global monitoring for environment and security atmosphere ... fr final apr09.pdfthe gacs will...

Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Atmosphere Core Service

(GACS)

Implementation Group – Final Report

April 2009

April 2009 Report of the GAS Implementation Group 2

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Executive summary

Context Atmosphere-related services already exist and are quite successful as regards dynamical/physical (meteorological) characteristics.

It is however through the chemosphere (i.e. the atmosphere with emphasis on its chemical components) that humankind demonstrates a capacity to modify atmospheric properties and ultimately the climate.

Here too atmospheric services already exist. International bodies like UN ECE-EMEP, WMO and the European Environment Agency coordinate, to some extent, the international monitoring and modelling of greenhouse gases, the ozone layer and air quality; these activities are further organised on a national scale. Following the implementation of the EU legislation on air pollution, air quality monitoring networks have been set up, emission inventories are reported, and modelling tools are playing a growing role. Still, the picture is far from complete: there are considerable needs and also potential for improving capacities and consistency.

The GMES Atmosphere Services (GAS)1 and its Core Service (GACS) aim to address this gap by integrating the monitoring & modelling of every atmospheric constituent at global & regional scales, and enabling further services at more local scales. MACC, a pilot project for GACS, is scheduled to begin middle of 2009. By then, some key elements of the core service should be ready to run in preoperational mode.

Approaches originally developed for meteorology will be used in and by the GACS, e.g. integrating developments from the science community, numerical modelling and tools for operational implementation.

The GACS will improve the description, understanding and forecasting of atmospheric species. At the same time the core service will expand our understanding by monitoring surface fluxes (emission/deposition) and performing scenarios to support and take into account policy decisions.

Scope of GAS GAS and its service chain aims to serve a broadened community of users. Achieving this is the main challenge.

The Service should meet the needs of users/actors at both European and national levels dealing with policies on air quality, renewable energies, climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as the protection of the ozone layer. Focus is on supporting international commitments for these policy areas, (e.g. Montreal protocol, Kyoto protocol, CLRTAP), in particular for established requirements set out in documents such as GCOS 2nd Adequacy Report or IGACO.

The user communities for these services are wide ranging and includes environmental authorities and agencies, meteorological & health agencies, NGOs, research/science community, private sector, developing countries, other GMES services, and - last but not least - EU citizens.

The GACS will address 4 themes: air quality, climate forcing, stratospheric ozone (plus UV radiation), and solar radiation. For each of these themes, atmospheric quantities needed are: 1. Air quality, over Europe:

• surface concentrations of pollutants: PM (particulate matter) in several size ranges, O3, NO2, NO, volatile organic carbons (VOCs), hydrocarbons, SO2, CO, HCHO, CHOCHO, C6H6;

• Emission fluxes of NO, NO2, CO, CHOCHO, PM; 1 A glossary of acronyms is provided in annex 2


• 3-dimensional concentrations of O3, NO, NO2, CO, SO2, HCHO, C6H6, particulate matter; • Emphasis on time resolution (hourly) and near real time (NRT) data availability.

2. Climate forcing, at global scale: • 3-dimensional concentrations of CO2, CH4, O3, aerosols, active nitrogen components (NOx),

vertical distribution of tropospheric essential climate variables, including water vapour, O3, halogenated hydrocarbons, VOCs;

• Surface and upper air physical and radiative parameters: temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction, water vapour, earth radiation budget and solar irradiance, cloud properties;

3. Ozone, UV and solar energy: • O3 total columnar content and vertical distribution; stratospheric clouds, concentration of

ozone destructive species (ClO, NOx...) • Surface UV-B, UV index; global UV spectral irradiance, multichannel irradiance, erythemal

irradiance • Global horizontal (GHI) and direct normal (DNI) irradiances, with emphasis on time

resolution.

The outputs of the GACS should include both data products and elaborated products. The former include easy access to observational data, data delivered in Near Real Time (NRT) (especially for AQ), GCOS essential climate variables (CF), and gridded fields. Elaborated products are forecasts and analysis products, i.e. long-time trends as established by reanalysis, and “low volume” information and scenarios for policy makers, as well as the identification of sources and sinks. Added value is derived from combining space and in-situ observations and assimilating them in models.

GACS will interface with other GMES Services with regard to climate change, the identification of sources and sinks as well as for emergency situations.

Core & downstream services The implementation of GAS is based on a service chain concept.

Core Services are defined as common European information capacities designed to meet common data and information requirements of a broad range of application areas. In the case of GACS, three criteria are accordingly identified: • Focus on wide geographical coverage : global, regional (i.e. European) scale; • Address the needs of downstream services & end users; • Avoid duplications of efforts and operations.

Downstream services (DS) build on GACS products, add value to them and produce more specific, tailored applications. Examples include local air quality forecasts, improved air-quality-related alerts and forecasts by health services, information to enable effective air pollution abatement measures, identification & monitoring of regional/local sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, potential analysis and energy yield mapping for solar energies.

Downstream services are outside the scope of EC, in terms of both governance and funding

In situ observational infrastructure In situ in the GMES context is used to refer to all “non satellite” data/products: ground based in-situ as well as remote sensing measurements from routine aircraft.

For GACS, the major role of the in situ data is to deliver (i) an input to local, regional and European air quality models for assimilation and validation purposes; (ii) enable monitoring of long-term trends of air quality, greenhouse gases and ozone; and (iii) ensure the validation of satellite retrievals.

There is a wide range of R&D, semi-operational and operational networks in existence which together create a good foundation for the GAS in-situ infrastructure. The main capacities for AQ are national


and regional AQ networks, the EMEP network, and near-real-time initiatives (e.g. EEA NRT AQ, IAGOS, AirCE). For UV, the European UV network is the main capacity. Tropospheric content and profiles relies mostly research funding, e.g. for aerosols EUSAAR, EARLINET, AERONET, for greenhouse gases CarboEurope, ICOS, NitroEurope and for aircraft observations MOZAIC being expanded to IAGOS.

Data is also provided by national meteorological services and the GAW network (for O3 and greenhouse gases) as well as global networks collaborating with GAW: NDACC (atmospheric constituents in free atmosphere), SHADOZ (O3 sondes), TCCON (carbon) and BSRN (radiation). • Identified shortcomings relate to spatial coverage and sustainability.

• It is recommended to: optimize the spatial distribution of air quality stations (aiming at the priority regions: Balkan and Mediterranean areas; Eastern Europe); build a European high-resolution AQ emission database; to address under-sampling of GHG in remote (marine) areas; to relocate O3 monitoring capacities in Europe (which is heavily over-sampled) to Asia, Africa and Latin America.

• AQ capacities are mainly operated at MS levels, these are a key to enable the GACS and the sustainability of these activities should be assured by MS. There is also a strong need to consolidate monitoring activities which are often supported by R&D funds (such as those carried out by ICOS, AERONET, EARLINET, IAGOS, etc.) and sustain these, eventually as European contributions to international observation networks.

• Data management is another critical issue for the in-situ observation infrastructures, and includes:

(a) timeliness (the need to establish mechanisms for NRT provision of AQ, total O3, UV and radiation data (the latter at 15 min intervals) observation data to GACS; and

(b) in the case of greenhouse and reactive gases, aerosols and ozone, the need for a single portal as well as the harmonization of multiple-source datasets. This latter requirement includes inter-calibration and creation of common standards for metadata & data (functionalities currently provided through the FP6 GEOmon project).

The issue of access to meteorological data for downstream service providers has been addressed. A "GMES labelling" of the pertinent data should enable this access for identified users and for GMES purposes.

• European coordination mechanisms are urgently needed for:

a) Institutional issues (co-management of the infrastructure to ensure availability and appropriate evolution, co-funding approaches, international cooperation issues), and

b) Technical issues (observation infrastructure consolidation and evolution, data quality and standardization, and data management). Concerning the latter, international frameworks are key drivers for calibration/validation and data standards.

To address the issues, the EEA as coordinator of the In situ component will have to play a leading role in the consolidation process. The current developments with regard to the implementation of the INSPIRE directive and the SEIS framework will similarly impact on the availability and accessibility of the data. The direct links between GMES and these initiatives will have to be clarified. Further guidance on the development of the in situ component is to be provided by ISOWG in consultation with the GACS IG and the GACS providers.

• As regards funding, Member State commitment is needed on the long-term availability of in-situ observation infrastructure required by GACS and related data access mechanisms (including sustainable data policies). Possible areas for EU support include (i) the filling of gaps in observation infrastructure e.g. helping relocations, development of networks in Eastern Europe or outside Europe; (ii) Pan-European observation infrastructures; (iii) European contribution to international networks (through European infrastructure); (iv) Technical (e.g. cal/Val facilities, data management) & institutional coordination activities.


Space observational infrastructure Remote sensing techniques from space on their own do not provide satisfactory measurements of surface concentrations. On the other hand, they demonstrate improving capacities for measuring columnar content and estimating concentration profiles, with full global/regional coverage and the required time resolution. This depends, of course, on optimized "chemical" payloads being onboard space missions in adequate combinations.

The highest priority is to guarantee the continuity of space observations with stable operation performances and quality. A number of European capacities relevant for GAS exist. These capacities include the "chemistry" payload onboard ENVISAT (SCIAMACHY, MIRAS, GOMOS), IASI, GOME-2 onboard MeToP and MSG/SEVIRI, MeToP/AVHRR, ENVISAT/MERIS (for fires, aerosols, clouds). Also worth mentioning is the European OMI instrument on NASA’s AURA.

These capacities do not comply with the required (hourly) time resolution for air quality measurements. Furthermore, they will be substantially weakened at the end of ENVISAT's operation. With this in mind, a future scheme including the low orbit Sentinel 5 (in the Post-EPS time frame) and a geostationary Sentinel 4 payload (in the post-MSG time frame) has been prepared.

Assuming that thermal infrared missions remain part of the core payload of EUMETSAT space missions, it is recommended that: • ENVISAT lifetime be maximized in order to narrow the time gap before the Sentinels 4 & 5

become operational; • a UVNS spectrometer (Sentinel-5) be accommodated on a Post-EPS platform, alongside IRS and

VII; • a UVN spectrometer (Sentinel-4) be embarked on MTG-S (for AQ dense sampling); • a UVNS spectrometer (precursor of Sentinel-5) be made available around 2014 , in a polar orbit

complementary to EPS/MetOp (global AQ); • ESA & EUMETSAT align their mission requirements & implementation agendas

The geostationary "chemical payload" (Sentinel-4) is expected to bring a wholly new capacity. This capacity will move beyond improved time resolution and forecasting, to creating a new vision and understanding of relevant phenomena.

It is also recommended to address pertinent ground segment issues such as the need for a direct interface between GAS data acquisition and mission operators; and to enable the proficient use of existing dissemination infrastructures (e.g. EUMETCAST, GEONETCAST) as well as the EUMETSAT SAFs for GAS purposes.

International cooperation is needed in order both to provide redundancy and also to complement European observation capacities. A relevant example is the absence of a Limb MMW/IR profiling mission (which is important for the UTLS) in the planned European missions outlined above.

Clear and early planning is needed to build global cooperation agreements for operational systems in the frameworks of WMO, CEOS and GEO. On this basis, EU should engage in dialogue with the USA (interest in AURA, OCO, limb sounding mission, future possibilities) as well as with other countries: Japan (JAXA, NIES), China, Canada, and South Korea.

Concerning R&D, several missions were identified as having high relevance for the GACS. These include the ESA Earth Explorer programme, for which GACS requirements and priorities should be considered during its selection stage. For selected missions, the usefulness and contribution for GACS should be assessed for example to address requirements not met by existing and planned capacities.

Improving the measurement of atmospheric CO2 from space is a major R&D issue which requires ESA R&D efforts and funding to be maintained. Moreover, in-orbit capabilities of USA's OCO & Japanese GOSAT should be assessed in order to define a long-term observation approach at European & international levels.


Issues for data exploitation that warrant further R&D include: addressing calibration / validation issues and the link with GAS operational requirements, enhancing efforts for direct / retrieval modelling, and enhancing efforts and related funding (from EC, ESA and EUMETSAT) for deriving trace gas products from IASI and GOME-2 in order to transfer these products efficiently into the operational GAS domain.2

Functional architecture The functional architecture of GACS is suggested to consist of five elements. • “Observation acquisition and pre-processing” aims to interface with data/product providers (space

agencies, international & research missions, NRT and delayed in situ data providers, emission data and meteorological data) and perform quality control of inputs, validation and blending for modelling use.

• "Global monitoring, assimilation and forecasting" turns the quality-controlled observations into assimilated global fields and produces global forecasts as well as emission fluxes.

• The “Ensemble of European-scale monitoring, assimilation and forecasting systems” element will combine the outputs of several models ("ensemble" approach) at European scale to produce fields and forecasts.

• Data and Products Services is the user interface, assuring the dissemination of all CS output products to the users and assuring the quality of these products. End users will provide feedback upon which the GACS portfolio is established and updated.

• The fifth element “Core R&D” will allow the GACS to analyse problems in all GAS parts and processes, make required quick fixes and drive R&D on specific short term issues.

The core service mainly interacts with: • Data providers from both space and in situ infrastructure; • Upstream R & D at EC and national levels for long term issues; • Other GMES services (marine, land, probably emergency in the future), for example for

conducting harmonized reanalyses; • Users (mechanisms such as service level agreements will ensure efficient interactions with both

end users and downstream services. Users will be encouraged to join federations in order to enter such agreements.

Governance The GAS is expected to depend on an overall GMES governance organisation, encompassing every GMES service.

At service level, the governance for GACS will have to oversee GACS provision and evolution and enable the prioritisation & arbitration, linking with the GMES governance. A board is needed to involve:

(a) Users (European, national, private) represented at the appropriate level;

(b) GAS providers, e.g. institutions contributing through their own capacities & resources; and

(c) Observation data providers.

2 Based on the work of a dedicated working group on space infrastructures, recommendations were issued by end of March 2008 and communicated to the space agencies. A workshop bringing together members of the space working group, the GACS implementation group (IG), the GMES Bureau as well as ESA and EUMETSAT was held on April 25th. As outcome, it resulted that IG recommendations were fully taken into account by ESA & EUMETSAT and the preliminary assessment of the Sentinel MRD by the IG was positive. For the future it is envisaged that the IG be represented in the ESA/EUMETSAT mission advisory process.


An Advisory Body (functions similar to GAS IG) would prepare decisions of a scientific & technical nature.

A GACS management body would • carry out the Board's directives, • manage the five core elements listed above, • provide the institutional/technical interface with external entities including the EC and MS, and • provide the overall management of the service including interfacing to other services.

An appropriate legal structure for the GACS service provision is still to be defined in discussions with the EC. Such a structure, should capitalize on the strengths of the consortium created for the MACC pilot project as well as allowing evolution of the partnership without endangering the continuity of the service.

Implementation process Bearing in mind the year 2014 as a starting point for the fully operational GACS a number of drivers and processes should be taken into account for an articulation of an implementation strategy. There must be a flexibility to incorporate advanced methodologies (e.g. full coupling of chemistry & dynamical/physical models & new capacities - e.g. ESA's Sentinel-4 data by 2017+).

The ongoing pre-operational activities (e.g. projects GEMS, PROMOTE and MACC in the future) should serve as platforms to initiate GACS implementation.

In addition to the recommendations spelled out in the sections on observation infrastructures, user engagement must be assured with the help of service level agreements in MACC and any follow-up projects. The level of resources devoted to R&D activities essential for a GACS evolution (namely in the areas of observation technology & related physics; modelling & observation assimilation techniques; and service applications including the downstream sector) should be maintained.

It appears useful that the Implementation (or similar) Group should carry on in order to advise on the consolidation and validation process of the GACS and contribute to the seamless transition of pre-operational GAS activities into a fully-fledged GACS.

To this end, an action plan was prepared over the fall 2008 à 2011 period, with following actions: • 2008-2009: assess governance principles defined in EC GMES communication, elaborate further

on interfaces between GAS core and downstream services, start reviewing interactions with user communities in pilot phase as well as interaction with EEA on coordination of in situ observation infrastructure for GAS.

• 2009-2010: give advice on funding issues in detail (including cost estimate of the GACS provision, and EU support to in situ observation infrastructure).

• 2009-2011, monitor regularly the implementation of GACS though MACC (avoiding redundancy with the FP monitoring) in order to come up with guidelines for the setting-up of the GAS provision scheme and the related GAS coordination structure by the end 2011.

Conclusions A number of issues still need to be solved in upcoming years: selecting the most efficient legal entity for the GACS, obtaining cost estimates for the operational phase and defining the ways to meet them. Also, setting up the coordination of in situ data providers undoubtedly appears as a complicated task.

On the other hand, a solid foundation of considerable assets already exists, enabling a rapid progress toward an operational status for the GACS. The pilot phase will allow to better focus the services and prepare their upgrades, to stimulate the implementation of the service chain, and to develop the essential interaction with users.


