Representatives from international agencies, national meteorological services, universities and businesses are meeting at ECMWF this week for a Copernicus workshop on climate observation requirements.
Running from 29 June to 2 July, the workshop will help shape the observation-based content of the Climate Data Store (CDS) being developed for the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
The Climate Data Store will contain data and information about past, present and future climate. It will form a key part of C3S, which ECMWF is implementing on behalf of the European Union.
A major goal for the CDS is to provide open and full access to observations and derived data products spanning the entire instrumental record available for climate applications and services. It aims to provide information to support adaptation and mitigation policies at European level and beyond.
“This workshop is proving extremely useful for us to find out what observational data are needed for the Climate Change Service,” said Jean-Noël Thépaut, Head of C3S at ECMWF. “By gathering experts from different fields, including climate policy, water resource management, renewable energy and agriculture applications, we aim to ensure the Service provides relevant and accessible information.”
The workshop will address the strengths and weaknesses of existing data collections and products, and identify concrete goals and activities for improving the observational basis for climate service development.
“The intention has always been for the Climate Change Service to build on existing international expertise and be tailored as closely as possible to the specific needs of our stakeholders. This applies in particular to what we are discussing this week,” Jean-Noël added.
Outcomes of the workshop will help to guide the development of the observational component of the Climate Data Store catalogue and to specify scientific and technical service requirements in this area.
For more information about the workshop, please visit the Copernicus Workshop on Climate Observation Requirements page.
The technical requirements and design of the C3S portal for the Climate Data Store was the subject of a separate workshop at ECMWF from 3 to 6 March 2015.
Copernicus is the European Union’s flagship Earth-observation programme. The programme ensures operational monitoring of the atmosphere, oceans, and continental surfaces, and will provide reliable, validated information services for a range of environmental and security applications.
ECMWF is implementing the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and the Copernicus Climate Change Service on behalf of the European Union until the end of 2020.