Global Cryosphere Watch(GCW)

WMO; Observing System Division (OSD)

Miroslav Ondráš, OBS/OSD – mondras@wmo.intRaymond Le Bris – rlebris@wmo.int

ICG-WIGOS-4 19 January 2015

Geneva, Switzerland

The 16th WMO Congress (2011) agreed that “WMO needs to have a focus on global cryosphere issues to be able to provide authoritative information to meet Members’ responsibilities on regional and global weather, climate, water and related environmental matters” and decided to embark on the development of the Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW), as an IPY Legacy, with a view of an operational GCW.

http://globalcryospherewatch.org

GCW Organization and FrameworkMission: GCW will provide authoritative, clear, and useable data, information, and analyses on the past, current and future state of the cryosphere. WMO’s ability to support ongoing development and delivery of weather, climate, and water services contributes to ensuring the sustainable development and well being of nations. GCW will provide, directly or indirectly, data, information, products and analyses that will help Members and partners provide needed services to the wider user community.

1. Establish the core standardized surface-based observing network called CryoNet:

• http://www.globalcryospherewatch.org/cryonet/

2. Identify Best Practices that will be applied by the two types of CryoNet sites.

• http://www.globalcryospherewatch.org/cryonet/site_types.html

Immediate priority for GCW

Scientific equipment on Antarctic Ice Sheet

CryoNet is one part of the whole GCW observing system, which is a component observing system of the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS).

CryoNet covers all components of the cryosphere (glaciers, ice shelves, ice sheets, snow, permafrost, sea ice, river/lake ice) through an extensive approach of in-situ observations.

CryoNet is (initially) comprised of existing stations/sites, rather than creating new sites.

CryoNet – the core GCW Network

• Two types of sites are envisioned based on the number of “spheres” that are monitored (e.g. atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, etc.). 

Sites definitions

Typical CryoNet Integrated Site

7

CryoNet: Minimum Requirements for Inclusion

• The process of selecting sites and stations as part of CryoNet is in its initial stage

• An online site application form - Site Questionnaire (metadata) - has been made available and several sites were identified for the pre-operational testing phase

http://globalcryospherewatch.org/cryonet/questionnaire

• The whole process will be completed by December 2015 for consideration by EC-68.

CryoNet Sites Selection

CryoNet Sites identified for the pre-operational testing phase

CryoNet observations cover all components of the cryosphere through in situ observations (glaciers, ice shelves, ice sheets, snow, permafrost, sea ice, river/lake ice and solid precipitation).

 # Site Operating Country

LocationIntegrated?

12 Morenas Coloradas Rockglacier Argentina Argentina no

24 Vuriloches Argentina Argentina no

25 Aonikenk Argentina Argentina no

3 Sonnblick Austria Austria yes8 Eureka Canada Canada no

36 Valle Nevado Chile Chile no

4Qilianshan Station of Glaciology and Ecologic Environment

China China no

6 Qilian China China yes

7Tanggula Cryosphere and Environment Observation Station

China China no

20 Xidatan China China yes

21 Tanggula China China yes

27 Tianshan China China no

29The Koxkar Glacier Camp (KGC) China China yes

2 PROMICE Greenland Ice Sheet Monitoring Network

Denmark Greenland no

28 Zackenberg Denmark Greenland yes

10 Antisana 15 alfa Ecuador Ecuador no

5 Sodankylä-Pallas Finland Finland yes

33 Dome-C France Antarctica no

…

Requirements and Capability for observations

GCW Requirementsare being formulatedand documented on the GCW website;

They will draw from various sets of existing user requirements and will be vetted by the scientific community;

Those requirements will become part of the WMO Rolling Review of Requirements (RRR);

Will be accessible through the Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool (OSCAR), the official source for WMO requirements, which has a cryosphere theme;

Need for a new application area “GCW”.

Measurement standards and practices

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

MANUAL ON THE

WMO INTEGRATED GLOBAL OBSERVING SYSTEM (WIGOS)

Annex IX to the WMO Technical Regulations

(2015 edition)

(Version 0.11)

DRAFT

WMO-No. XXXX

Step 1: Inventory of existing guidelines:

Step 2: GCW works through these documents, engages the community, and reaches a consensus on best practices for each variable.

Measurement Standards and Best Practices

GCW is drawing on existing measurement methods where possible and where a scientific consensus has been or can be reached.

http://globalcryospherewatch.org/reference/glossary.php

• As a step toward in the development of the GCW best practices and the homogeneity of delivered observational data, a database of cryospheric terms as defined by existing glossaries has been compiled and is available through the GCW Website:

• Further work is needed to evaluate alternative definitions and converge on the official GCW Glossary that will be formally vetted and then translated into the UN languages.

GCW Glossary

http://globalcryospherewatch.org/reference/glossary.php

The design of the network is progressing in parallel with the establishment of the GCW Data Portal. It maintains metadata records and pointers to the data repositories physically holding the data. It also collects data to be provided to WIS according to user requirements.

GCW Data Portal

• Provide the ability to exchange cryospheric data, metadata, information and analysis among a distributed network of providers and users.

• Data interoperability with established data centres such as NSIDC, WGMS, CryoClim and CCIN is being developed

Products and Services

Identification and development of initialproducts

Development of Hemispheric snow ”anomaly” trackers for SE & SWE

An inventory of snow datasets Product intercomparison:

Snow intercomparison projectESA SnowPEX

GCW Website

About GCW – impact,framework

GCW News Cryosphere now

- products CryoNet:

site requirements, practices, sites for pre-oper. phase

Activities – mtgs, projects

Outreach – forum,video

References – Glossary,acronyms, GCW documents

http://globalcryospherewatch.org

www.wmo.int

Thank you for your attention

Miroslav Ondráš, OBS/OSD - Mondras@wmo.intRaymond Le Bris – rlebris@wmo.int