Contents 1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 11 1.1 The purpose of GMES Atmospheric Services (GAS)....................................................11 1.2 Building GAS ..............................................................................................................11 1.3 More benefits to more users .........................................................................................12

2. The scope of GAS Core Services (GACS).............................................................. 13 2.1 Political environment ...................................................................................................13 2.2 User communities ........................................................................................................14 2.3 Concept of Core Services (CS) & Downstream services (DS).......................................14 2.4 Perimeter of GACS and envisaged products/information to be delivered ......................16

2.4.1 CS themes.......................................................................................................................................... 16 2.4.2 Added value of GACS........................................................................................................................ 16 2.4.3 Prioritization of product types............................................................................................................. 17 2.4.4 Limits / borderline of CS .................................................................................................................... 18 2.4.5 Service output parameters................................................................................................................... 21

2.5 Cross-cutting issues to other services ...........................................................................24

3. The required in situ observational infrastructure ................................................ 26 3.1 In situ observation needs for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service...............................26 3.2 In situ existing observation infrastructure for GACS ....................................................27 3.3 Shortcomings of the existing In situ observation capacities...........................................29

3.3.1 Geographical coverage and adequacy of the monitoring activities ........................................................ 29 3.3.2 Sustainability of the observation capacities.......................................................................................... 30 3.3.3 Availability of data............................................................................................................................. 30

3.4 Coordination mechanisms............................................................................................31 3.5 Funding and data policy issues .....................................................................................33 3.6 International cooperation issues ...................................................................................34 3.7 Research and Development ..........................................................................................35 3.8 Summary of conclusions and recommendations ...........................................................35

4. The required space observational infrastructure.................................................. 38 4.1 Space observation needs for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service ...............................38 4.2 Space infrastructure for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service ......................................38

4.2.1 Existing European observation capacities ............................................................................................ 39 4.2.2 Future European observation capacities............................................................................................... 39 4.2.3 Ground segments and interfaces with GACS ....................................................................................... 41

4.3 International cooperation issues ...................................................................................42 4.4 Research and development...........................................................................................42

4.4.1 European research and demonstration missions ................................................................................... 42 4.4.2 Research and development activities on data exploitation .................................................................... 43

5. GACS functionality and architecture .................................................................... 44 5.1 Core service functional architecture and corresponding existing assets .........................44

5.1.1 Observation acquisition and pre-processing......................................................................................... 44 5.1.2 Global monitoring, assimilation and forecasting .................................................................................. 45 5.1.3 Ensemble of European-scale monitoring, assimilation and forecasting systems..................................... 46 5.1.4 Data and products services and quality assurance................................................................................. 47 5.1.5 Core R&D.......................................................................................................................................... 48 5.1.6 Existing assets.................................................................................................................................... 49

5.2 External dependencies .................................................................................................49 5.2.1 Satellite data....................................................................................................................................... 49 5.2.2 In situ data ......................................................................................................................................... 50 5.2.3 Meteorological data............................................................................................................................ 51 5.2.4 Emission data..................................................................................................................................... 51 5.2.5 Service delivery and interaction with users and downstream services ................................................... 52 5.2.6 Research and development outside of GACS....................................................................................... 53 5.2.7 Link to international bodies and coordinating activities........................................................................ 53

6. Implementation strategy for GACS....................................................................... 54 6.1 Foundations of the GACS ............................................................................................54


6.2 Proposed strategy.........................................................................................................54 6.2.1 Service development: ......................................................................................................................... 54 6.2.2 Observation infrastructure................................................................................................................... 54 6.2.3 Operational service and perspectives................................................................................................... 55 6.2.4 Users.................................................................................................................................................. 55 6.2.5 R&D.................................................................................................................................................. 55

6.3 Funding .......................................................................................................................56 6.4 Data Policy ..................................................................................................................56

6.4.1 Guidelines.......................................................................................................................................... 56 6.4.2 Meteorological data............................................................................................................................ 57

6.5 Governance and management structures.......................................................................57 6.5.1 Principles ........................................................................................................................................... 57 6.5.2 Proposed governance structure............................................................................................................ 58

6.6 Critical needs and service evolution .............................................................................59 6.6.1 Critical needs ..................................................................................................................................... 59 6.6.2 Evolution of GACS ............................................................................................................................ 60

6.7 Future actions: tentative timetable ...............................................................................60

ANNEX 1: Working practices of the Implementation Group ..................................... 62 A 1.1. Principles of IG work and sources of guidance used.....................................................62

A 1.1.1. Working approaches........................................................................................................................... 62 A 1.1.2. Guidance............................................................................................................................................ 62

A 1.2. The GAS Implementation Group..................................................................................63 A 1.2.1. Composition....................................................................................................................................... 63 A 1.2.2. Mandate............................................................................................................................................. 64 A 1.2.3. Workplan 2007/08.............................................................................................................................. 65

A 1.3. Mandates and work plans of working groups (WG)......................................................66 A 1.3.1. WG 1: Scope of the Atmosphere Core Service..................................................................................... 66 A 1.3.2. WG 2: Functionalities and Architecture of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service .................................. 66 A 1.3.3. WG 3: In-situ infrastructure and data................................................................................................... 67 A 1.3.4. WG 4: Space infrastructure and data ................................................................................................... 68

ANNEX 2: References and glossary of abbreviations .................................................. 69 ANNEX 3: Detailed outputs (scope) of the GAS........................................................... 74 A 3.1. Specification of CS products for AQ and CF in relation to the intended use..................74 A 3.2. Specification of CS products for O3 and UV in relation to the intended use ..................77 A 3.3. CS products for solar radiation.....................................................................................81

ANNEX 4: In situ priority capacities............................................................................ 82 A 4.1. Air quality ...................................................................................................................83 A 4.2. Ozone and UV .............................................................................................................86 A 4.3. Climate........................................................................................................................89 ANNEX 5: Current capacities of space infrastructures & outlook until 2026 ............ 91 A 5.1. Stratospheric reactive gases global (columns)...............................................................92 A 5.2. Stratospheric parameters global (profiles) ....................................................................92 A 5.3. Tropospheric aerosol....................................................................................................94 A 5.4. Greenhouse Gases (Global)..........................................................................................94 A 5.5. Tropospheric reactive gases (global) ............................................................................95 A 5.6. Tropospheric reactive gases (Europe/Africa - regional) ................................................96

ANNEX 6: Existing assets for GACS............................................................................ 97 A 6.1. Observation acquisition and pre-processing..................................................................97 A 6.2. Global Monitoring, Assimilation and Forecasting.........................................................98 A 6.3. Ensemble of European-scale monitoring, assimilation & forecasting systems ...............99 A 6.4. Data Services ...............................................................................................................99 A 6.5. Further organisations of possible relevance ................................................................100


1. Introduction

1.1 The purpose of GMES Atmospheric Services (GAS) Anthropogenic climate change is recognized as a major issue as the third millennium begins. The atmosphere, which acts as a reservoir for greenhouse gases and aerosols, as well as its interfacial fluxes, is the critical element of this issue.

For many other environmental issues, the atmosphere plays essential and diverse roles. Atmospheric mechanisms, which provide protection from UV rays or cause dispersion and conversion of pollutants deeply affect human health and the environment. The life of EU citizens is still on average shortened by 8 months due to the effects of air pollution and almost half the ecosystems within the European Union remain exposed to excessive eutrophication. European environment policies on air thus face significant challenges. As measures to address the impacts become increasingly complex and costly and sometimes requiring difficult trade-offs, the best possible information on the status of the atmosphere is needed to ensure an effective policy cycle.

Atmospheric services already exist. The network of national weather services coordinated by WMO is achieving considerable and steadily growing success in monitoring and forecasting the dynamical and physical (in short: meteorological) properties of the atmosphere.

It is however through the chemosphere (i.e. the atmosphere with emphasis on its chemical components) that humankind demonstrates capacity, for better or (more often) for worse, to modify atmospheric properties and ultimately the climate. Here too atmospheric services already exist. International bodies like UN ECE-EMEP, WMO and the European Environment Agency coordinate, to some extent, the international monitoring and modelling of greenhouse gases, the ozone layer and air quality; these activities are further organised on a national scale. Following the implementation of the EU legislation on air pollution, air quality monitoring networks have been set up; emission inventories are developed and reported; modelling tools are playing a growing role. Still, the picture is far from complete: there are considerable needs and also potential for improving capacities and consistency.

Within GMES, GAS aims to integrate the monitoring and modelling of the physical and chemical state of the atmosphere on global and European scales.

1.2 Building GAS The success of weather forecasting is due to the fact that the time behaviour of the meteorological atmosphere obeys a set of coupled time-dependent differential equations. In other words, the dynamics of the atmosphere are well represented by a model that can be implemented in numerical simulations, with such a growing efficiency that the term “model” has now come to refer to the numerical algorithm itself.

Currently, atmospheric chemistry and meteorology are mostly dealt with separately: dynamical analyses and forecasts (assumed not to depend upon chemical processes) provide the input dynamics to chemical modelling. However, the real atmosphere is a fully interacting medium, which will be best represented and forecast through integration of chemical and physical phenomena.

Through advances in science and computing power, this integrated dynamical approach is rapidly becoming feasible. The approach is dependant on the availability of satellite observations and ground based monitoring data on continental and global scale.

The principal tools of GAS are expected to be dynamic modelling, state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry modules and data assimilation. Inverse modelling will also be used extensively to infer emissions and depositions from the surface beneath the atmosphere (i.e. the atmosphere lower boundary condition) using measured concentrations.


The meteorological community has succeeded in gathering a strong research community, and setting up a number of centres endowed with considerable competence in numerical modelling. GMES, in its development of GAS, aims to combine these capacities with those developed in the field of emissions and air quality monitoring, modelling and projections, human health and ecosystems effects assessments and abatement response. Similarly, the experience gained by meteorological services and other capacities, for example for organizing operational observation from space, and setting up information/communication systems, should be fully exploited to achieve the objective to create an operational, sustainable atmospheric service at EU level.

In recent years, a series of focused research and development initiatives to improve modelling of the ozone layer, air quality and climate forcing have been undertaken. MACC, a pilot project for the core of GAS, will begin middle 2009. By that time, some key elements of the core service should be ready to run in preoperational mode. This provides a perspective to evolve smoothly and quickly toward the operational phase.

1.3 More benefits to more users What are the benefits of such an integrated Atmosphere Service? Not only the overall picture of what happens in the atmosphere will be more detailed and more accurate, but also it will be clearer why things happen.

The largest advantages will occur in fields where both meteorological and environmental worlds meet. There will be improved understanding of climate and climate change. Complicated problems, such as the interaction between climate change and ozone layer depletion or air quality, will become easier to address. The GAS will provide more detailed information on trends in atmospheric concentrations, variations in sources and sinks of gases and aerosols, as well as underlying chemical processes. In addition, GAS will support improvement of weather forecasts.

Whereas meteorological surface fluxes of momentum and energy are dependent, predictable parts of the whole system, this is not the case for chemical components, as these fluxes also strongly depend on anthropogenic activity and policy choices. Through scenario studies, univocal forecasts will be expanded, when accounting for the chemosphere, into a series of forecast scenarios depending upon man-made decisions.

GAS is expected to serve a broad community of users. The core service, developed and maintained at the Community level and serving principal users in support of European environmental policies, is complemented by downstream services. The latter exploit the outputs of the core, facilitate further work at more local level, or serve more specific users and uses such as the efforts of the health community and local administration to reduce public exposure to the air pollution. Such a service chain concept provides a solution for integrating users and their needs in a flexible and efficient way. Achieving a successful implementation of this scheme will be a major challenge for GAS.


2. The scope of GAS Core Services (GACS)

2.1 Political environment The GMES atmosphere service orientation paper and December 2006 user workshop conclusion document provide a good overview of relevant European level directives and regulations, as well as commitments of the European Union at the international level.

The most relevant legal documents or policy initiatives are: • 6th Environmental Action Programme (EC, DG ENV) setting out European environmental policy

objectives for 2002-2012; mid-term review published recently ec.europa.eu:8082/environment/newprg/index.htm

• Shared Environmental Information system (SEIS) COM2008 (46) final: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/seis/index.htm

• INSPIRE Directive:http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire/ • Air quality legislation

• Clean Air for Europe programme (CAFE), in particular the Thematic Strategy on air Pollution ec.europa.eu/environment/air/index.htm

• The new Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe including provisions for harmonised monitoring requirements for MS as well as informing the public and regulating fine particles PM2.5 levels for the first time

http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/07/st03/st03696.en07.pdf • Convention on long-range transboundary air pollution (CLRTAP) www.unece.org/env/lrtap/

• Climate changes policies • UNFCC and Kyoto Protocol: Unfcc.int/kyoto_protocol/2830.php • European Climate Change Programme (ECCP):

ec.europa.eu:8082/environment/climat/eccpii.htm • Green Paper on Adaptation to CC, White Paper to follow in fall 2008:

ec.europa.eu:8082/environment/climat/adaptation/index.htm • EC communication "Limiting Global Climate Change to 2° Celsius: The way ahead for 2020

and beyond." and related documents on EU climate policy ec.europa.eu:8082/environment/climat/future_action.htm

• Stratospheric Ozone • Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol: ozone.unep.org • EU policy on ozone: ec.europa.eu:8082/environment/ozone/community_action.htm

• Solar Radiation • Several EU policy initiatives in the filed of CCE (Climate Change Energy) including the

promotion of renewable energies, increased energy efficiency and increased use of environmental technologies, e.g. Commission communication “20 20 by 2020 – Europe’s Climate Change Opportunity”: ec.europa.eu/energy/climate_actions/index_en.htm;

• including a proposal for a directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (23.1.2008): ec.europa.eu/energy/climate_actions/doc/2008_res_directive_en.pdf

• and existing Directive 2001/77/EC on the promotion of the electricity produced from renewable energy source in the internal electricity market; Green paper: A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy; Renewable energy road map

In addition, background documents have been produced in the above international context, which outline the challenges ahead and the current shortcomings to meet them with regard to atmospheric composition, and which GMES should help to address:


• The GCOS 2nd adequacy report, GCOS implementation plan and satellite supplement address inter alia the observational needs regarding a better understanding of the climate system www.wmo.int/pages/prog/gcos/index.php?name=obervationneeds

• The IPCC 4th Assessment report summarizes the current understanding regarding climate change: www.ipcc.ch

• The IGACO-Report establishes inter alia the requirements for observations of atmospheric composition at international level: www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/documents/gaw159.pdf

2.2 User communities Users of GMES Atmosphere Services include the following:

• European institutions and agencies (European Commission: DG ENV, JRC, EEA,..) • International bodies in support of conventions (e.g. CLRTAP/EMEP; IPCC; WMO; UNEP,..) • National and regional authorities and environmental agencies, networks (EIONET, IMPEL…) • National meteorological services • Specific communities: modelling, research/science, EU research projects • EU citizens • Health services • NGOs • Other GMES services • Private sector including industrial federations • Less developed countries.

These users expect different types of products; generally it may be distinguished between users that need predominantly (a) high-volume data/data products based on monitoring or resulting from modelling, in contrast to those that rather need (b) low-volume, but highly elaborated products. Typical examples for (a) are e.g. the research/science community and meteorological services, while (b) are e.g. policy makers.

2.3 Concept of Core Services (CS) & Downstream services (DS) The GMES Atmosphere Services will be based on a Core Service (CS or GACS), which provides data and products either directly to (end)-users or to the providers (="intermediate users") of Downstream Services (DS).

The DS are outside the scope of EC, in terms of both governance and funding. In practical terms however, all services using or benefiting from the GACS implementation should be considered GMES Atmosphere services. Whether they should be included in the GACS itself depends on the "European added value" of the services:

A. CS will generally seek to provide information at scales such as pan-European, or even global.

B. Information products should be provided through the CS if they are better generated once than many times in parallel by more local providers, according to the “economies of scale” principle. This does not however exclude "ensemble" products where synergy of products from multiple providers is used to improve the robustness or accuracy of the product.

Hence, the mission of the GACS will be to produce in real-time operational, generic, multi-purpose data to monitor the composition of the atmosphere at global and European scale. The data will be composed of analyses of the state of the atmosphere for the current day, forecasts to a few days ahead, and homogeneous reanalyses of past periods. The Core Service will rely on GMES funding and provide direct support to European policies and information on global issues.


The GACS will also deliver these data services that are indispensable inputs for the DS. The DS, in turn, will seek to create targeted services tailored to meet specific user requirements. These specific products may extend to sectors far beyond air policy, such as health or transport. Expectations are that most DS will primarily support needs at national, regional and local level, generally through downscaling and assimilation of more specific/local information. Dependency on a common GACS should facilitate development, increase consistency, comparability and subsequent improvement of such DS.

Key characteristics of DS are hence their dependency on the GACS as well as the involvement of a decentralized network of service providers usually in close contact with specific users. This is of particular importance in the case of public information, where a “local face” for the information is required.

A typical example for the “division of labour” between CS and DS (in the field of Air Quality - AQ -) is the case of forecasting AQ levels to citizens: A number of regional/local DS provide citizens with relevant short-term forecasts on the quality of the air in their immediate environment, taking into account local specifics including microenvironment, culture and language. But these DS will depend on a GACS that will provide - as a result of larger-scale (regional/global) modelling - the necessary boundary conditions for the local models, improving the accuracy and reliability of the DS3.

In the following, an indicative, non-exhaustive list of DS is presented:

Air quality • Local air quality forecasts (urban scale). • Improved air-quality-related alerts and forecasts by health services supporting vulnerable

communities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory diseases, asthma (including pollen-induced allergies);

• Supporting integrated air quality indices. • Enhanced assessment of air quality within a specific region, supporting development of effective

air pollution abatement measures through proper apportionment of sources and assessment of impacts (human exposure) etc.

• Improved air-quality-related alerts and forecasts for extreme events involving the combined effects of heat stress, high UV-B exposure and poor air quality;

• Analysis of national, regional and local air pollution abatement policies and measures through inverse modelling, validation/improvement of emission inventories and reconciling bottom-up and top-down emission inventories;

• Support to implementation of indicators related to following different aspects of policy effectiveness, as for example public exposure assessment, transboundary contributions (at a particular site/regions, rather than at large scale), footprint of cities, contribution from a transport mode etc.

Climate forcing • Identification, assessment and monitoring of regional/local sources and sinks of Greenhouse Gases

and pollutants and related tracers in support of emission and sink verification and mitigation policy.

Stratospheric ozone and solar radiation • Solar-radiation potential analysis, policy scenario analysis, energy yield mapping, support to

electricity transmission network management together with site audits and plant management for solar power plants.

3 This concrete example already exists: e.g. (Downstream) services provided by AIRPARIF on AQ in “Ile de France” (Paris region) receive boundary conditions from FP6-project GEMS and their regional ENSEMBLE modelling component. www.airparif.asso.fr/


2.4 Perimeter of GACS and envisaged products/information to be delivered

The objective for the GACS is to produce outputs for the relevant users with their differing requirements, as identified above. These outputs should provide added value with regard to existing information and should not duplicate operational and sustainable services already in existence.

2.4.1 CS themes

The four primary themes of the GACS are: 1. Climate forcing (CF); 2. Air quality (AQ); 3. Stratospheric ozone (and UV); 4. Solar radiation.

These themes are to be complemented with horizontal services across the themes such as NRT satellite data provision and so-called toolboxes. In addition, there are specific recommendations on the initial CS, such as the need for re-analysis, brought forward in following subsections.

AQ and CF represent the major components of the GACS and should be considered first priority, due to their relevance to many different kinds and types of users, their estimated uptake by downstream users (especially AQ) and the high relevance to policy and research (especially CF).

A second priority for the service should be Stratospheric ozone; while much already exists today to satisfy the high relevance of these data to policy, long-term funding of observations is not secured. Finally, solar radiation has relevance to policy, but a stronger focus on downstream users in the private industry.

The support of renewable energies in the field of wind is not considered to be part of the scope, as this would encroach upon already existing and future services provided by the meteorological bodies. In addition, unlike solar energy, wind energy is generally not affected by atmospheric composition parameters.

2.4.2 Added value of GACS

In order to properly justify a GACS there is a need to produce added value on existing services and products. • The CS should fill the user-identified gaps in the accessible information on atmospheric chemistry

and provide the needed monitoring data to support policy needs. • To fulfil its role regarding the monitoring of atmospheric chemistry/composition, observational

data (space & in situ) from the themes AQ, CF and stratospheric ozone are essential. For stratospheric O3, current efforts of collecting relevant observations are quite substantial already (à IGACO report4), but there is a risk of degradation of the existing infrastructure due to lack of sustainable funding. For AQ, current efforts of collecting relevant information are similarly plentiful already. However, there are some identified gaps in spatial coverage, and in particular in ensuring effective access in NRT to support several CS.

• CS should maximize the added value through optimization of combined use and common access of remote sensing and in-situ observation monitoring, overcoming current shortcomings that limit applicability of either. The combination through data assimilation, at EU scale, is expected to bring core added value to CS, while ensuring effective access to in-situ and satellite observation, including near real time (NRT) data. This in turn will facilitate acceptance and further improvement of CS and foster development of optimized downstream services. Solar energy technologies are an important example of this vision.

4 www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/documents/gaw159.pdf


• The provision of GCOS essential climate variables (ECVs) should be regarded as a priority for the atmosphere service and thus a main driver for the climate forcing service theme to be provided. The current situation in Europe is as follows: • Surface ECVs: Many centres already do this and meet user requirements, e.g. gridded

monthly, seasonal and annual averages. However, research users, in particular, would like to have better and increased access.

• Upper-air ECVs: Temperature, wind and radiation budget are already available from other providers. Access and user specification may need improvement

• Composition ECVs: There is a clear user requirement to do more than currently exists, especially with regard to gridded information.

• For environmental policies, the establishment of trends based on long-term data is extremely relevant: For this purpose, high precision data with regard to space and time over long periods of time (several decades) is needed. Whilst a number of databases with observational data already exist, their specific objectives and/or limited access show significant potential for CS to add value. CS should ensure proper archiving and effective access to the core data/information as identified by users.

• Besides its monitoring capabilities, the GACS CS should also have forecasting and predictive as well as analysis capabilities:

• The added value and the value for money should be in providing new common services and products with at least EU-wide coverage that support a range of policies across several sectors including climate change mitigation and adaptation, air pollution abatement, health and biodiversity, aviation plus other transport modes, weather forecasting etc.

• In some cases, CS added value may be ensured by cost-effective, optimized analysis methodologies through ensemble modelling benefiting from access to single harmonized data input.

• CS added value may come also from the economies of scale – this should be demonstrated in advance through a solid user base.

