. OCC Action

• Action O-11: Relevant CEOS agencies will examine their respective plans to maintain continuity of the 25-km-resolution ocean colour global product. OCC Action

• Action O-12: CEOS agencies will cooperate to support the combination of all existing ocean colour data sets into a global FCDR. OCC Action

• Action O-15: ESA will fly SMOS in 2009 to demonstrate measurement of the sea surface salinity (and soil moisture) ECV; NASA/CONAE will fly Aquarius/SAC-D in 2010 to demonstrate measurement of the sea surface salinity ECV.

• Action O-17: CEOS agencies will undertake planning for reprocessing past data to improve FCDRs and legacy databases (e.g., AVHRR Pathfinder, ATSR, Sea Level Pathfinder, and the sea ice ECV) in close coordination and partnership with existing advisory groups and reanalysis centres. All Level 2 data products for use in reanalysis should be properly accompanied by estimates of their uncertainty.

• Action O-18: CEOS, through its Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) and in the context of developing standards for on-going missions and for the Constellations, will recommend best practices for pre-launch and onboard calibration of ocean sensors and for validation of space-based ocean observations with in situ sensors, including the establishment and maintenance of calibration and validation sites and networks. This will facilitate the combination of data from different sources and enable the establishment of global data sets and long-term series. WGCV Action

• Action O-19: CEOS agencies, in cooperation with other partners, will support planning for a follow-on to GODAE.

Terrestrial Domain (1 action) and Cross-cutting (4)

• Action T-5: CEOS agencies will undertake research to support satellite technology development, such as lidar or P-band sensors, that are capable of retrieving biomass and LAI globally that meet GCOS requirements. CEOS agencies will also support research to improve algorithms that do not currently meet GCOS threshold requirements. New satellite technology and algorithms should be available by 2015.

• Action C-7: CEOS agencies will increase their cooperation in ensuring stability, accuracy, and inter-comparability of their respective satellite observations. These observations will be tied to irrefutable international standards in order to enhance the utility of space programmes for climate applications. (GSICS and WGCV action)

• Action C-8: CEOS agencies will contribute to development of GSICS under development by CGMS and WMO to better integrate calibration efforts. Furthermore, CEOS agencies will continuously pursue establishment of reference measurements in space, complementing those on the ground and in the air, which will enable absolute inter-calibration of radiance measurements.

• Action C-9: CEOS will charge its WGCV to promote existing in situ networks, identify new opportunities for product validation, and support both validation research and operational validation projects at an adequate level. (WGCV Action)

• Action C-10: CEOS agencies will coordinate their efforts in designing future data archives and data dissemination systems, ensuring that past data holdings (including associated metadata) are preserved, assessing standards and protocols, and incorporating new information technology (IT) developments as much as possible. Practical actions in response to this cross-cutting need will be developed by CEOS’ Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS) in line with the technical solutions adopted by GEO. (WGISS Action)

Some highlights from the newly initiated actions

• Atmospheric Domain: capability of passive microwave sensors to make scatterometer-quality measurements.

– NOAA/NESDIS performed extensive research, development and validation of wind vector retrievals from WindSat, a passive polarimetric microwave sensor. Results show that passive polarimetric radiometer cannot make scatterometer-quality measurements that would satisfy the requirements for ocean surface vector wind data in support of NOAA's short-term weather forecasting and warning or climate missions. NWS Ocean Prediction Center and National Hurricane Center have both conducted operational validation activities with WindSat data and concluded that the ocean surface wind vector measurements were not of consistent quality to reliable utilize in support of their forecasting and warning responsibilities.

• Terrestrial Domain: research to support satellite technology development, such as lidar or P-band sensors, that are capable of retrieving biomass and LAI globally that meet GCOS requirements.

– ESA recently selected the BIOMASS mission for study at Phase-A level. This is a polarimetric P-band SAR mission aiming at producing global estimates of above ground biomass. The Sentinel-3 mission of the GMES Space Component will provide synergistic products for LAI. Scientific studies on algorithms for biomass retrieval form polarimetric InSAR are on-going.

• Cross-cutting Activities: CEOS agencies support development of GSICS under development by CGMS and WMO to better integrate calibration efforts.

– NOAA, EUMETSAT, NASA CNES contributing significantly to GSICS, GPM is part of GSICS. JAXA and ESA are observers to GSICS

– Geostationary intercalibration using AIRS and IASI is routine at NOAA, EUMETSAT, and JMA– The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Mission has been

recommended in the National Research Council Earth Science Decadal Survey as a key component of the future climate observing system [1]. NASA is currently supporting a pre-phase A study to be completed by October 1, 2009.

Highlights from the newly initiated actions – Cont’d

• Oceanic Domain: CEOS agencies will cooperate to support the combination of all existing ocean colour data sets into a global FCDR.– NOAA’s continued support for MOBY and open access to its data for critical

vicarious calibration.– NASA and ESA plan to continue and possibly extend their interaction related

to MERIS calibration and characterization and also extend this to the ocean color instrument planned for Sentinel-3 as agreed between ESA and NASA at the MERIS Data Workshop on 14 July 2008..

– GlobColour has successfully demonstrated the benefits that MERIS can bring to merged ocean colour data sets, and has helped in working towards an ocean colour Essential Climate Variable (ECV). The project is almost completed, with the full 10 year data set (4km) available via the web (www.globcolour.info) and NRT merged products (1km) already available.

– Reprocessing past data to improve FCDRs and legacy databases in close coordination and partnership with existing advisory groups and reanalysis centres.

– ESA will include sea level and sea ice among the ECVs to be developed under the new ESA Climate Change Initiative that is now starting.

– Cooperation initiated between NOAA and CM SAF on the generation of homogeneous data sets based on AVHRR GAC data.