2.4.3 Prioritization of product types

As regards the priorities within the four themes, the following recommendations are made: • Addressing gaps in the information on atmospheric chemistry/composition should be regarded as

an initial priority. The joint, proficient use of satellite and in situ data should be put to good use to address this priority.

• In addition, the CS should also enable forecasting, allow predictions and analysis. Policy relevance, user relevance, added value on existing services and/or economies of scale justify the inclusion of such services within CS.

For the latter services, the main areas of interest are: • 'Low volume' information: indicators, aggregate information, added value documents such as

assessments or scientific reports; • Services with a strong user uptake and providing economies of scale such as services in the

area of health and transportation (aviation, ground), supporting DS such as alert services for relevant events in air pollution and UV exposure;

• Provision of AQ scenarios (at European scale) to evaluate impact of policies or beneficial strategies to reduce pollution, especially because the step from calculating assimilated global and European 3D fields to prognostic fields is not very large;

• Confirmation of anthropogenic emissions (based on inverse modelling and satellite data) in MS as well as at global level (rapidly evolving economies) as well as the identification of sinks;


• Clarification of the contribution of emission sources (e.g. agriculture emissions of methane, NOx and N2O and forests emissions of VOCs, GHG, fires/sand-dust storms); validation / improvement of emission inventories.

• Importance of transboundary transport, including the hemispheric scale

Some other remarks: • The theme CF should have an initial focus on gridded data for atmospheric composition, in

addition to relevant observational data such as that derived through the in situ measurement infrastructure. The GACS evolution process may include a move from providing GCOS atmospheric ECVs on composition towards a provision of all GCOS ECVs, with contributions from the marine and land CS.

• Reanalysis: A focus of going back further in time (up to 1930, 40 with CC data), achieving better resolution & coupling upper air with ocean/land state parameters, using a multi-model approach with improved (and 4D) modelling capacities now available in order to provide better information – as compared to existing efforts such as ERA-40 – is clearly useful to climate modelling, but also for air quality and related fields. There are obvious advantages to including reanalysis work within a GACS and providing such an exercise at regular intervals, rather than depending on research funding outside of the operational service5.

2.4.4 Limits / borderline of CS

While the line can be drawn between the GACS and its DS with relative ease, it is more difficult to define the limits of GACS with regard to services already existing today.

Hence, there are some ambiguities on the borderline of the CS, e.g.: • In case of an “existing service”, it should not become part of the CS, as we are aiming to build

added value; however, integration in a CS may be considered in some cases in the process of service development;

• Some specialised, targeted products for a direct user should also be within the scope of GACS, especially if providing EU added value (e.g. policy relevance)

• With regard to access to observational data: here it is key to avoid duplication (e.g. with meteorological bodies): if data is already available somewhere, then this should not be done by the GACS; however, if such data is relevant for some GACS products or other GMES-CS, then these data should be included in the scope. For solar energies: as support is considered to be within scope of GACS, then the needed data/observations should be part of the GACS. Identified DS depending on observational data including meteorological data and raw satellite data should be able to obtain such data; it would therefore be appropriate to issue a "GMES label" for such data to show that it is included within the GACS umbrella, enabling open access to identified DS providers for GMES-related use.

A few examples, which also take into account the identified priorities (section 2.4.3) follow below.

2.4.4.1 Atmospheric composition In-situ and satellite observations already play a key role in the context of providing data needed for EU and MS obligations under EU legislation and in UNFCCC, CLTRAP and the Montreal Protocol. CS are not meant to duplicate or take over the established exchange mechanisms, but to provide added

5 Large-scale re-analysis for climate purposes may become part of the GACS Core Service. Alternatively, funding for such efforts needs to come from R&D framework programmes. (e.g. cooperation with FP6 projects ENSEMBLES, http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com/index.html, and CECILIA, http://www.cecilia-eu.org/). In AQ, reanalysis may be even more important due to larger number of pollutants/measurement methods/siting criteria which provide further challenges in ensuring a coherent picture and establish reliable long-term trends.


value following the principles described above. It is however likely that some existing data-flows will subsequently be modified to take advantage of GACS6.

Satellite data While GACS should not be considered as an alternate satellite data provider, there is scope within GACS for provision of validated and quality controlled selected set of (multi-sensor) satellite data of known measurement uncertainty (such as atmospheric column data on trace gases, aerosol distributions, solar radiation etc.). The greatest value is obtained from these data if user needs are considered, i.e. that for high-capacity AQ users, data is provided in conjunction with maximal information on their vertical distribution. Data are needed at high temporal and spatial resolution to monitor processes with a relatively short atmospheric lifetime. The direct use of satellite data for other users without interpretation (e.g. DS) is limited.

Concentration data In analogy to the above, GACS should not be considered as alternate in-situ observation data provider to the numerous networks already in place. However, the provision of ground-level concentration data for relevant pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO2 in µg/m3 is considered to be within GACS. These data should already carry the added value of GACS quality control, data assimilation with emission dispersion modelling and remote sensing incl. satellite observations to ensure adequate quality, comparability, spatial and temporal resolution.

To ensure the 'buy-in' by the users as well as facilitate further improvement of the service, individual components of the system (i.e. in-situ monitoring data, dispersion modelling outputs etc.) should also be available separately as GACS.

NRT in-situ and satellite data The GAS user workshop (December 2006) included in the scope of GAS (

Table 1) the provision of NRT satellite-based products, which are not currently being provided operationally by satellite data providers.

Table 1: required satellite products as identified in the Dec 2006 user workshop

NRT satellite products Data type Extension Tropospheric O3 column NRT satellite Europe Ozone profile NRT satellite Europe SO2 NRT satellite Europe Tropospheric NO2 NRT satellite Europe CHOH (plus CHOCHO?) NRT satellite Europe PM (types) NRT satellite Europe CH4 NRT satellite Europe CO2 (CO?) NRT satellite Europe Aerosol optical depth (column) NRT satellite Europe Dust NRT satellite Europe Solar radiation NRT satellite (Meteosat) Europe O3 total column NRT satellite Global Tropospheric NO2 NRT satellite Global

GACS should support the better availability and usability of Level 2 and 3 satellite data, including radiance data. It is also evident that access to NRT in-situ data needs to be provided at least to

6 In such case, they should be recognized as DS, and appropriate account should be taken in ensuring that their needs are taken into account.


modellers developing the assessment/forecasting of AQ, and most probably to its users as well (see §2 above).

GMES implementation should promote open data access policy; however the provision of basic observational data to end users should not be part of GACS. Access by high capacity users to the data collected in order to enable related CS should nonetheless be made possible within GACS.

2.4.4.2 Products other than atmospheric composition

Meteorological data Meteorological data such as clouds (an important CC variable) or wind and precipitation (essential input in AQ assessments) are already provided in a sustainable and operational manner by the national meteorological services. Provision of such data should be beyond the scope of CS. The implementation of GACS should only ensure that GACS has an effective access to this data.

There may however be GACS products which build strongly on such input, but already present added value to GMES users; examples include filtering and resampling these data to feed directly in GACS models. Such products may be offered separately as part of GACS.

Sources and sinks An important category to be considered is the information on sources and sinks, which is a) essential in determination of gridded information on atmospheric compositions, and b) one of the key policy indicators. GACS should not make an effort to disseminate the related information collected from different sources, or provide an additional layer in reporting EU emission data. However, the subsequent gridded maximum spatial/temporal resolution inventory, together with some more aggregated information, should be considered part of GACS.

There may be a number of related services envisioned such as validation/improvement of sources - emission inventories as well as sinks (refinement of atmospheric chemistry models, deposition etc.) through inverse modelling. They should be considered in the development of GACS as supporting tools in providing information of adequate and known quality. They should however at this moment not be systematically considered as specific CS, since some users may develop them as DS.

It is expected that source/sink-related GACS and DS will, through feedback, influence the data provided (similar, but to a lesser extent, can be claimed for the observational data). Flexibility in the implementation of GACS should enable the possibility that in future some of the EU international reporting obligations may be taken over by GACS.

Toolboxes Following in particularly the "economies of scale" rationale, there is scope for the provision of toolboxes based on additional modelling capabilities allowing to (interactively) further examine relevant phenomena, future scenarios / integrated assessment such as RAINS/GAINS, cost benefit analysis, to support adaptation strategies at various levels etc. Some of these toolboxes will need to be established in any case as part of the "generic services" of GACS supporting the sensitivity analysis, QA/QC, validation and further development of CS products.

While all these services could be also considered as important DS, the following should be already now considered as CS: • interactive toolbox enabling manipulation of inputs to data assimilation/models to further examine

relevant phenomena; • ability to describe future scenarios to obtain information on projected atmospheric composition,

sources and sinks.

Forecasting and identification of pollution episodes Building upon the assessment and forecasting CS specific information may be extracted linked to specific atmospheric events (e.g. long-range transport of air pollution, sand-dust storms, pollen, volcanoes, forest fires). Such CS should be explicitly targeting 'alert' DS linked to the further


processing and dissemination such as health warnings and exposure recommendations, triggering short-term actions plans such as urban transport restriction measures etc.

2.4.5 Service output parameters

A description of desired service outputs for the different themes is attempted in the following.

For all services provided, uncertainty assessments are crucial, in particular for assimilation modelling.

The required temporal and spatial resolutions for CS parameters as listed in annex 3 should not be seen as absolute, as

A. Temporal and spatial resolution often change whenever new measurement platforms or models are used;

B. Data can easily be transformed into any resolution during the download process.

Data processing and assimilation may provide information which is superior to its individual components such as in-situ or space monitoring data both in resolution as well as in quality. The resolutions indicated are based on currently identified user needs and are intended as minimum values.

2.4.5.1 Air quality (AQ) A GMES CS for AQ can provide added value regarding at least EU-wide surface monitoring, harmonization of AQ assessment, better integration of monitoring and modelling results, integration with satellite data and providing NRT concentration fields.

Further, the envisaged CS products for AQ are based on atmospheric composition data that may be categorised as follows: 1. Type of Pollutant:

a. Ozone b. Particulate matter/aerosol/soot (this includes industrial emissions and anthropogenic

dust, sea spray and geogenic dust) c. NO2 d. SO2 e. CO f. HCHO g. CHOCHO (Glyoxal; tracer of VOC emissions) h. C6H6

2. Parameters: a. Concentrations of pollutants (e.g. PM1, PM2.5, PM10): first and foremost 2D surface

grids are required. For some applications, e.g. long-range transport of pollutants, aerosols for cloud formation modelling, 3D tropospheric grids are also needed;

b. Integrated quantities (optical depths, columnar contents) and profiles; c. Other, such as sources and sinks (emission, deposition estimates, atmospheric removal

rates). 3. Periods7 (including temporal resolution and provision frequency):

a. Historic data (data anywhere in the past, e.g. the last 10 years) – as 3h time resolution and 1d/month/season/annual statistics; last year’s data to be provided annually;

b. (Near) Real Time data (“now” 8) – as 1h time series; to be provided hourly c. Forecasts (one to several days ahead) – as 1h time series; to be provided 6-hourly or

daily; 7 Similar to this distinction of temporal extents, one might add a distinction in spatial extents: global and European. 8 Particularly for public information, as near as possible approaching real time, e.g. to be approximated by forecasts in previous hours and NRT. Data should be provided within the next hour.


d. Scenarios (several years ahead) – as 1h/8h/1d/… annual statistics [and time series?]; to be provided annually.

The GACS products can be described as combinations of these three categories: see Table 2.

Table 2: CS Products for AQ: relevant combinations of pollutants, parameters and periods

Parameters

Period Columns, AOD9 Concentrations Other

Historic data (2000+)

O3, NO2, aerosol, clouds; 3h time series and annual statistics

O3, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, HCHO

Data on emissions, atmospheric processes, …

NRT O3, NO2, aerosol, clouds; 1h time series O3, PM1, PM10, NO2 Aerosols, clouds

Forecasts Not relevant O3, PM10, NO2 Aerosols, clouds

Scenarios Not relevant O3, PM10, NO2, SO2; 1h/3h/1d annual statistics Aerosols, clouds

CS products on AQ may be used (i) directly, or (ii) as basis to elaborate more specifically tailored products (DS: find examples in section 2.3).

Direct use of CS products (both by high-capacity users and by low-volume users as described in section 2.2) may be made for

• Scientific understanding and development: • Model validation • Emission estimates for inventories, natural events • Alerts of major pollution events (natural and anthropogenic) • …

• Policy scenario development • Large scale assessments by European institutions and agencies • Large scale compliance checking with AQ thresholds at MS level; e.g. O3, PM, difficult for

NO2 • Public information on large scale for AQ (However, local information may be more relevant

for public) • Improving regional and global weather forecasting (e.g. clouds and fog, and air pollution

radiative forcing) • …

2.4.5.2 Climate forcing (CF) Services on climate forcing should include

A. Monitoring of the state of the climate system (surface and upper air meteorology and composition) and its variability, and

B. Integrated Global, European and regional concentration fields of key greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and related tracers, halogenated Hydrocarbons (CFCs, HCFCs, ..) enabling determination of sources and sinks

9 The definition of time series of columns, AODs etc needs further consideration.


• The emphasis is on essential climate variables (as a minimum) and GCOS requirements; • High spatial and temporal resolution of the analysis is essential; • Include water vapour and GHG cycles as well as different emissions sources.

Where there is some information already available in an operational manner (i.e. clouds), the development of GACS in these areas should limit itself to the value added.

As outlined above (section 2.4.2), the emphasis with respect to climate forcing should lie in a provision of ECVs variables as gridded fields, with a focus on atmospheric composition. Climate (Earth System) modelling will remain outside the scope of the GACS.

Both the climate change as well as the air quality communities actually need very similar data, e.g. chemical composition, emissions, deposition fluxes, but for different purposes. Although the output of climate models is averaged over longer time spans, for the evaluation of many processes climate modellers need a fine resolution as well. Therefore, AQ and CF may be considered as a common issue within the GACS: While the user communities are different, the data requirements often overlap.

In addition, the large component for AQ and CF should also provide elaborated products going beyond the provision of atmospheric composition data targeting the low-volume CS users such as policy makers.

Annex 3.1 lists the envisaged products, their intended uses and the required parameters for AQ and CF.

2.4.5.3 Stratospheric ozone and UV services The GAS user workshop (December 2006) asked for the following topics to be included: • Improved and sustained monitoring of the current status and trends in stratospheric ozone

depletion; • Routine provision of updated Ozone, UV and solar radiation maps and forecasts; • Historic European UV and solar radiation records and mapping;

See Annex 3.1 for the envisaged products.

2.4.5.4 Solar radiation (renewable energies) The GACS can provide added value for Solar Radiation regarding an EU-wide monitoring, and integration with other GMES services. Besides high-quality satellite-derived solar radiation, the renewable energy industry would benefit from improved quality and access to meteorological observations. Closer partnership between in situ observation networks and industry would stimulate expansion and qualitative enhancement of the observation infrastructure.

The outputs envisaged to be provided by a CS for this theme are: • Access to Satellite-derived (Meteosat) continental data of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI)

and possibly also Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI); • Access to in-situ solar radiation observations (global, diffuse and direct irradiance measured by

meteorological services, BSRN, GEBA, and IDMP networks), including other meteorological parameters (air temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity, etc.);

• Prepared (filtered, resampled etc.) solar model data inputs comprising from relevant observational data and GACS AQ and CF CS outputs, e.g. ozone, water vapour, aerosols, atmospheric turbidity (as an alternative to water vapour and aerosols), cloud parameters, snow cover (NRT data needed);

• Genuine CS products such as time series, averages, maps.

The satellite-derived CS output products are listed in detail in Annex 3.


The solar radiation theme is closely linked to other Atmosphere Core Services (such as Air Quality and Climate Forcing) as it depends on similar data, for the provision of high-quality solar radiation products (as inputs to solar radiation models)

2.5 Cross-cutting issues to other services The GACS has a need to acquire satellite observations delivered by other GMES services, specifically those related to land or ocean parameters. The latter two services will most probably need operational access to GACS products as well. Hence it is important to design data access procedures allowing easy implementation of data streams between the GMES core services.

The HALO FP6-project focused on the data acquisition and data exchange requirements of the interacting parts of the three integrated projects MERSEA, GEOLAND and GEMS. Common data demands and direct product exchanges are discussed in detail in the HALO documents10,11. The HALO recommendations are also applicable to the GACS and to the other GMES services. Cross-cutting issues and relevant dependencies between marine, land, emergency and the atmosphere service have been adequately identified, as follows: • Sources and sinks:

• A Global Fire Assimilation Capability describing the biomass burning emissions into the atmosphere and the associated changes in carbon stock and land cover is needed.

• GMES should encourage the scientific development of ecosystem models incorporating the carbon cycle explicitly in the marine and land monitoring services.

• The three Earth system pillars of GMES (Land, Marine, and Atmosphere) should contribute jointly to the monitoring of carbon and nitrogen sinks and sources with the ultimate goal of supplying the factual basis for political decisions regarding climate change and air pollution. The GACS addresses source attribution from atmospheric observations; the Land and Marine CS model the terrestrial and oceanic stocks and fluxes.

• Reanalysis: • As discussed above, GMES should include a new atmosphere re-analysis in support of the

ocean re-analysis that will be produced by the marine fast track service. • Interactions between services:

• The Land, Ocean and Atmosphere services each need to generate or acquire the best possible estimates of interfacial fluxes of momentum, radiation, sensible heat, latent heat and interfacial fluxes of a number of atmospheric constituents including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water vapour and aerosol.

• It is important to have consistent high-resolution datasets with Land/Marine for cross-cutting issues needing all three, e.g. climate change.

• GMES marine and atmosphere monitoring systems should be encouraged to maintain close scientific and operational contacts with existing numerical weather prediction services so as to coordinate and further develop the multitude of interfaces already implemented between the pre-operational and operational systems; e.g. • Ocean modelling requires atmospheric forcing fields, primarily wind stress; • The systems exchange carbon dioxide as well as dust and sea salt aerosols; • Ocean currents, waves, and winds interact to modify all the above mentioned fluxes; • Atmospheric seasonal forecasts improve by using advanced marine seasonal forecasts;

10 HALO - Harmonised Coordination of the Atmosphere, Land, and Ocean IPs in GMES. Final Activity Report. ECMWF, 2007. www.ecmwf.int/research/EU_projects/HALO/pdf/final_activity_report_070705.pdf 11 Kaiser et al. HALO Final Scientific Report (Annex 2 of HALO Final Activity Report). 2007. www.ecmwf.int/research/EU_projects/HALO/pdf/HALO_final_scientific_070620.pdf


In addition: • A transversal GMES element for Climate Change will require important inputs from the

atmosphere service; in addition, other relevant ECVs must be delivered by Marine and Land services.

• Emissions from shipping may be envisioned for the future in connection with future services provided by GMES in the field of maritime safety & surveillance.

• The Emergency Response core service evolution envisions a facilitating of early warning systems (EWS). Model dispersion data sets are essential in the emergency response to chemical or nuclear accidents. Their provision should be considered within the GACS evolution in order to support the ERCS EWS.


3. The required in situ observational infrastructure In-situ is here defined in a broad sense to cover all “non satellite” observation data products, i.e. data from ground based in-situ measurements, ground-based remote sensing, balloon soundings12, and routine aircraft.

In-situ observation data are required as direct input to local, regional and European air quality models used for air quality forecasting or monitoring its long-term trends, for either assimilation or validation purposes. The boundary layer is not well monitored from space observation and many species are currently only accessible through collecting in-situ observations.

In-situ observation data are also essential for monitoring of greenhouse gases and ozone.

The following sub-sections contain a set of assessments and recommendations regarding the in situ observation infrastructure, bearing in mind needs of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service (GACS). However, the needs of future Downstream Services (DS), such as local AQ forecasting systems and the growing solar energy sector were not left aside either, in particular because some in situ observation capacities could feed both the GACS and these downstream services.

3.1 In situ observation needs for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service

The GMES Atmosphere Core Service (GACS) provides products for four main application areas: (i) air quality, including long range transport of pollution, (ii) climate forcing, (iii) stratospheric ozone, UV and (iv) solar energy. These areas have different requirements regarding the need for in-situ data ranging from near real time (within hours) over rapid delivery (days) up to delayed mode of delivery (more than 1 month).

A number of parameters coming from in situ observations should be fed into the GACS in order to ensure the above-mentioned requirements. A short overview is listed below, while the detailed description is attached to this report as tables in Annex 4.

Air quality: • Continuous surface station measurements for gaseous (O3, NO, NO2, CO, SO2; if possible:

HCHO, C6H6) and aerosol mass concentrations (PM10, PM2.5), as well as pollen data; • meteorological parameters (temperature, wind, humidity, pressure); • Ground-based remote sensing (O3, aerosol from LIDAR - several times a day/daily delivery,

Aerosol optical depth from sky radiometers); • Particulate matter (PM) composition (weekly, at least episodic for selected sites); • Sondes (O3) several times a day/daily delivery; • Aircraft (O3, PM, NO2; possibly others like VOC); • Emission data and deposition fluxes; • Ancillary data (administrative units, land cover, elevation); • Data quality information: detailed error estimates, specification of minimum detection limit;

preliminary quality check at provider side for NRT data; • Timeliness: NRT (not later than three hours later) for forecasting (at least hourly delivery);

DM (delayed mode delivery) for validation (bi-annual); • Geographical coverage: Europe, equally distributed number of stations, representative

distribution of remote/rural/suburban/traffic stations.

Climate forcing:

12 Such observations provide important knowledge in R&D phases


• Surface concentrations, surface fluxes and vertical profiles/column for the essential climate variables as identified by WMO and GCOS, including water vapour, ozone and aerosol, and GHGs (CO2, CH4, and N2O)13;

• High accuracy is essential for the quantification of long-term trends and for Kyoto protocol compliance modelling;

• Timeliness of data is of lower priority, although RD1 (Rapid Delivery, with delay ~1 day) might be useful for assimilation in models and for validation of satellite retrievals (in relation to Kyoto and Montreal protocol compliance);

• Data from the UTLS (O3, H2O) are important for diagnosing climate change and its influence on air quality;

• The measurements must cover the global scale and require international coordination, e.g., via GAW.

Stratospheric ozone and UV: • Daily total column, vertical profiles, and UTLS measurements of ozone and aerosol

(concentration and optical properties), plus total column and profile information on source gases (weekly) and surface measurements of UV radiation on a global scale;

• Accuracy requirements range from 1% for trends in TOC to 3% for NRT ozone mapping and prediction of UV radiation in order to assess compliance with the Montreal Protocol.

Solar energy: • Hourly or even 5-15 min values of global and direct normal radiation with an accuracy of 3%

for global and 5% for direct normal radiation; • NRT for network operation (Downstream Services); • Meteorological data (temperature, wind, humidity, pressure) in NRT; • Ancillary data (administrative units, land cover, elevation).

3.2 In situ existing observation infrastructure for GACS Main in-situ observation infrastructure available for the GACS include:

1. For air quality: • National and regional air quality networks, which are mandated at EU level (EC, EEA,

EIONET), operated by Member States and by regional and urban authorities, sometimes also by national meteorological services. The data collection scheme and the parameters measured/reported are based on legal requirements (EU AQ Directives and follow up daughter directives, national and regional legislation). The objective is assessment, compliance with limit values and information to the public. Data are sent to regional, national, and EC (AirBase) databases. Most sites are located in sub-urban, urban, or industrial areas. There are also a number of regional sites, which are often also measurement sites for the EMEP programme.

• EMEP (Co-operative European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) was established under the LRTAP convention. The focus on EMEP is on long-range transport; therefore, in order to measure background concentrations, EMEP stations are located at rural sites. EMEP monitoring includes a large number of chemical and physical parameters to enable a complete understanding of transport, chemical conversion and deposition of pollutants at the regional scale. For the GAS in-situ infrastructure, the EMEP measurements of pollutant concentrations and wet deposition, emission inventories are important.

13 Phenological data are additional useful indicators of climate change; other long-lived greenhouse gases such as halocarbons, fluorocarbons, and sulphur hexafluoride needed when considering the ozone layer are also relevant for climate forcing..


• Near-real-time AQ data infrastructures in Europe relevant for GAS (EEA NRT AQ, EUSAAR, AirCE, Citeair, IAGOS)

2. The European UV network comprises about 40 stations with spectroradiometers and broadband EUV-biometers, operated by national agencies, who mostly (36) submit their data to the European EUV data base at FMI, Helsinki. QA procedures are established and further developed. There are about 100 additional regional stations operated by regional agencies.

3. Infrastructures and long-term research projects, which are supported by national research organisations with a long-term commitment and often co-funded by the EC: AERONET (aerosol column measurements by sun photometers coordinated by NASA), EARLINET (European LIDAR Network for vertical profiles of aerosol layers and optical properties, EU-infrastructure), EUSAAR (EU infrastructure project for advanced surface aerosol measurements), CREATE, CARBOEUROPE; NITROEUROPE, ICOS (EU infrastructure for measurements of GHGs (concentration and fluxes) and, MOZAIC, CARIBIC, IAGOS-ERI (EU infrastructure for routine aircraft observations, O3, H2O, NOx, CO, CO2, aerosol).

4. The European Aeroallergen Network (EAN) combines in-situ monitoring activities for biogenic allergenic aerosols, which are important for medical use. EAN currently receives operational monitoring information from 376 sites in 39 countries (also from outside Europe). The central database GAW-WDCA covers 213 pollen and spore types in total, with information content varying between the regions, climatic zones and contributors.

5. National Meteorological Services (NMS) collect, transfer and assimilate data from the global meteorological observing network in the framework of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and through Global Telecommunication System (GTS). Data access and exchange are managed under Resolution 40 of the 1995 WMO Congress and the ECOMET agreement. The meteorological observing network is under re-assessment due to new needs with respect to more advanced higher resolution modelling. The GTS will, starting 2009, be superseded by the more open WMO Information System (WIS), which will have data centres open to the public. The European NMS coordinate their activities within EUMETNET, facilitating the contact at EU level.

6. Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) coordinates world wide the total ozone (Dobson and Brewer) and the ozone sounding network. In addition, GAW stations measure greenhouse gases, such as CO2, methane and N2O, reactive gases (NOx, surface O3 etc.), aerosols and precipitation chemistry. The GAW network is coordinated by the secretariat of WMO. Since its inception in 1992, GAW has matured and developed into a programme with support from a large number of WMO Members. Twenty-four stations (comprising one or several individual sites) constitute the network of Global GAW stations. The remaining stations represent the GAW network of Regional and Contributing stations which add significantly to the global observing systems. More than 100 countries have registered approximately 700 stations with the GAW Station Information System (GAWSIS). As of March 2007, each of the GAW World Data Centres (WDCs) have registered anywhere between 80 and 400 stations. The surface-based observational network remains the back-bone of GAW.

7. NDACC, SHADOZ, TCCON and BSRN are independent worldwide networks that collaborate with and contribute to GAW.

• NDACC consists of approximately 70 stations world-wide for high-precision long-term measurements focused on free atmosphere. The network uses UV-Vis spectrometers, UV spectroradiometers, lidars, FT-IRs and microwave spectrometers to measure columnar contents and profiles of a large number of atmospheric constituents.

• SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozone sondes) is a subset (12 active sites) of the GAW ozone sonde sites that are coordinated by NASA. It has its own data centre.

• TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) is a network of 10 ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometers recording direct solar spectra in the near-infrared spectral region. From these spectra, accurate and precise column-averaged abundance of CO2, CH4, N2O, HF,


CO, H2O, and HDO are retrieved. TCCON provides an essential validation resource for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), SCIAMACHY, and GOSAT.

• BSRN (Baseline Surface Radiation Network) is a WCRP/GEWEX project aimed at detecting important changes in the earth's radiation field at the earth's surface which may be related to climate change. At about 40 stations in contrasting climatic zones, solar and atmospheric radiation is measured with instruments of the highest available accuracy and with high time resolution (1 to 3 minutes).

3.3 Shortcomings of the existing In situ observation capacities

3.3.1 Geographical coverage and adequacy of the monitoring activities

Air quality The inadequate monitoring and geographical coverage of parameters for air quality assessment (in particular surface PM2.5, CO and VOCs) is an issue which should be addressed by optimization of the spatial distribution of air quality stations.

Monitoring on the regional/rural scale should be in compliance with the recommendations of the EMEP monitoring strategy in terms of station density and parameters to be measured.

There is in particular a need for additional sites in the Balkan area, Mediterranean, and Eastern Europe as priority regions. The number of sites for the measurement of ozone, NOx, and CO should be increased there so that it is in compliance with the recommendations of the EMEP monitoring strategy in terms of station density. More regional sites for the measurement of VOCs are needed, and more sites with PM2.5 and PM1 would be useful. In some regions of Europe, in particular in the south and south-eastern part, more PM10 measurements are needed. Further research, particularly modelling, should aid the strategic positioning of AQ measurement stations.

Climate change The infrastructure for monitoring GHG (CO2, CH4, N2O) is inadequate. While there are many monitoring stations in Europe, particularly for CO2, there is insufficient coverage in remote marine areas. There is need for relocating monitoring stations to European owned territories, particularly over the southern ocean14.

As to phenological data, there is a very low coverage in most parts of Europe.

An adequate monitoring infrastructure needs to be set up to address the role of aerosols and clouds, which generate (see IPCC reports) large uncertainties in determining the current anthropogenic climate forcing. EARLINET and especially a limited subset of supersites are instrumental to this purpose in Europe. Similar initiatives exist in the USA (the ARM-sites)

Stratospheric ozone Many European nations perform routine measurements of total ozone with Dobson and Brewer instruments in support of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Ozone profile measurements are also carried out at several stations.

It is usually considered a national obligation to carry out these measurements. However, compared to the global coverage, Europe is again over-sampled. Dobson instruments that are complemented by a Brewer instrument at the same station should be relocated to data sparse regions, such as Asia, Africa and Latin America. Coordinated approach is needed among European countries to agree on how the station density could be homogenised globally.

14 High latitude regions should also be mentioned


3.3.2 Sustainability of the observation capacities

There is a limited sustainability of in-situ infrastructure, in particular for vertical profiles (for ozone, aerosol, CO, NOx, CO2), which are often provided and operated by national research institutions. • For air quality, the key activities are derived from existing long term structures (monitoring in

support of AQ Directive, EEA, EMEP, GAW, HELCOM, and OSPAR) as described in official documents, e.g. the monitoring in the EU description, the EMEP strategy, and the GAW strategy. However, these structures deliver mostly surface in-situ data and vertical ozone content. The important requirements for vertical profiles (ground based and aircraft measurements) are presently fulfilled by weaker structures and should be consolidated for GMES purpose.

• As regards climate forcing, data from the UTLS on O3 and H2O, as well as vertical profiles of GHG (O3, CO2, CH4) and aerosol properties, have similarly been provided mainly through research projects, some of which are currently transformed into European research infrastructures under the support of Member States.

• Most important for GMES are those “research-type” monitoring structures, such as AERONET, EARLINET, EUSAAR, IAGOS-ERI, ICOS, and NDACC/TCCON, which have a proven longstanding record and are sustained by institutions with a strong commitment but not necessarily for very long term operational activities. Sustainability of some key infrastructure components for GACS and related activities, including the AERONET central European calibration and maintenance site, the EARLINET NRT collection and operation, EUSAAR, ICOS, the support for IAGOS-ERI operation, the GAW/NDACC capacity building/training for NRT, and support for its long term operation, should be ensured. In the long-term, the sustainability of observations from regular aircraft measurements should also be ensured. It is particularly important to expand routine aircraft observations to remote areas of the Northern Hemisphere and to the Southern Hemisphere (as planned in IAGOS). Due to the need for long term contracts with airlines and the long lead times for certification, routine aircraft observations cannot be guaranteed on the basis of research projects, but require a long term perspective.

3.3.3 Availability of data

Air quality There is insufficient timeliness of data availability compared to GACS needs, e.g. NRT data for AQ forecasting and solar power. It is recommended to establish common and sustainable mechanisms for the provision of NRT data required by GACS, in particular for air quality forecasting and solar energy, using existing infrastructures established by EEA or forthcoming structures, such as the WMO WIS, or EMEP initiative.

The provision of NRT AQ data, in particular of PM2.5, is needed for assimilation in models operated by GMES core and downstream services...

Another issue related to air quality is an inadequate availability of NRT meteorological data to services. The NRT meteorological data should be made more easily available for local/regional air quality modellers on the basis of detailed service requirements.

Ozone and UV Ozone sonde data from a number of European stations are gathered in NRT at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) and passed on to ECMWF. The existing routine for NRT collection of European ozone sonde data should be expanded to include all ozone sonde stations worldwide. Some short-term support might be needed to implement routines that once established would run with a minimum of effort.

There is no such NRT facility for total ozone, although some stations (only one in Europe) submit total ozone data to the WMO GTS system. A system to collect total ozone data in NRT and make it


available to the GAS Core Service should be established. This system should encompass stations world wide. It should make use of WMO’s GTS (WIS in the future).15

The NRT UV data (both scans and EUV/UV Index values) are available only in regional data bases and information systems. The data are not collected or shared in the EU scope. Except for some pilot experiments in the past, a system for NRT and RD (Rapid Delivery) UV data exchange data does not exist at EU level. Same as for total ozone data, a system to collect UV data in NRT and make it available to the GACS should be established.

In addition, The European data centre for UV (EUVDB) does not serve for all European stations. Because of limited resources, the UV calibrations with the new calibration unit developed in the frame of the QUASUME project are performed only occasionally. All European UV radiation data should be made available through a single focal point.

Solar radiation NRT solar radiation data are needed for grid operation. The data are used (i) locally, (ii) for online quality check of satellite data, and (iii) as input for forecast products. Solar radiation measurements collected by national meteorological services should be available in NRT, preferably at 5-15 minutes intervals (depending on the application).

GEOmon and its follow-on The GEOmon (Global Earth Observation and Monitoring of the atmosphere) project, co-funded by the EU FP6, was originally planned in support of GEOSS, for building an integrated pan-European atmospheric observing system of greenhouse gases, reactive gases, aerosols, and stratospheric ozone. Ground-based and air-borne data are gathered, harmonised and analysed for supporting the quantification and understanding of the atmospheric composition changes.

GEOmon is seen as an important contribution for preparing the operational GACS in-situ data management in terms of databases and NRT data delivery, and for establishing the data structures required by GACS. Several functionalities developed by this project should be sustained, either through direct integration in the GACS architecture, or through external functionalities interfaced with the GACS system.

3.4 Coordination mechanisms The in-situ observation provision to the GACS requires several levels of coordination linked to:

• The long term availability of the in situ observation infrastructure required by GACS, and the related data access conditions which should be addressed at governmental and institutional levels:

• For European capacities: between the Member States and the EU • For international capacities: through the existing frameworks and forums, including the GEO

and WMO, or through bi- or multi-lateral approaches when relevant. • The technical coordination for data collection, assembly and provision to the GACS, which should

be addressed by technical entities with the appropriate level of coordination.

This section will be more focused on technical issues.

Infrastructure coordination Currently both the stratospheric Ozone and UV data that originate from EU networks are managed individually by national institutions; they are not subordinated to joint EU reporting obligations. Long-term and regular ozone observations are co-ordinated and supported by the GAW facilities and the NDACC initiative in Europe. The UV observations are mostly controlled under EC funded R&D projects.

15 The archiving/availability of non-NRT total ozone and profile ozone data should also be addressed. This dataset is the basis for trend analyses in the framework of the Montreal protocol.


It is then recommended that, considering the GACS implementation and related requirements, a European coordination for the observation and data management infrastructure for O3 and UV should be set up. It would serve as a European contribution to the GAW/IGACO and GEO programmes and would also represent an asset for downstream services.

“Research-type” monitoring structures, such as AERONET, EARLINET, EUSAAR, IAGOS-ERI, ICOS, and NDACC/TCCON, have a proven longstanding record and are sustained by institutions with a strong commitment. To the extent possible, it is recommended that research monitoring infrastructure should be coordinated with or made part of the EMEP/GAW joint supersite arrangement.

Data quality and standardization The lack of interchange between networks results in the absence of common Quality Assurance (QA) standards, common data formats and conversion procedures for data used in different networks and for different purposes. There is a clear need for traceable and harmonised data quality across various networks. It is recommended to define or apply common international standards for different data, preferably by expanding or implementing EN or ISO standards as it is already the rule in the meteorological community.

From the short-term viewpoint, there is a need for establishing NRT procedures, including QA, for regular LIDAR profiles of aerosol and for establishing a European QA centre for the European sun photometer network (AERONET), which is currently mainly sustained by NASA.

The data quality of the Dobson, Brewer and sonde networks is secured through GAW calibration centres, but the sustainability for these is variable. These calibration centres should be secured; since they look after the whole European region (the whole world for the ozone sonde calibration centre) this should be a European responsibility and not only rely on a few nations’ voluntary efforts.

A sustainable assistance to a central calibration facility for European UV radiation stations is necessary.

In summary, the EU should support the operation and further development of central European facilities including:

• Ozone and UV calibration and mapping centres, • EMEP, AERONET and EARLINET calibration, • The provision and storage of quality-controlled long-term reference data sets for open access

by the GACS and GMES users.

Databases It is also recommended to support the harmonisation of air quality and atmospheric chemistry databases, based on activities such as EMEP, GAW, CREATE, AirBase, as well as national and regional networks in order to harmonise processing methodologies, data formats, quality assurance procedures and NRT data dissemination for GAS. As a long-term goal, it is recommended to implement a common and interoperable management of atmospheric constituent databases.

An improved European high resolution air quality emissions database, building on existing infrastructure such as EMEP and EPER, as an input for air quality modelling is needed and should be supported.

Finally, error estimates and site descriptions (metadata) are very important for assimilation modelling. Data and metadata formatting should be adopted in line with the INSPIRE process (Air SDIC) to enable proper data filtering, interoperability and metadata information defined by the Air SDIC (Data Exchange Group) under EC DG Environment chairing.

In this context, the added-value of GEOmon-like approaches for data quality and harmonization and for database coordination and management should be taken advantage of and sustained through in the long term. Moreover, a coordination body for the GACS in situ observation infrastructure (e.g.


embedded in the GACS coordination structure) should be set up for managing the technical activities and the various interfaces and linkages between the various actors.

Regarding coordination issues, the technical and institutional roles and functionalities covered by EEA, SEIS and the INSPIRE framework and its related data management infrastructure, should be clarified, and their consequences and impacts on the GACS governance and architecture identified. Guidance on these issues should be provided by the In-Situ Observation Working Group.

3.5 Funding and data policy issues A coordinated European approach, with greater liaison between funding sources and implementing entities, is essential to streamline funding and thereby provide significantly increased stability for observation infrastructure, data quality and the provision of observation data.

Current funding is provided through regional, national, governmental, European and private authorities with different interests. In most cases, long-term funding is not available; monitoring activities must rely heavily on the successful renewal of two or three year contracts by individual researchers.

The funding stream for monitoring is in some cases (but not for meteorology-like observations) the same as for interest-driven research despite the different nature and aims of the work involved. In recent years, research funding organisations have put an increasing emphasis on ‘innovative’ and ‘wealth creating’ science. Atmospheric monitoring does not fall in these categories per se, but rather contributes significantly to policy and public debate through the extension of established, high quality records and increased spatial, temporal and species coverage.

The implementation of an operational GACS requires the availability of European atmospheric monitoring systems which should be sustainably supported as part of this operational activity through appropriate funding mechanisms.

Many in-situ services needed for GAS still depend on discontinuous, cyclical funding and additional EU R&D funding for specific objectives. A great number of EU research projects have included an in-situ data component which involves support for collection or acquisition of data from across member states or standardisation of data collection and management processes. The data, the relationships developed with data holders and data processes become part of a capital which helps the consortia to secure further work. As a consequence, EU funded research with its reliance on cyclical funding can reduce in situ availability (as it stays within certain consortia), or is lost as funding is discontinued. Organizations’ financing models have been adapted to the funding cycle and requirements and this creates obstacles to data access, which ultimately undermines the development of GMES.

For in-situ observation networks, a transition of funding from research projects to long-term sustainable schemes for the upgrade of observing systems, services, and the set-up of a data management system are highly recommended.

To fix the orders of magnitude for air quality, it is estimated that about 3000 AQ monitoring stations exist in Europe (without research networks), with running costs of 30-55 k€/year/station, and investment costs of about 10 k€/yr/station, which results in total costs of 120-200 M€ for the standard AQ monitoring stations in Europe. It has to be emphasized that the 30-55 k€/year/station are the costs for AQ stations that measure standard AQ components and are relatively easy to cover. The costs for background monitoring stations (e.g. EMEP stations) that are more remote and/or measure special components can be much higher (i.e. 130-150 k€/yr).

The European operational ozone and UV monitoring network is almost fully supplied from national resources - mostly by the meteorological services, universities, atmospheric research institutions or by grant agencies. A joint and sustainable international funding system has not been established for O3 and UV In-situ infrastructure in Europe. Ozone observations in several newly adopted EU countries are occasionally supported by the GAW programme, by the EC funded research projects or by EU partner institutions. The existing joint European GAW technological facilities (RDCC-E, RBCC-E, WCCOS) that assist the monitoring stations are also mostly funded by national agencies. For


sustainable function and further development of these facilities an additional funding in the GMES framework is needed. Some ozone measurements like the airborne, LIDAR/microwave measurements or special satellite validation missions are supported by temporary R&D projects.

Concerning data policy, the situation is not homogeneous, as illustrated by the case of total ozone and UV data. About 70 % of the European stations provide their provisionally quality controlled total ozone data operationally to the WMO World Ozone Mapping Centre. The derived products are free-available to users. The ozone and UV data files deposited in databases of some specific programmes/projects (e.g. NDACC, BAS, SHADOZ, SUVDAMA/SCOUT) are not fully accessible to users because of different levels of restrictions given by the projects´ agreements.

Within Europe, the existing legal reporting frameworks (e.g. AQ directives) should be used to provide the framework to request (additional) in-situ data. Specific thematic legislative acts, such as INSPIRE, as well as SEIS, can be leveraged to achieve the results foreseen to be needed for GMES services. Mandates agreed at a European level by the “Group of Four”16 and other existing European data centres should be used to provide a basic framework around which the European dimension of in-situ data can be built. 17

The availability of near real time surface weather data is a special case and specific bilateral agreements have been established in several countries. It is recommended that the access to meteorological data in the context of GMES has to be clarified, and organisations have to be mandated to negotiate and resolve limitations on non-research use of meteorological data for the whole of the EU. Furthermore, it is essential that GMES funding of networks/infrastructures must be conditional to open data access.

In more general terms, a governance approach is needed for the in-situ observation component required by the GAS. This approach should involve the relevant Member States and European authorities mandated for making arbitrations, deciding priorities and long-term commitments about the long term availability of in-situ observation infrastructure and related data processing and management facilities, and their evolution.

3.6 International cooperation issues International cooperation is mandatory for GACS because it requires global in situ observation data which cannot be collected only by European infrastructure. It induces that international cooperation mechanisms should be used for the coordination of in situ observation infrastructure and exchange of data.

It was recognized that there is too little cooperation between existing networks and data centres. In several countries, national agencies have limited access to data from regional networks. Furthermore, a diversity of data access policies and a large number of specific bilateral data exchange agreements exists. In addition, there is limited access by organisations and networks to in-situ data, e.g. only to partial data-sets or aggregated values. In particular, a clear need for access to meteorological in-situ data is found.

On an international level, coordination is required between European networks and other non-European networks, e.g. in the USA and Asia (for AQ etc.). Important topics are exchangeable data formats and compatible (known) instrumentation, as well as calibration / validation and QA procedures.

Monitoring from commercial aircraft (IAGOS) has the important advantage of providing worldwide information which is based on a common set of instruments, is based on the same quality standards,

16 Made up of DG Env, EEA, Eurostat, and JRC. A 2005 technical agreement on Environmental Data Centres identifies roles in relation to DG Environment’s information needs. 17 The EU's EEA is mandated to coordinate in-situ data with the support of its network (EEA/EIONET) in countries. In this context, it is advisable to extend the Exchange of Information Decision (97/101/EC) to NRT data exchange.


and is provided through a single database. The leading role of Europe in this sector should be maintained and coordination should be sought through IAGOS with other routine aircraft projects, e.g., in Japan and the USA.

Guidelines for defining the contribution of European observation infrastructure to international observation capacities and networks, and the related coordination and funding approaches should be defined at the GMES governance and management levels. These guidelines should drive the implementation approaches for the relevant GAS in-situ observation infrastructure and related capacities.

3.7 Research and Development Continued research and development is an essential component of a healthy in situ component of the GAS. Several orientations are supported: • Develop new in situ measurement techniques, including ground based remote sensing and aircraft

observations. Concerning AQ, better and more detailed methods for aerosol monitoring are called for from the public health perspective. Concerning climate change, there is a strong need to better monitor aerosols and clouds and their role in the radiation balance. More accurate and regular measurements of the increasing amount of stratospheric water vapour are necessary for the ozone layer and UV.

Also, completely new approaches might be explored, like the use of a large number of relatively cheap, low-quality sensors coupled through Internet.

• Improve comparison and characterisation of existing monitoring equipments, to better assess the obtained datasets, including measurement errors, strengths and weaknesses. This will lead the way to further harmonisation and integration.

• find and develop the best ways to make all measurements available in (decentralised but transparent) databases, in such ways that data use is facilitated maximally. This includes the NRT and computer-to-computer access that is necessary for a number of applications.

• Initiate studies to achieve the best balance (both from economic and scientific point of view) between space based and ground based monitoring, and to determine the optimal ground based networks for different components, in terms of density and locations.

• Increase accuracy and resolution of emission databases;

• Finally chemical transport models are starting to assimilate ground based monitoring data in real time, allowing more accurate forecasts and better analyses. Research is needed to find out the best ways to do this, with implications both ways: for the model and for the monitoring infrastructure.

3.8 Summary of conclusions and recommendations The GACS scope and its related information provision leads to requirements for in-situ observation data for the whole atmospheric layer (from near-surface to upper stratosphere) with European to global coverage and timeliness ranging from near real time (within hours) over rapid delivery (days) up to delayed delivery mode (more than 1 month).

A number of observation capacities already exist, based on national and regional observation infrastructure, and in many cases structured at European (e.g. EMEP for air quality) or international (e.g. through the WMO Global Atmospheric Watch for the free atmosphere) levels.

Recommendation 1: observation infrastructure availability ♦ The existing in situ observation capacities relevant for GACS, mainly based on

infrastructure operated at national level, must be sustained in the long-term by the Member States, and the European and international structure of these capacities should be consolidated by the European Union.


♦ Commitments from the Member States and the EU are needed in terms of: • Improvement or optimization of spatial coverage

• For the air quality station distribution, especially over the Balkan and Mediterranean areas and Eastern part of Europe

• Sampling of GHG observations, especially over marine areas • Relocation of stratospheric ozone observation capacities in Asia, Africa and Latin America

• Sustainability of observation infrastructure • For key air quality capacities mainly operated by Member States • For the consolidation of “research-type” monitoring capacities linked to GHG observation

(e.g. ICOS), ozone layer (e.g. NDACC), tropospheric aerosols (e.g. AERONET and EARLINET) and aircraft measurements in the troposphere (e.g. IAGOS), which in many cases contribute to international observation networks.

Recommendation 2: data management and access ♦ A critical requirement is linked to the NRT data provision to the GACS, especially

for air quality, ozone and UV, and solar radiation. There is a need to establish mechanisms and related systems enabling this data provision, encompassing the data delivery from observation infrastructure, the data management and its quality control.

♦ The creation of a European high resolution air quality emissions database, building on existing infrastructure such as EMEP and EPER, as an input for air quality modelling, should be supported.

♦ For tropospheric and stratospheric observation management, functionalities such as:

• Single-point portal enabling to connect with distributed databases, • Harmonisation of multiple-source datasets, including inter-calibration, common standards

for metadata and data currently provided through research projects such as GEOmon must be sustained for GAS, and for some of them integrated in the GAS architecture.

♦ Access conditions to meteorological data for air quality and solar energy downstream services should be clearly established.

Recommendation 3: coordination issues ♦ European coordination is needed regarding both institutional and technical issues. ♦ At institutional level, there is a need for defining approaches involving the Member

States and the European Union and addressing: • The co-management of the observation infrastructure and data provision, inducing

commitments about their long-term availability • The co-funding issues • The international cooperation and integration issues

♦ The technical coordination activities include observation infrastructure operation and data management. GAS requires in particular:

• Consolidated and integrated procedures for operating the observation capacities, including research monitoring systems, e.g. as part of EMEP

• Data quality and standardization, including calibration and validation activities


• Data management and dissemination

The international framework, e.g. CLRTAP, WMO and GEO, represents a key driver for the European coordination approach, especially regarding calibration and validation, data standards, …

The institutional and technical functionalities covered by the EEA, the Shared Environmental Information System and INSPIRE, and their impact on, or linkages with, the GACS architecture, management and governance should be clarified.

Guidance on these issues should be provided by the ISOWG, after consultation with the GACS Implementation Group and potential GACS providers.

Recommendation 4: funding issues ♦ As much of the GACS relevant in situ observation infrastructure will be provided

and operated by Member States, commitments from these Member States are needed about:

• The long-term availability of in situ observation infrastructure required by GACS, • Related data access mechanisms (including sustainable data delivery conditions).

♦ The EU funding support should in particular be focused on: • The gap filling in observation infrastructure, enabling e.g. relocation of observation capacities

and development of observation networks in e.g. Eastern part of Europe or outside Europe, • The availability and operation of Pan-European observation infrastructures that cannot be

associated to individual member states, • The European contributions, in particular through European capacities, to international

observation networks and data management systems, • Technical (e.g. Cal/Val and data management facilities) and institutional coordination

activities.

Recommendation 5: R&D ♦ A steady support to research in needed in order to

• Develop new in situ measurement techniques, including ground based remote sensing and aircraft observations, and explore various organizing scheme with the benefit of improved communication technology;

• Improve comparison and characterisation of existing monitoring equipments; • Find and develop the best ways to make all measurements available in (decentralised but

transparent) databases. • Initiate studies to achieve the best balance (both from economic and scientific point of view)

between space based and ground based monitoring, and to determine the optimal ground based networks for different components, in terms of density and locations.

• Increase accuracy and resolution of emission databases; • Stimulate joint efforts of in situ observation and modelling communities, in order to achieve

increasing and successful assimilation of in situ observations in numerical chemistry forecast models.

The EU funding support should in particular be focused on essential R&D for monitoring networks addressing global environmental issues, or environmental issues at a supra-national scale


4. The required space observational infrastructure In the following, the recommendations regarding the space infrastructure are summarised based on the overall report (available on a stand alone basis) produced by WG4.

These recommendations have been forwarded to the space agencies ESA and EUMETSAT in order to guide their considerations of user requirements. A relevant workshop at ESTEC, 25th April 2008, was held between ESA, EUMETSAT, the EC and IG/WG4 representatives in order to discuss these findings.

Funding for S-4 and S-5 is earmarked in Segment 2.

4.1 Space observation needs for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service

The GMES Atmosphere Core Service (GACS) provides products for three main application areas: (i) air quality, including long range transport of pollution, (ii) climate forcing and (iii) stratospheric ozone, UV and solar energy.

These products cover short (including when appropriate near real-time) to long term (especially through reanalysis) information needs.

The specific parameters to be derived from space observation requirements for each of the GACS application areas include: 1. For air quality: (vertical profiles of)18 particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide

(NO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and sulphur dioxide (SO2), with hourly sampling during daytime with specific focus over the European area and its neighbourhood

2. For climate forcing: vertical distribution of tropospheric Essential Climate Variables as identified by WMO and GCOS, including water vapour, ozone, aerosols (optical and chemical properties), cloud optical properties and greenhouse gases with focus on carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), with global coverage

3. For ozone, UV and solar energy: total content and profiles (especially in the upper troposphere and stratosphere) of ozone, plus information on water vapour, active nitrogen components, nitrogen reservoir and source species (NOx, HNO3 and N2O), active halogens and halogen reservoirs, aerosol and cloud optical properties and methane with global daily coverage and vertical resolutions ranging from 0.5 to a couple of km.

In addition, also needed for all activity areas: 4. Access to the full range of data utilized in operational numerical weather prediction 5. Information on fire activity.

As the availability of well documented long time series of atmospheric composition parameters (mainly derived from reanalysis) for climatology purposes is of major importance for GACS, the continuity of space observations with stable operational performances and quality is considered as the highest priority.

4.2 Space infrastructure for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service The fulfilment of the GACS requirements for space observation is linked to the availability of several types of missions, including:

18 Vertical profiles in the troposphere are needed for most of the species of interest except NO2 for which it can be assumed that the major part is localized in the PBL. However, vertical profiles are in many cases not feasible, especially not for the GEO UVN and the precursor and only partly for the Sentinel 5. The possibility to achieve vertical profiles is a matter of combined techniques; EO measurements, in-situ-measurements and advanced 4D-Var assimilation in models.


• For the short-term, European and international satellites or payloads already operated or planned in the near future,

• For the medium to long-term, continuity of current observation capacities or implementation of new ones.

Many observation capacities relevant for GACS have no redundancies, neither at European nor at international levels. In order to mitigate this weakness: • Missions initially designed for research purposes and whose observation performances have been

validated could be used in the operational context of GACS • All possibilities for maximizing the observation potential, including complementary or shared

infrastructures with non European institutions, need to be explored.

Major features of the present /anticipated space infrastructure are illustrated by charts in Annex 5

4.2.1 Existing European observation capacities

It is recognized that: • The "atmospheric chemistry payload" of ENVISAT, including the SCIAMACHY, MIPAS and

GOMOS instruments, is crucial for the characterization of atmospheric composition throughout the troposphere and stratosphere,

• The IASI instrument onboard MetOp/EPS makes a substantial contribution to global monitoring of many atmospheric species which is crucial for many GACS components,

• The GOME-2 instrument onboard MetOp/EPS and the European OMI instrument onboard NASA’s AURA enable to derive column characteristics for e.g. O3, NO2 and SO2,

• The MSG SEVIRI, MetOp/EPS AVHRR-3, ENVISAT/AATSR&MERIS and PARASOL instruments contribute to the characterization of aerosols and clouds, solar radiation and in some cases fire.

It is accordingly recommended to: ♦ Maximise the lifetime of the ENVISAT atmospheric chemistry instruments and of

the AATSR and MERIS instruments19, ♦ Deliver operationally to GACS the MetOp/EPS and MSG relevant observations.

More specifically, for the GOME-2 instrument onboard MetOp/EPS, it is recommended to: ♦ Explore the feasibility for the two remaining MetOps to provide GOME-2 with

increased performance, in order to achieve improved spatial sampling.

4.2.2 Future European observation capacities

4.2.2.1 UV-visible-near and shortwave infrared spectrometers GMES Sentinels 4 and 5 payloads are proposed by ESA in order to address the atmospheric chemistry observation collection in the 2015-2025 timeframe and to initiate a new era of operational missions in heritage of successful previous and current demonstration missions.

The two spectrometers – UV-visible and near-infrared (UVN) in geostationary (GEO) orbit for Sentinel-4, and UV-visible-near-infrared and shortwave infrared (UVNS) in low-Earth (LEO) orbit for Sentinel-5 – should primarily address the needs for climate forcing gases20 and its precursors and 19 A similar recommendation (see the section devoted to international issues) holds for OMI, an ESA third party mission and also a Dutch-Finnish instrument; OMI might be seen as part of the existing European observation capabilities.. 20 It is understood that CO2 and CH4 are very important ECVs. SCIAMACHY and IASI as well as OCO and GOSAT will allow preparing for some initial services. Even with SCIAMACHY (not fully optimised for CO2/CH4, especially with regard to spatial resolution) there is already added value demonstrated. Thus Europe could significantly contribute to atmospheric CO2 and CH4 monitoring from space.


basic needs for aerosol monitoring, as well as high temporal/spatial resolution measurements of tropospheric composition for application to air quality.

Additionally, EUMETSAT has started preparatory activities for its future geostationary and polar missions, i.e. MTG and Post-EPS, to be launched by 2017 and 2020 respectively, where identified application areas include ozone layer and surface UV monitoring & forecasting, composition-climate interaction, and air quality monitoring & forecasting.

The use of MTG and Post-EPS satellites as platforms for implementing the Sentinels 4 and 5 payloads is a major option under consideration in the GACS perspective. In this context: • The Sentinel-4 (GEO) is a new observation capacity which should be handled by Europe. It

should especially improve the time sampling (as needed based on GACS requirements) and then increase the frequency of cloud-free observations, which is important for highly reactive gases such as NO2 and SO2.

• Embarking the Sentinel-5 payload onboard Post-EPS would allow sustaining global monitoring of atmospheric composition established by GOME-2 / IASI operationally on MetOp, by OMI on EOS-Aura and by SCIAMACHY /ENVISAT to retrieve greenhouse Gases.

• This plan would however clearly lead to a significant data gap for the LEO observation capacity after ENVISAT and USA's AURA lifetimes, i.e. in the 2010 (2012) –2015 (2020) timeframe, in particular for data in support of air quality applications and tropospheric climate gases and its precursors.

4.2.2.2 UV-visible-near and shortwave infrared spectrometers It is accordingly recommended to develop and deploy the following new capacities:

♦ A UVN spectrometer (Sentinel-4) to be embarked on MTG-S • To serve needs of regional operational Air Quality applications requiring dense sampling,

in Europe, • To allow optimal use of the synergies of an UVN on MTG with the FDHSI (clouds,

aerosol) and IRS (tropospheric O3 and CO) instruments. ♦ Around 2014, a UVNS spectrometer (precursor of Sentinel-5) in a polar orbit

complementary to MetOp, with afternoon equator crossing time • To serve global needs of Air Quality applications as optimal addition to MetOp and the

USA's NPOESS, • To add SWIR observations to sustain & improve on SCIAMACHY-nadir/SWIR

monitoring of greenhouse gases and CO near-surface column concentrations, • To bring forward by 5 years deployment of the first Sentinel-5 payload, hopefully

achieving overlap with ENVISAT, • To maintain global coverage, and improve upon the spatial resolution provided by OMI

(on the AURA mission). ♦ A UVNS spectrometer (Sentinel-5) to be accommodated on Post-EPS platform,

alongside Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) and Visible-Infrared Imager (VII) Concerning the Sentinel-5 precursor, it is noted that deployment on a 3rd party platform21 or through a national payload contribution would minimize cost.

While no priority has been currently established between the GEO and LEO mission lines, some boundary conditions (observation gaps, specific milestones linked to MTG and Post-EPS developments) should drive their implementation.

21 Candidate 3rd party platforms to accommodate launch ~2015 could potentially include NPOESS and other national agencies and need not exclude Sentinels 1-3.


♦ In order to synchronise the MTG and Sentinel-4 as well as Post-EPS and Sentinel-5 programmatic agendas, it is then recommended to ESA and EUMETSAT to further harmonise their respective requirements on these projects.

4.2.2.3 Thermal infrared spectrometers for atmospheric chemistry GACS requirements also include needs for thermal infrared spectrometers to sound the troposphere for atmospheric chemistry purposes and provide profile measurements of CO, ozone, HNO3, CH4 and volcanoes SO2 and to complement Sentinels 4 and 5 observations. As thermal infrared instruments are already part of the core payload of MTG and Post-EPS, as they are the baseline meteorological instruments to sound temperature, humidity and winds, specific recommendations are not provided here. But these instruments will also provide important information for air quality only if the instrumental specifications are optimized accordingly.

♦ It is thus recommended that the instrumental specifications (noise, spectral resolution, and pixel size) are also optimized to answer the GACS air quality and climate requirements.

4.2.2.4 Limb mission The Upper Troposphere/Lower Stratosphere (UTLS) region plays an important role in the Earth’s climate system, particularly in the tropics and north polar region: observations of trace gases in this region at high vertical resolution are mandatory for understanding the effects of climate on global ozone and the water vapour budget, and in turn the effects of these greenhouse gases on climate, ozone and large scale mid-to-upper troposphere air quality issues.

Millimetre-wave limb-sounding (MMW) technique provides key trace gas profiles in the upper troposphere/tropopause region, and would also enable to resolve the lower troposphere through combination with Infra-Red Sounding and UVNS nadir measurements.

♦ Noting the absence of MMW and IR limb profiling capability for the UTLS region in the post-ENVISAT/Aura/Odin era, it is recommended to address this key deficiency for GACS and to identify solutions, possibly through international cooperation, to avoid discontinuity of these observations.

4.2.2.5 Other European operational observation capacities The interest of ESA Sentinel-3 and of relevant MTG and Post-EPS instruments for the characterisation of aerosols and clouds (and fires) deserves to be emphasized.

4.2.3 Ground segments and interfaces with GACS

Ground segment requirements and interfaces with the GACS are not detailed in this report, and will also be addressed through the GACS architecture.

It is however recommended that: ♦ Direct interfaces between the operators of GACS data management and

assimilation systems and the relevant space mission operators, including European and non-European (e.g. NPOESS) ones, should be implemented.

♦ Use of existing data dissemination infrastructure, such as EUMETCast and GEONETCast, should be encouraged, especially for GACS near real time applications,

♦ Existing assets such as the Climate Monitoring and Ozone / Atmospheric Chemistry SAFs established by EUMETSAT contribute to the GACS provision as needed.


4.3 International cooperation issues As mentioned previously, international cooperation is of crucial importance for maximising the space observation capacities for GACS and for complementing the European capacities, which have no redundancies.

♦ Regarding international coordination processes, it is recommended that an early and clear planning from Europe be used to build global cooperation agreements for operational systems in the frameworks of WMO, CEOS and GEO, following the successful model of meteorology implemented in Europe by EUMETSAT.

More specifically, it is recommended ♦ To engage a formal dialogue between Europe and the United States relevant

agencies to: • Emphasize the interest of Europe for existing GACS relevant USA missions, and especially

AURA (noting the European instrument OMI onboard AURA) and those of the A-Train, and its support to the maximisation of their lifetime;

• Point out as well the interest of Europe for future GACS relevant USA missions, including the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), and OMPS limb instrument for ozone profiling in the stratosphere (with limited capacity for the UT/LS);

• Address possibilities for cooperation on future operational atmospheric chemistry missions, especially for LEO and GEO UVN(S) spectrometry and MMW and IR limb-sounding capacities.

♦ To engage similarly dialogues with countries such as e.g. Canada, Japan, China and South Korea, on possibilities for cooperation on R&D and operational missions providing GACS relevant observations: • In particular with JAXA and NIES in Japan for their GOSAT and potential follow-on

mission on GHG measurements.

4.4 Research and development

4.4.1 European research and demonstration missions

4.4.1.1 Atmospheric chemistry missions in the ESA Earth Explorer programme Three out of six ESA currently proposed Earth Explorer Mission Concepts (TRAQ, PREMIER, and ASCOPE) have potentially relevance for GACS. Selection criteria for Earth Explorer missions, as defined by ESA, are strongly weighted towards “scientific research objectives”. If one of the three relevant candidate Explorer missions is selected for implementation, it can potentially offer a contribution to monitoring as well, and possibly serve a pre-operational function.

Conversely, integration of these data in GACS would be a natural part in the evaluation of its possible operational value.

♦ It is recommended that, should any of these three missions identified above be selected, its potential to temporarily augment the operational satellite system (comprising EPS-MetOp, MSG and NPP/NPOESS) in support of GACS be assessed, in consistency with the GMES Sentinel programme.

4.4.1.2 Other European national initiatives for atmospheric chemistry A number of initiatives exist on national, bilateral or multilateral basis to support important research proposals also with the intention to demonstrate precursors for operational missions (and to develop national scientific and technical competence).


Such European national initiatives are strongly endorsed where they bring a gap-filling (Sentinel-5 precursor) contribution, and/or are addressing requirements that cannot be met by the ESA Sentinels.

4.4.1.3 European research missions for aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions Several existing (CALIPSO and PARASOL as part of the A-Train: see above) and future (EarthCARE through European-Japanese cooperation) missions address the understanding of the aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions that play a role in climate regulation.

Inasmuch as these missions aim at improving the representation and understanding of the Earth's radiative balance in climate and numerical weather forecast models by obtaining vertical profiles of clouds and aerosols, as well as the radiances at the top of the atmosphere, they are also fully relevant for GACS.

4.4.1.4 Measuring CO2 from space As regards the GACS and the important challenge of measuring and monitoring CO2 from space it is recommended:

♦ To maintain in any case R&D efforts and funding in order to progress toward operational measurements of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

♦ That an assessment should be made of in-orbit capabilities of the OCO & GOSAT research missions to: (a) Improve significantly on the quantification of CO2 emission sources from assimilation of surface data and IRS (AIRS/IASI) radiances, and (b) enable GACS to comply with requirements for monitoring emissions on national and local scales which could otherwise not be met.

Pending the outcome of such an assessment, it would then be timely to review observational requirements for an SWIR CO2 sensor specification, and the feasibility of implementing as possible addition to Sentinel-5 (UVNS) or by other means (e.g. NASA or JAXA).

4.4.2 Research and development activities on data exploitation

It is recommended: ♦ To maintain R&D efforts and funding on methodologies and experiments

dedicated to calibration and validation of data and products, on parameter retrieval from observations and on integration/assimilation of these data and products within numerical models, in close conjunction with GACS activities and development;

♦ Specifically, concerning additional IASI-derived trace GACS products, to enhance R&D efforts and related funding (from EC, ESA and EUMETSAT) in order to ensure that these products are transferred efficiently into the operational domain and exploited by GACS.


5. GACS functionality and architecture

5.1 Core service functional architecture and corresponding existing assets

The proposed functional architecture of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service and its links with related activities is summarized in Figure 1. The Core Service is composed of these five generic elements which reside within the pale blue box.

Figure 1: GAS functional architecture

5.1.1 Observation acquisition and pre-processing

This first generic element of the Core Service interfaces with the observation providers, namely: (i) the space agencies (EUMETSAT and its Satellite Application Facilities, ESA, and the other space agencies within and outside Europe); (ii) the operational and research in situ networks, including actors such as the existing projects based on commercial airplanes.

In general, space agencies should be responsible for cal/val activities with regard to (single-instrument) space observations. In situ networks should be responsible for the quality of their data. However, in the future coordination responsibility for GMES, the spelling out of quality parameters needed especially for GAS should be included, as these may differ from principal objectives of collecting networks. Cal/val activities in relation to CS products fall entirely within the GACS (within elements 5.1.2, 5.1.3 and 5.1.4).


The tasks of this component will be the following: • Agreeing with the observation providers the nature, format, frequency and delivery time of all

observations needed by the GACS, on behalf of the CS and the DS • Acquiring the observations in real-time for the benefit of the CS and DS • Monitoring the observations quality and availability, for instance by comparing these with outputs

of the model and data assimilation chains • Sending to observation providers real-time feedback on the observation quality and availability, in

order to help in observation validation activities (note that the responsibility for validation remains with the observation providers)

• Providing other output data from the GACS to the observation providers in support of their calibration/validation activities

• Conducting such activities as multi-sensor processing, inter-calibration and retrieval of geophysical parameters as needed by the GACS

• Providing the validated observations for use by the GACS global and regional assimilation elements, together with the relevant quality feedback information

• Providing validated observations and retrieved geophysical parameters to the GACS Data Services, together with the relevant quality feedback information, for distribution to the GACS End Users

• Providing the DS with the relevant subset of observations

Some functions currently covered by the GEOmon project should fall in this element.

It is understood that observation calibration for individual sensors are part of the basic missions of observation providers, therefore outside the remit of the CS. On the other hand, the multi-sensor processing chains (including inter-calibration and product validation) should be part of the CS. The retrieval of level 2 geophysical parameters will also be part of the CS, to the extent that Space Agencies are not obligating themselves to provide them. Generally the input data for assimilation activities in 2 and 3 will be a mix of raw radiances and retrieved geophysical parameters that will evolve in time.

Finally, the GACS should rapidly become a principal player in discussions regarding the future evolution of the observing networks. The global and regional data assimilation systems operated by GACS partners will be an essential resource to conduct observation assessment work and decide about priorities for future observations.

20 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure to allow them to support the GACS ‘observation acquisition and pre-processing’ element. A further 22 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.

5.1.2 Global monitoring, assimilation and forecasting

This second element of the Core Service will build on the existing developments in the GEMS, PROMOTE and MACC projects. Its mission is to turn the quality-controlled observations into assimilated global fields, incorporating all the information from the models, such as emissions, dry and wet deposits, chemical transformations, atmospheric dynamics, thermodynamics and continuity. The output products will therefore represent a global picture of the atmospheric composition consistent with current understanding of the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere. These products will be used to estimates the surface fluxes of various quantities of interest for European policies by the inverse modelling approach. An estimation of the uncertainty of all output products will be part of the deliverables of this GACS element.

In addition, regular re-analyses of past periods with the most recent processing systems will deliver historical series that will be used as a reference to assess the amplitude and significance of current anomalies in atmospheric composition and climate. This will fulfil the “atmospheric composition and


climate monitoring function” of the GACS, which has been stressed as an essential mission. Forecasts to a few days ahead will be made with the same system used to assimilate the observations.

The functionalities are: • Producing daily global analyses of the composition of the atmosphere, for species identified in the

section on scope and their precursors • Producing delayed-mode global analyses of the composition of the atmosphere in support of

surface fluxes estimation by inverse modelling • Producing estimates of the uncertainty of these products, consistent with the data assimilation

process • Producing daily global forecasts of the same variables, to a few days ahead, based on state-of-the-

art aerosol-chemistry models or modules, coupled to a state-of-the-art meteorological model. • Implementing quality-control and validation techniques for all products consistent with the quality

assurance procedures agreed by the GACS. • Providing subsets of initial and boundary conditions based on the above products for use in the

European-scale element • Transferring an agreed subset of the above data22 to the GACS Data Services for further

distribution to the GACS Users • Transferring an agreed subset of the above data to the DS • Issue requirements for future observing systems • Upgrading regularly the production systems to reflect progress of scientific understanding of

atmospheric composition, the use of new observational and emission datasets, and progress in the theory of data assimilation

• Producing at regular intervals re-analyses of the above mentioned variables, based on the most recent production systems and observations re-processed by the observation providers (when available)

10 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure in place to allow them to support the GACS ‘ensemble monitoring, assimilation and forecasting system’ element at a global scale. A further 11 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.

5.1.3 Ensemble of European-scale monitoring, assimilation and forecasting systems

This third element of the Core Service will concern higher horizontal resolution products than the global element, limited to monitoring the composition of atmosphere at the scale of the European territory. Observations provided as part of the GACS will be used, in particular those from in situ networks and from satellites. Boundary conditions will come from the global element of the GACS.

It is recognized that diversity is necessary to measure the uncertainty of European-scale products. As a consequence, the CS will be built on several existing European-scale operational models and data assimilation systems that will become part of the GACS. The same is valid of course at the global scale, but for this scale diversity is assured at no cost by the existence of non-European systems.

The production of reanalyses and assessment reports for trends in air quality at the European scale will be one additional mission of this element.

Another mission of the European-scale element will be to conduct on demand the evaluation of the impact of various possible emission constraint policies at the European scale. This will require the maintenance and further development of a specific set of tools. Results could be made available to interested parties through the Data Services element or through specific channels. 22 Data policy issues are briefly discussed in the implementation plan section


Functionalities of this element are: • Producing real-time, daily analyses of the atmospheric composition for species identified in the

section on scope and their precursors at grid resolutions ~ 25 km • Producing daily, real-time forecasts of the same variables at grid resolutions ~ 25 km • Implementing quality-control and validation techniques for all products consistent with the quality

assurance procedures agreed by the GACS • Producing re-analyses and air quality assessment reports and analyses of trends in delayed mode • Transferring an agreed subset of these data to the GACS Data Services for distribution to the

GACS Users • Transferring an agreed subset of these data to the Downstream Services • Providing feedback to the observation providers regarding the quality of the observations • Issue requirements for future observing systems • Provide tools/Conduct experiment to evaluate the impacts of various emission scenarios

The output of the European-scale element will be provided directly to the Downstream Services and made available to the End Users through the Data Services elements. Raw data as well as elaborated information will be made available, depending on the users’ needs. For instance, the relevance of providing “probabilistic” rather than “deterministic” information will be investigated. The availability of ensemble products allows expressing the forecast results with a range of uncertainty or as a probability of exceeding certain thresholds. The interest of the various formulations will be discussed with the users.

13 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure in place to allow them to support the GACS ‘ensemble monitoring, assimilation and forecasting system’ element at a European scale. A further 6 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.

5.1.4 Data and products services and quality assurance

This fourth element is in charge of disseminating all GACS output products to the users and to help the users understand the quality of these products. As such, it also plays the role of a “quality assurance office”.

This will cover the following functionalities: • Being the main data access portal for all products of the GACS, and therefore the repository of the

GMES “brand” • Maintaining a discovery and viewing capability as required by the INSPIRE directive • Maintaining a data and product downloading capability as an essential dissemination channel

towards all GACS users • Implementing the GMES Data Access Policy • Leading the discussion on quality assurance within the GACS, by conducting regular surveys of

best practices recommended by international bodies and the existing regulatory framework in which the GACS will be inserted

• Issuing recommendations to the production centres of the GACS regarding quality control and validation procedures to implement

• Providing the users with relevant information on the quality of GACS data and products • Archiving all GACS data and products indefinitely, ensuring users’ access to historical evolution

of quality, and allowing for future investigations of problems or assessment of trends in quality • Maintaining statistics on availability of servers, products availability times and more generally the

overall quality of the GACS Data and products dissemination services, consistent with quality assurance procedures agreed by the GACS


This will therefore constitute a long-term memory of the GACS, as all GACS validated observations, and the successive releases of GACS real-time analyses and forecasts as well as the successive reanalyses will be conserved indefinitely for further reference. It will be a technical challenge to organize the archiving of the variety of GACS observations and products in such a way to guarantee an effective access to a large volume and diversity of data on the successive generations of data handling hardware. In addition, the portal will need the necessary technical flexibility to implement the data policy decisions that will be taken by GMES.

The success of the GACS as viewed by the End Users will largely rely on the effectiveness of data access through the GACS Data Services and its quality assurance procedures.

19 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure in place to allow them to support the GACS ‘data services’ element. A further 3 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.

5.1.4.1 Dissemination by the Data and Product Services The dissemination concept could, to a large extent, be based on a system of systems like the WMO Information System (WIS). In this way, the GACS would become part of an internationally agreed dissemination approach, placing it within a decentralised and distributed concept. To achieve this, clear agreements would have to be made between the governing agencies of the decentralized facilities and the function they have in the formal execution of the GMES Service activity.

GEO-Netcast is an initiative led within the GEO framework by EUMETSAT, NOAA and WMO to address the global dissemination needs. It consists of a system of four communications satellites that transmit data to low-cost receiving stations maintained by the users. A direct link exists between the WIS and GEO-Netcast. GEO is developing the GEOPortal as a single Internet gateway to the comprehensive and NRT data produced by GEO(SS). WIS is an early demonstrator of the concept.

For Europe EUMETSAT will provide a major component to GEO(SS). The data, products and services provided by EUMETSAT are made available to users in different ways: (1) EUMETCast (European part of GEO-Netcast) is the prime dissemination mechanism for Meteosat and METOP image data and meteorological products, (2) Direct dissemination is the traditional way to receive the image data and products, directly from the satellite, and requires dedicated reception station equipment, (3) Global Telecommunication System (GTS) established by WMO, and the Regional Meteorological Data Communication Network (RMDCN). In the future the GTS will be expanded by the WIS.

EUMETCAST/GEO-Netcast satellite based channels and the WIS encompassing internet based channels will be available for disseminating GACS core services.

5.1.5 Core R&D

Core R&D activities are absolutely necessary to allow the GACS products to implement quickly any progress delivered by upstream research, or any correction to problems diagnosed in the current GACS products by the End Users. It will be also necessary to maintain a good liaison with other international efforts on atmospheric composition monitoring. R&D will be necessary in support of all GACS elements (Observation handling, Global and European-scale assimilation and forecasts).

In order to guarantee sustainability of the GACS products quality, it will be necessary to organize the R&D in three tiers depending on the time scale whereby results are needed:

A. For matters needing a quick response time (less than a year) R&D will need to be done by the GACS partners, and funded as part of the GACS daily work: This will normally address the short term issues and the day-to-day evolution of the systems to adapt to the evolution of the observing network, of the HPC architecture, or of the upgrades in the underlying meteorological models. Liaison with international groups undertaking similar work to the GACS will also be maintained under this item.


B. For matters needing a response time of about 2 years, R&D will be commissioned by the GACS on specific issues. We propose here that GACS should allocate some funding to issue specific competitive calls to work on R&D issues of direct interest for its missions, but too complex to be handled as part of the activity of the GACS partners. This will be a powerful leverage to incite the European atmospheric chemistry community to work in full synergy with the GACS.

C. For more upstream research with time scales of several years, R&D will be done at Universities and other research centres, as discussed in the next section.

In addition, the Core R&D element will need to support education and training activities. These activities will be to the benefit of both the actors and the users of the Core Service, in particular the organizations involved in the downstream services.

5.1.6 Existing assets

For each Core Service element, an indicative listing of the existing assets which might be utilized in the architecture necessary to execute the operational functionalities of a future GMES Atmosphere Service (GACS) is provided in Annex 623. A summary of the available assets is at the end of each functional element description.

The listing was assembled by looking to the major research and service development initiatives going on in Europe. These included major relevant FP6 consortia, especially those of the GEMS and GEOMon projects, as well as project consortia funded by ESA such as those from PROMOTE, smaller DUE and EOMD projects. Other assets, such as those related to the WMO were also considered.

It should be noted that the assets considered here are only those which can potentially fulfil the functions of the GACS architecture and not those assets which provide the input data and methodologies required to operate the GACS. Thus, in situ data networks, research networks and satellite data providers are not considered, but which are addressed in the relevant infrastructure sections of this document

5.2 External dependencies External dependencies primarily concerns interfacing to input satellite, in situ and other auxiliary data sets such as emission data. GACS has to connect also to the users, other core services and international cooperation organisations.

5.2.1 Satellite data

5.2.1.1 GMES space component At steady state, GACS will be fed by GMES payloads / missions (Sentinels 4 and 5) plus a number of other instruments on geostationary and polar orbits, especially EUMETSAT ones, which all together shall provide the sustainability to meet (at best) all requirements from GMES services. For this operational period EUMETSAT is suggested to become the central agency. Recommendations on the required space infrastructure have been outlined in the relevant section of the document.

For the 2008-2011 transition period, and more specifically for feeding the first FP7 projects such as MACC, a Data Access scheme has been agreed between ESA and EC. This scheme is based on an Earth Observation Data Access Portfolio (EO-DAP) of available EO data products coming from existing space based sensors. 23 This listing is intended to serve as an indicator of the extent to which the planned scope and architecture of GACS might already be covered now or in the near-future by existing capabilities, and where there may be gaps. The listing is thus not intended to be a recommendation of the entities which will, or should be, involved in the implementation of the GACS.


Since new missions relevant for GMES services (Sentinels) will not be available before 2011, and probably not before 2015 for GACS specific needs (except for Sentinel 3 which will be available from 2012), the portfolio will initially use currently available data from various EO data sources from ESA, EUMETSAT, national and some non European missions.

Given the large data volume of EO data to be expected from these satellites, the ground segment and delivery channels to the GMES services require careful planning.

5.2.1.2 The EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facilities An important supply of Earth Observation data will be provided by EUMETSAT. Key mechanisms for data retrieval and delivery are the Satellite Application Facilities (SAF), which complement the standard meteorological products delivered by the EUMETSAT central facilities in Darmstadt, Germany. Utilising specialist expertise, SAFs are dedicated centres of excellence for processing satellite data and form an integral part of the distributed EUMETSAT Application Ground Segment. Each SAF is led by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) of a EUMETSAT Member State.

The SAFs which are of most direct relevance to GACS are the “Ozone and Atmospheric Chemistry Monitoring SAF” and the “Climate monitoring SAF”. For the coming 15 years especially the METOP satellite series and the GOME-2 and IASI instruments are of high relevance to GACS.,

5.2.1.3 Other space instrument data Apart from the European space infrastructure, the GACS will use all other available high-quality satellite data. This will include data from operational and scientific satellite missions of NOAA, NASA, JAXA etc. Agreements exist (e.g. between EUMETSAT and NOAA) or may have to be set up with these space agencies to ensure the delivery - preferably in near-real time - of these satellite products.

In addition to the data from space agencies, in some cases higher level data products which are of interest for the GACS may be provided from other institutions that do not have a dedicated mandate for operational processing. This concerns in particular research satellite data which is of high value. It is of importance to identify for which of these products operational availability should be ensured.

It should be noted that an operational service like the GACS needs a long-term supply of satellite data as provided by operational satellites. This does not preclude the use of research missions: such missions may sometimes be in orbit for ten years, a research mission is potentially a precursor of an operational mission. Using research missions may provide unique data not available otherwise.

Yet another type of satellite data originates from the blending of multi-sensor information. In the architecture section, it is argued that the generation of such enhanced products should be a part of the core service itself. This would in most cases be most feasible, as multi-sensor information production often requires model output as well. Finally a possibility exists that the atmosphere core service might identify a need to acquire satellite observations delivered by other GMES services, specifically if related to land or ocean parameters.

5.2.1.4 Data quality The future GECA (Generic Environment for Calibration/Validation Analysis) of ESA should play a role in the attribution of a GMES data quality stamp to the satellite data including the so-called research satellite data. A similar initiative is being taken at NASA. The Space Agencies (NASA, ESA, EUMETSAT) are working together to make these environments compliant with CEOS requirements and mutually compatible.

5.2.2 In situ data

The list of relevant “In-Situ” observations as well as the acquisition, processing, harmonisation and data access are outlined in the relevant section of the report.


The use of in-situ data can be divided into two categories, namely: 1. Near-real time data. Data sets available in near-real time will be used for (a) data assimilation, (b)

a monitoring of the forecast/analysis, and (c) for calibration of the satellite data. For the global component of GACS the term near-real time will in general correspond to a delivery within 3 hours after measurement. For the regional air quality component a fast delivery within 20-30 minutes is highly desirable for real-time air quality monitoring and short-term forecasting

2. Delayed delivery of validated data. These data sets are used for (a) an after-the-fact validation of the GACS analyses and forecasts, (b) a delayed assimilation stream to estimate greenhouse GACS surface fluxes by inverse modelling approach and (c) dedicated multi-year reanalyses, both for assimilation and for validation. Also data sets from dedicated field campaigns are of high value for an assessment of the core service products.

The distinction between these two modes of delivery will have implications for the interfaces developed between the core service and data suppliers.

The GEMS and MACC projects have developed a first concept for the acquisition and use of in-situ data. The regional air quality subproject has a dedicated activity to obtain surface observations in near-real time for most of Europe through Memoranda of Understanding with the relevant local agencies. For GACS there is a clear need for a more systematic and uniform delivery of surface data. The corresponding data formats should be user friendly and could consist of multiple standardised formats24.

5.2.3 Meteorological data

The numerical weather prediction system of ECMWF is an integral part of the GEMS/MACC service and will be in the future operational GACS. As such the full suite of meteorological observations (space, in-situ) is part of the input of the GACS.

All GMES Atmospheric Core Services require the operational availability of meteorological data (real-time analyses and forecasts for real-time services; archived data and reanalyses for record services). For Service Providers which are not meteorological centres the access to meteorological forecasts is not always free of charge. The dependency of GACS on meteorological data should be acknowledged and formalized through a specific agreement granting free access for all GACS providers to meteorological data, and specifying the conditions of redistribution of these data to users and to downstream services.

5.2.4 Emission data

Emission inventory datasets are needed in all models of atmospheric composition used in GACS and uncertainties in the emissions are one key factor determining the quality of the GACS. Two approaches towards obtaining emission estimates may be distinguished: 1. Emission inventories (bottom-up): These are based on information about land use, emission-

related industrial activity, population density, automotive traffic, vegetation maps etc. but also meteorological data is of prime importance.

2. Emission inversion system (top-down): The output of such emission inversion system is an optimized inversion inventory. These are based on satellite and surface observations of trace gas concentrations. With models and inversion techniques emission strengths are derived.

24 The GEOmon project aims to build a one-stop shop for atmospheric observations of long-lived greenhouse gases, reactive gases, aerosols, and stratospheric ozone. These goals as well as the common architecture for data access are consistent with what is required in GACS. The WMO World Data Centres (WDCs) are also important to mention. Presently, there are GAW WDCs on Ozone and UV, solar radiation, greenhouse gases, and aerosols, each responsible for archiving one or more GAW measurement parameters or measurement types. Reliable access to the WDCs should be ensured and discussions should be initiated to harmonize the WDC structures and attempt to shorten the data delivery times.


Thus, while being a dependency as required input to models, providing such top-down estimates on regional emission inventories in order to verify the bottom-up emission inventories is also an important function and output of the GACS (see also scope).

There are still large uncertainties in the anthropogenic emissions, and the reporting cycle for emissions is slow. This should be improved in the future. GACS reanalysis runs require consistent long-term emission data sets. Presently relative simple methods are applied to distribute country totals onto the model grid, which need improvement. It is absolutely necessary to get information on biomass burning sources in near real time, ideally based on satellite data (such as MODIS, GOES, SEVIRI) both from LEO and GEO platforms with guaranteed long-term continuity. More research and a strong liaison with scientific community are needed to improve parameterisations of natural emissions.

5.2.5 Service delivery and interaction with users and downstream services

The majority of GACS data products will be exploited by users such as DS providers, national or European agencies, and the scientific community. In order for the GACS to effectively enable DS, their specific requirements must be known and the access to essential GACS products must be guaranteed. The GACS evolution and the CS-DS design must allow for constant interactions with the users as well as some flexibility to enable an adaptation to changing priorities and user needs for DS.

DS are not part of the scope of the present document, but their links and dependencies on the GACS are. In general, much dialogue will be needed in the future between an operational GACS and the DS to decide about the division of work and responsibility in order to optimize data transfer volumes, delivery time and maintenance costs, and to avoid duplication of work. A federation of DS providers should be established to coordinate this interaction with the CS.

Since the GAS approach is driven by the need to meet user requirements, any processing chain, or any of its individual elements, is defined by the specifications of the end product. The GACS portfolio will consist of some services that are produced in one step which, by themselves, are able to provide the required end products; as well as complex services comprised of core and downstream elements. It order to organize the collection and prioritization of specifications and requirements from End Users and DS, these will need to be translated in terms of action items for the GACS, such as: • Requirements for specific observations (either from space or in situ) • Requirements for enhanced observation processing or data assimilation capabilities • Requirements for the type of product that is expected from the service: pollutants, air

concentration or/and deposition maps, temporal and spatial resolution… • Requirements for the format and the constraints related to the availability (e.g. time constraints) of

the produced output data: to fulfil the users’ needs, and to comply with their own constraints.

Within the ESA GMES Service Element Programme (including the project PROMOTE) an approach has been developed to formalise the two-way interaction between service providers and users. A comparable approach should be mandatory for the GACS and it should be decided if the GSE approach should be adopted. Two key elements are the Service Level Agreements and the User Federation:

A. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) formalises and governs all product deliveries between service providers and users and among service providers. The SLA places obligations on suppliers regarding feasibility assessment, quality assurance, delivery specifications, and support. Other aspects considered in the SLA are the financial conditions, ownership, warranty, and limitations of liability.

B. The User Federation (UF) is composed of all users that signed a Service Level Agreement (SLA). The UF therefore is a group of active users that is closely cooperating and interacting with one or more service provider organizations, and provides feedback to improve GACS services. The UF aims at ensuring that GACS services are strongly user-driven and acts as an interface between the demand and supply sides of the market. Members of the UF also provide input to several user-related documents.


5.2.6 Research and development outside of GACS

As stated above, for matters needing a response time of ca. 2 years, R&D would be commissioned by the GACS on specific issues. The research would be done outside of GACS, but specifically for the core service development.

For more upstream research with longer time scales of several years, R&D would preferably be done at Universities and other research centres, and would therefore best be funded by national research programmes and by the Framework Programmes of the EC. We stress the fact that the GACS should be given a possibility to provide regularly input to the work programme of the FPs, in order to make sure that the FP will address issues of relevance for GMES, and to avoid duplication of work.

To increase the productivity of GACS relevant research and development, it is suggested that the GACS should offer a remote access to the main GACS data assimilation systems to the academic community that will conduct the research. New methodologies or the use of new types of observations could then be tested in conditions close to their future operational use. While this would incur some additional maintenance and training activities, which would come at a specific cost, it would considerably speed up the European capacity building and ultimately the transition of new methods or observations from research to operations.

5.2.7 Link to international bodies and coordinating activities • The GACS will have to be compliant with the INSPIRE directive. • The GACS will depend on outside Europe in-situ data. Strong links and interfaces need to be in

place with international bodies, coordinating activities and relevant institutions outside Europe. • The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is coordinating efforts to build a Global Earth

Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). GMES is the European contribution to GEO/GEOSS. The link with GEO is of importance concerning access to data from satellite observation systems world-wide. The Goal of the User Interface Committee of GEO is to engage users in the development and implementation of a sustained GEOSS that provides the data and information required within and among the nine societal benefit areas as specified by user groups on national, regional and global scales. The user community in GEO could be linked to the user federation of GACS.

• The GACS will feed information to the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

• The GACS will provide policy-relevant information in relation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, the Montreal Protocol, the Clean Air For Europe programme (CAFE) and the Convention on Long-range Trans boundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP).


6. Implementation strategy for GACS

6.1 Foundations of the GACS As in all GMES core services, the primary goal is to ensure that the needs of end users are understood and acted upon. It is also important to make maximum use of past investment and existing facilities upon which to build the GACS (links to in-situ and space observation infrastructure and architecture chapters). Foundations are the precursor activities which make GACS possible in a short time frame, compared to building the system from scratch.

The GACS foundations can be characterised as: • World leading numerical weather prediction capacities in Europe at global and national/regional

scales for over 30 years; • Air quality observation networks, modelling and information systems based on obligations from

European Union air quality directives, performed by national, regional and local public institutions, meteorological services or private companies for over 20 years;

• European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) for background monitoring for air quality purposes for over 20 years;

• EUMETSAT and ESA space monitoring and R&D programs; • Previous and current R&D projects funded at national or European levels that have or are

delivering relevant understanding, tools and capabilities.

The GACS must be designed and implemented in a way to meet the identified needs reliably to its users’ satisfaction. There is considerable scope for integration and coordination of existing efforts to •make maximum use of past investment and existing facilities. The main challenge is to make current assets sustainable on an operational basis, with appropriate governance and funding built into the system.

6.2 Proposed strategy

6.2.1 Service development:

The main goal is to have an operational GACS from 2014 on. This means for ongoing GEMS and PROMOTE projects to prefigure the GACS structures. From mid 2009 to the fall of 2011, GACS shall rely on the pilot project MACC to carry forward the CS development by delivering pre-operational services. The GACS IG could well be used as an advisory body to the EC and to the projects to accompany and monitor this process. From 2011 to 2014 MACC needs a continuation to bridge service provision to operational state starting in 2014.

The core of the implementation strategy will be to rely on the precursor project to build the GACS, while monitoring the project closely in order to steer this process in the right direction and assure the evolving into an operational service. The envisaged architecture, functionalities and observing systems have been described in Chapter 3, 4 and 5. The management structure of MACC has to evolve in order to prefigure the structure and advisory bodies envisioned later in this chapter. Links with the overall GMES governance are to be established as this governance is defined and implemented by the EU and its’ Member States.

6.2.2 Observation infrastructure

Space observation: recommendations are given in chapter 4. They have been found to be taken into consideration in the plans of ESA and EUMETSAT for future EO infrastructure. No gaps are to be encountered at the end of ENVISAT lifetime, if current plans of a Sentinel 5 precursor mission in the ESA GMES Space Component Phase 2 envelope are carried out.


In-situ observation: recommendations are given in chapter 3. The EEA has been assigned the coordinating task in cooperation with EUMETNET for what concerns GACS and it should provide for a plan to move the most important research capacities to an operational status as needed. These capacities shall continue to support the research activities, but improve their sustainability and make information timely available.

In line with the GMES in-situ observation working group (ISOWG), EEA/EIONET and other channels should address the consolidation in and between Member States. The SEIS process may contribute to this, mostly for regulatory data. INSPIRE shall help at least in technical terms.

6.2.3 Operational service and perspectives

The objective for an operational state of GACS is in 2014 and beyond. The first operational phase does not mean a steady-state, as the structure must be flexible to respond to emerging user needs which supposedly are greatest in the first 10 years. New developments in modelling and observation systems are expected and the organization needs to be open to new participants. Some steps during this period are already foreseeable: e.g. a major step will be to incorporate on the input data side what will come out of Sentinel 4 to be launched around 2017. Another major step will be the coupling of chemical models with the current operational numerical weather prediction, in about the same timeframe.

6.2.4 Users

Users should get involved in GAS advisory bodies from the beginning. Annual User Forums can be organised to nominate user representation into these. A Forum is a place to actively promote user federations, and in effect to widen the user representation (one representative stands for many user organizations) in GACS bodies. While such forums are planned for 2010 and 2011 in the MACC pilot project, the IG recommends that the EEA would arrange the first of such forums in autumn 2009.

Major outreach activities have to be arranged as services evolve and improve. A well targeted efficient marketing campaign would be in place at the beginning of the follow-up to MACC for the first truly operational services. User Forums could be envisioned in the MACC follow-up phase and onwards to focus on users, demonstrating the value of or pointing out the need for further development in core services.

In the fully operational state, the GACS service should also arrange for day to day interactions between product and service providers and their users directly. There will be a need for intermediate users to interact with the operators and the GACS authority body to determine, at a more strategic level, the scope and characteristics of services to be offered, any changes to them and agree on priorities and an associated R&D programme.

These needs are being addressed in the governance plans: committees are planned to gather providers and users around concrete topics (at least for global modelling, European ensemble approaches, data services/quality assurance, in situ & space observations acquisition and research & development). The guidance of these committees is a basis on which the GACS management makes decisions.

6.2.5 R&D Continuous Research & Development is essential for a successful GACS. This is true not only in observation technology (such as contemplated in space and in situ recommendations) but also in modelling, assimilation and service applications. In this respect it is necessary to maintain about the present relative level of resources, about 25%, devoted to R&D as compared to operational tasks. The architecture chapter above briefly discusses how the necessary resources should be distributed and managed.


6.3 Funding This section is limited to preliminary remarks, because at present there are no reliable estimates of the full costs of a reliable, efficient GACS or of the upstream and downstream capabilities that are required to deliver value from it. These costs need however to be estimated before end 2009, as they are needed for the purpose of European Community and Member State long term budgetary planning. A further expansion of GACS services is to be envisioned as GMES Climate Change related additional component is expected in the future and the associated cost impact will have to be taken in account.

It is assumed that, because the services being delivered by the GACS are public goods, they will be wholly funded by the EU and Member States. It is anticipated that downstream services should be funded either by national institutions or by users or jointly by both, depending on the cases.

It is logical to consider specific funding approaches for the 3 GMES architecture components: space observation infrastructure, in-situ observation infrastructure and core services, leaving aside overheads due to the GAS as part of GMES governance and coordinating tasks. • With respect to the existing space observation infrastructure situation, the recommendation of

implementing the Sentinel 4 & 5 package results in a significant cost increase. • The bulk of the costs of the in-situ observation infrastructure is assumed to be the continued

responsibility of Member States. It may be relevant to point out that these costs have the same order of magnitude than those of the space segment. Recommendations presented in this report should result in a weak increase, in relative terms. The report also delineates those areas where EU support to in-situ observation infrastructure is deemed necessary.

• Concerning the GACS, the annual cost at pilot project stage (about 5 M€/year for MACC) is very low in relative terms, thanks to large in kind contributions. In terms of mid-term planning, this amount needs to be increased by a significant factor, so as to anticipate development of the service and larger contributions needed for example for financing supercomputing resources.

An important issue about funding is the need to stabilize the resources on an operational basis, and thus outside the research area. This must be addressed by both EC and the Member States, considering the fact that a non negligible part of in-situ observation infrastructure is supported by research funds (and often operated by research institutions). Therefore to a large extent, while the funding is already there, it should be allocated differently.

Transitional steps are to be taken concerning CS: • 2009: cost estimation of GACS provision and corresponding in-situ and space infrastructures; • End 2011-13: assure MACC funding to close gap and expand the service, including reanalysis

activities until new financial perspectives are stabilized; • 2014: reserve operational funding in new financial perspectives to transfer MACC+ into

operational service.

6.4 Data Policy

6.4.1 Guidelines

The data policy is highly dependant on the funding scheme applied in the respective phases of GACS evolution. It still is of utmost importance to have an open and free policy for all core service outputs.

The data policy for MACC: • For meteorological data fields, the usual ECMWF data policy should be applied • It is proposed to the ECMWF Council that predefined users like AQ local modellers, be given

access to needed meteorological data for handling charges; commercial services will be required to pay information charges.


• MACC output and products should be free of charge.

The data policy for operational GACS outputs: • It is assumed that upstream data and Core Service data, products and services can be made

available to intermediate users free of charge, if they are used exclusively for GMES purposes. In operational mode, EU will be able to impose this data policy also on some observation data sets through its actions in significantly funding these operations

• Core Service output and products should be free and openly available.

6.4.2 Meteorological data

For maximising the GACS impact, it is important to have as much downstream services as possible. Most downstream services will be conducted for public purposes either by national public institutions or private enterprises. Removing barriers to the production of downstream services is essential to make GMES a success. According to an ongoing downstream sector study there are two barriers for entering new downstream services: government policy and data provision costs25.

Several studies in European countries suggest that benefits are maximised if public sector information production be fully paid by public funds and be given openly at handling costs to all interested users. This induces the best overall economics cost/benefit ratio where an estimated return on investment approximates ~500% (studies on the UK26, Finland27 and Croatia28). This approach would need to be acknowledged by all Member States and considered to be implemented as public good type GMES and meteorological information provision on their part. As an initial step, weather services might be asked to assess the financial impact to them, if raw weather observation and forecast information could become open and freely available. A new public financing solution could then be sought parallel with GMES to have a more harmonized information infrastructure for DS and end users.

6.5 Governance and management structures

6.5.1 Principles

There are a number of issues to be resolved that transcend the strictly scientific and technical matters which guide the infrastructure design and implementation. Some considerations, particularly those of top-down governance, will be settled at a political level, for all of the GMES Services and follow-up initiatives jointly, and presumably discussed between the European Commission and Member States. It is reasonable to suppose that the day to day governance of the GACS can and will be designed according to some general principles.

If broader acceptance for GACS services is desired, possibility of evolution in the service provision consortium must be guaranteed to relevant and interested parties. It is envisaged that the GACS will involve a central capacity for global monitoring and forecasting (ECMWF); while the regional ensemble monitoring and forecasting capacity is distributed and comprises a number (of order 5 to 10) of operators, with a coordinator taking charge of ensemble product synthesis and validation. Other stakeholders will exist in the form of external data providers, such as EUMETSAT, ESA and the relevant SAF for space observations and EEA with EUMETNET for in-situ observation data.

A GACS management entity, with a legal personality, is needed in particular to address contractual issues with the EU. Looking inwards, this entity would be responsible for ensuring that the operators deliver their services to their users according to Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The external data

25 Study on the Competitiveness of the GMES Downstream Sector, interim report (ECORYS 2008) 26 Models of Public Sector Information Provision via Trading Funds (Newbery, Bently, Pollock 2008) 27 Evaluation of the Finnish Meteorological Institute’s services’ socioeconomic benefits (Hautala, Leviäkangas 2007) 28 Benefits of meteorological services in Croatia (Leviäkangas, Hautala et al 2007)


providers to the GACS (EUMETSAT and ESA, in situ observation infrastructure, EEA etc.) would probably also have SLAs with the GACS entity.

6.5.2 Proposed governance structure

The GACS governance structure should ensure the decision making, including its preparation and execution as well as the links with the GMES overall governance structure, as illustrated on Figure 2.

Figure 2: High level governance scheme

The GMES authority should define and implement the EU-based decision making process and funding approach applicable to each GMES core service. Additionally it has to arrange the corresponding framework for the observation infrastructure supporting the GMES core services. Whether this involves financing or coordination or both, the GMES overall governance level has to address the consolidation of EU and Member States contribution in terms of availability of observation infrastructure and services and related funding.

The GACS structure is responsible for deciding the resources needed for the whole GACS provision and its evolution. This will include benchmarking the current services and prioritising/arbitrating about service evolution. The GACS Board, supported by advisory bodies, should be mandated for this purpose.

For the execution of Board decisions and the day to day management of the overall GACS provision, taking in account the interfacing between its functional components, GACS needs an executive entity. This entity, which should have a legal status, would also take care of the institutional and technical interfacing and when applicable contracts with entities external to the GACS, including the EU, the Member States, observation providers and users, including downstream service providers. It would

Management R&D

Global modelling

European ensemble

Observation processing

Data service

Board Advisory bodies

GMES governance

Space chamber In-situ chamber

GACS Governance & Organisation


also enable GACS to be represented in international organizations and institutional coordination activities.

A legal entity for GACS can be achieved in many ways, and it is a task for legal experts on both EU and service provision sides to find out which options and solutions are the more appropriate. The service provision consortium needs to be open, so as to keep dynamically adapting to evolving user needs. Rules for contribution to the service provision have to be established to facilitate self evaluation and competition. Providing resources contributing to GACS provision could represent one criterion. The major contributors to the GACS provision (through funding or resources) should be represented in the GACS Board. This board should be advised by experts or working groups covering the major service provision components (i.e. global and European ensemble monitoring and forecasting, R & D, Data services/Quality Assurance) as well as observation infrastructure.

As one of the prime directives for GACS is to be user-driven, it is important to define the mechanism enabling representation and involvement of users in the decision processes. As mentioned above, annual User Forums, stimulating user federations, could conveniently be used also to define user representation in the GACS governance process.

6.6 Critical needs and service evolution An operational environmental service like the GMES Atmospheric Core Service (GACS) must not only be reliable and give useful information, but it must also be dynamically evolving in order to maintain an up-to-date link with the user community.

Therefore, even at the start, the potential for GACS evolution has to be discussed, besides the critical needs for a planned service. In this respect, the GACS is in an advantageous situation as the successful weather prediction services, to which GACS will strongly remain related, have to a large extent shown the way to progress.

6.6.1 Critical needs

An operational core service must under all circumstances be long-termed, i.e. lasting at least for a few decades. The reasons for this are many: proper time scales and sampling for detecting climate change, response to changes in emissions, timescale for downstream service providers and end users to expect return on investment in utilizing products, timescale for operational satellite observing systems. Funding must be continuous, including a strong R&D component with a stable share in order to guarantee frequent incremental service improvements.

Many facets of an operational service are built on near-real-time (NRT) observational data, used in or assimilated into forecasting models. Hence, NRT provision of input observation data as well as products is crucial, calling for an increased share of NRT in-situ observation data to be brought from pre-operational and operational networks and services to a fully operational NRT mode.

Progress in model development and observing systems should be harvested regularly for the full time series of GACS parameters – especially for air pollution trend analysis – by a complete re-analysis. Therefore, re-analyses have to be integrated into the funding schemes of GACS for the entire list of parameters.

GACS is a strong European Union asset which should involve all Member States in joint services in order to build up and consolidate their expertise. Therefore, the new Member States should get incentives for a more rapid integration into GACS, e.g. for NRT in-situ observation provision and integration in GACS and participation in European ensemble component of GACS.

GACS should from the beginning be used for the evaluation of emission inventories by comparison to the distribution of sources and sinks, e.g. of Greenhouse Gases and pollutants derived from satellite observations used for inverse modelling.

GACS will in its standing largely depend on the number and the success of downstream services that use the core service products. The structuring – or at least the coordination – of the GACS


downstream sector is important for streamlining the feedback process about the GACS performances and quality and for preparing its evolution.

6.6.2 Evolution of GACS

At the same time that GACS has proved operational capability it has to start its evolution. The latter is dependent on progress in observations, fed by new sensors and synergetic algorithm development and related improved modelling performance. For observations, evolution will largely stem from new satellite sensors, e.g. the Earth Explorer Series of ESA or the post-EPS system of EUMETSAT, and synergetic algorithm development. This will also lead to new observation parameters such as small aerosol particles in the sub-micrometer radius range, soot amount, pollen concentration as well as new downstream services components (e.g. air pollution forecasts in cities). The solar energy potential could thus also be better forecast since global radiation is strongly depending on aerosol optical depth and its influence on cloud parameters.

The frequently needed near real time (NRT) provision of input data as well as products calls for a continuously increased share of such NRT in-situ observation data (see also: “critical needs” section), existing in pre-operational networks and operational services, as input for forecast models.

When GACS is in full swing, it should be used for observing system evaluation (OSE) and observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs), enabling to optimise the investments into an observing system for GACS parameters.

The evolution of computing resources for GACS has a strong influence on nearly all of its parts. While up to now, with MACC included, only marginal costs had to be funded, higher spatial resolution modelling as well as ensemble forecasting in GACS on global, European, and sub-regional scale would need investments for high performance computing in GACS, which are likely to go beyond 10 M€/yr.

6.7 Future actions: tentative timetable This final subsection lists, over the time frame extending until the completion of the MACC project, a few significant steps.

Although it refers to actions and decisions which depend on EC and Member States, the list is centred on actions which should be expected from the GACS IG. This denomination is chosen for pure convenience and has no implication whatsoever about the future name or membership of this group. However, in addition to the fact that some issues in the IG mandate were not properly addressed so far, it is concluded and suggested that some kind of group fairly similar to the IG would be necessary during the preoperational period.

• Fall 2008: Assessment of governance principles defined in EC GMES communication

• 2008/09

• Elaborate on links and interfaces between the GMES Atmosphere Core Service and Downstream services, including the requirements for downstream services, their dependencies in terms of product delivery (timeliness, quality control, etc…) and the associated contractual issues.

• Assessment of GAS interaction with user communities in pilot phase • Interaction with EEA about coordination of in situ observation infrastructure for GAS in line

with ISOWG guidelines

• 2009/10


• Address Funding issues, and especially full cost estimate of the GMES Atmosphere Service operations, including consolidated national contributions and European Commission additional support.

• Accompany implementation of MACC and issue recommendations (be part of advisory) • Consortium to make concrete steps towards a GACS legal entity (by 2011 or 2014 depending

on European overall decisions on GMES) • EC to provide R&D funding until 2014 • EC to assure operational funding for the period beyond • EC to clarify data policy

• 2010-2011

• Guidelines for the setting-up of the GAS provision scheme and of related GAS coordination structure

The present report, even after being accepted, should be considered as a living document, to be regularly updated over several years as implementation options are refined.

*******


ANNEX 1: Working practices of the Implementation Group

A 1.1. Principles of IG work and sources of guidance used

A 1.1.1. Working approaches

The IG is composed of experts and representatives of EU institutional future users and organisations, institutions and agencies not directly involved in the provision of the GMES Atmosphere Service. These experts were tasked to federate the needs of potential CS users, i.e. to represent user interests.

In the process, some of the stakeholders likely to contribute to the service provision have also been invited to provide or submit their advice to the IG. Similarly, MS are kept informed regularly on the progress of the IG’s discussions.

Three main working approaches were used: • The IG has sought and received advice from relevant stakeholders, especially those potentially

involved in the service provision especially regarding discussions on service functions, architecture and structure;

• The IG mandated 4 working groups composed of ca. 10 experts each for analyzing the following issues: (1) service scope, (2) service architecture & functionality, (3) requirements for in situ and for (4) space observation infrastructure;

• The IG carried out its own analysis internally.

A 1.1.2. Guidance Guidance for the work of the IG has been received as follows:

• Background documents: • basis is GACS user workshop outcomes and orientation paper • reports: GATO, IGACO, HALO • Marine IG strategic implementation plan

• Service-building projects: • Input from FP6 GEMS, GSE PROMOTE on their findings and developed capabilities to IG work

directly, also participation in WGs • MACC: Proposal presented to IG, Guidance from Coordinator, IG informed on evaluation

process and Description of Work, • Exchange with other relevant players

• Space agencies: ESA, EUMETSAT • WMO presentation on WIS to WG2 • ECMWF • DG ENV on INSPIRE • DG ENTR.H3 on RTD SPACE

• National guidance and proposals. • GAC briefing


A 1.2. The GAS Implementation Group

A 1.2.1. Composition

The following table lists GMES Atmosphere Service Implementation Group members, their respective affiliations and relevant fields of expertise

Name Affiliation Functions in the IG

Dr. Philippe WALDTEUFEL

Senior Scientist at Service d'Aéronomie laboratory of IPSL (CNRS)

Verrières, France

- Chair of the IG - Expert in remote sensing radar and

radiometry applications; - Science management;

Dr. László BOZÓ

L. Bozo left the group in 01/08 due to his promotion to presidency of the HMS

Deputy President of the Hungarian Meteorological Service

Budapest, Hungary

- Expert in air quality modelling and atmospheric chemistry; in particular, environmental chemistry and air pollution;

- Represents a national met service in the New Member States

Dr. Geir BRAATHEN

Senior scientific officer of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) involved in the Atmospheric Research and Environment Programme.

Geneva, Switzerland.

- Expert on stratospheric ozone monitoring, including loss in the polar region;

- Involved in the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Network;

- Link to WMO

Prof. Dr. Hartmut GRAßL

(Ex-)Director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg; Senior Professor at the Meteorological Institute, University of Hamburg.

Hamburg, Germany

- Expert in Earth observation from space; aerosols and climate; lidar and radar remote sensing of the lower atmosphere; global climate change;

Tim HAIGH

.

Project manger at the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Copenhagen, Denmark

- Link with EEA and in particular, with the air and transport group;

- Expert in European environmental policy and environmental reporting obligation;

Andrej KOBE

Policy officer at the EC in the Clean Air and Transport Unit of DG ENV.

Brussels, Belgium

- Link with DG ENV; - responsible for AQ directives (AQ

legislation and CAFÉ); - involved in the data exchange

group for air quality data;

Dr. Erik LILJAS

Manager of the International Relations of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).

Norrkoping, Sweden

- Expert in Satellite Meteorology; - Involved in EULMETNET,

EUMETSAT, ECMWF working groups and in the development of the European Meteorological Infrastructure (EMI);


Name Affiliation Functions in the IG

Dr. Lourdes RAMIREZ SANTIGOSA

L. Ramirez has recently joined CENER (National Centre for Renewable Energies, Spain)

Senior Scientific officer of the CIEMAT Renewable Energy department.

Madrid, Spain

- Expert Renewable Energies, and in particular, solar radiation characterization from measurements or from satellite images;

Inita STIKUTE I. Stikute has replaced L. Bozo as of 03/O8

Deputy Director of Latvian Hydrometeorological Agency

Riga, Latvia

- Hydrologist; - Represents a national met. service

in the New Member States

Daan SWART MSc Senior scientist in the Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

Bilthoven, The Netherlands

- Expert in groundbased remote sensing of trace gases in the atmosphere and in satellite validation, in the fields of Climate and Air quality research;

- D. Swart also serves as member of the ISOWG support Group.

Including the working groups, citizens of 19 European countries were involved in preparing the IG report.

A 1.2.2. Mandate

After the 2006 user workshop on the GMES Atmosphere Service, an Implementation Group is established, which, in open cooperation with the relevant user community(ies), will be in charge of providing guidelines and recommendations regarding the implementation of the atmosphere pilot service, and of reporting on the progress of its activities to the GMES management structure.

This Group will, in particular, address the following issues: • Scope of the Atmosphere Core Service, including the thematic focus in line with core/downstream

service concepts • Functionality and architecture of the Atmosphere Core Service, including the identification of its

main functional components, the general service architecture linking these components, and the major functional dependencies of the Core Service, especially with meteorological services. It is especially important to clarify the boundaries to existing services (to avoid redundancies), demonstrate clearly the added value of an Atmosphere Core Service and show the interfaces and inter-relations with the other Fast-track services.

• Links and interfaces between the GMES Atmosphere Core Service and Downstream services, including the requirements for downstream services, their dependencies in terms of the Core Service product delivery (timeliness, quality control, etc…) and the associated contractual issues.

• Space observation infrastructure for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service, including the long-term requirements for space-based observation data, the analysis of existing and future capacities at European and international levels, and the identification of possible gaps in the space data availability.

• In situ observation infrastructure for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service, including the requirements for data collected through European capacities (including the coordination and sustainability of these capacities), as well as the needs for data collected at international level and accessible through international coordination mechanisms (e.g. WMO Global Atmosphere Watch).

• Structure and governance of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service, including, for example, the sharing of activities and operational responsibilities among the potential service providers, their links with the GMES Management Authority and the governance body. The impacts of these relationships on service level agreements and on service information policy should also be addressed.


• Action plan and main milestones for the implementation and the operational validation of the GMES Atmosphere Service.

• Funding issues and especially full cost estimate of the GMES Atmosphere Service infrastructure and operations, including consolidated national contributions and European Commission additional support.

After the delivery of its report, the Implementation Group should monitor the implementation of its guidelines and recommendations, especially regarding the technical development and operational assessment of the Core Service and the elaboration of its governance.

The main deliverables of the Atmosphere Implementation Group in the 2007-2008 period will include: • Conclusions and actions of the Implementation Group meetings (bureau + chair) • Progress reports to the GMES Advisory Council (chair + bureau) • Reports on specific items, e.g. requirements for space or in situ observation infrastructure (working

groups + IG) • IG final report defining guidelines and recommendations for the GMES Atmosphere Service

implementation, and analyzing the main issues linked to this implementation. The IG final report should be delivered by mid-2008 at the latest (chair + IG, supported by bureau)

A 1.2.3. Workplan 2007/08

• First meeting (18 June 2007) • Introduction to GMES • Status quo (workshop, orientation paper) • IG draft mandate, workplan (meeting dates) and working practices • Formation of working groups (composition) & their mandate.

• Second meeting (4 October 2007) • Initial thoughts on scope (WG1), space infrastructure for the core service (WG4), in situ

infrastructure for the core service (WG3). functionality and architecture(WG2) • related GMES projects: GEMS, PROMOTE • contributions of ESA, EUMETSAT

• Third meeting (13 December 2007) • Progress on scope, in situ & space infrastructure , functionality & architecture • INSPIRE directive • MACC project, Presentation by consortium

• Fourth meeting (13 March 2008) • Consolidation on scope, in situ, space, functionality and architecture • structure and governance issues of the core service • IG position on MACC negotiations • Final report outline

• Fifth meeting (28 April 2008) • Final report first draft • Leftover issues for

• in situ & space infrastructure • functionality and architecture • governance

• Sixth meeting (17 June 2008) • Final report draft

Some additions brought after this last meeting are mentioned as footnotes.


A 1.3. Mandates and work plans of working groups (WG) Four working groups (WGs) were launched to support the work of the IG. Each WG was chaired by an IG member. Other WG members were named based on their expertise and upon recommendation by IG members and by Commission services and agencies (JRC, ENV, EEA, GMES Bureau,..). Each WGs had 8-14 members.

Each group was given a number of issues to discuss, as listed in the following. They were tasked to report their findings back to the IG.

A 1.3.1. WG 1: Scope of the Atmosphere Core Service

Main issues to be addressed: • Political issues

• European level: directives and regulations • International level: commitments of European Union and its Member States • National and sub-national (e.g. European Regions) levels

• Application of core/downstream service concepts to the GMES atmosphere services • Perimeter/scope of the Atmosphere Core Service: areas of information to be covered (including air

quality, climate forcing and stratospheric composition) • Links and interfaces between the Atmosphere Core Service and downstream services Information

needs (outputs of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service): • Parameters/indicators required • Associated characteristics: space (geographical coverage), time scales and product quality • Detailed services provided, e.g. air quality toolbox • Information use and delivery requirements

• Identification of cross-cutting issues – links to the other GMES services (i.e. Emergency Response, Marine, Security)

The working group was chaired by Andrej KOBE. The WG met once in Brussels (29 OCT).

A report describing the group’s findings was produced as final output from this WG, which was accepted by the IG and served as input to the final IG report.

A 1.3.2. WG 2: Functionalities and Architecture of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service

Main issues to be addressed: • Main functionalities to be implemented within the GMES Atmosphere Core Service including, e.g.:

• Processing / analysis of observations (space & in situ) • Forecasting and monitoring (including assimilation of observations) • Data/information management and archiving • Information dissemination and user interface (downstream services and end-users) • Education and training

• General architecture of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service • Organisation of GMES Atmosphere Core Service functionalities • Linkages and interfaces between GMES Atmosphere Core Service functionalities • External dependencies of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service

o Space and in situ observation infrastructure o European Meteorological Infrastructure


• Existing assets • European Meteorological Infrastructure

o ECMWF o EUMETSAT (including SAFs) o National meteorological services

• European entities o EEA o ESA

• National entities o Data centers o Monitoring and forecasting systems

• Preliminary activities o FP6 pilot projects (including GEMS) and FP7 project under preparation (MACC) o ESA projects: PROMOTE o others

• Proposed architecture scheme for the External dependencies of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service • Gaps to be filled • External dependencies of the GMES Atmosphere Core Service

o Space and in situ observation infrastructure o European Meteorological Infrastructure

• Links between the GMES Atmosphere Core Service and downstream services

The working group was chaired by Hartmut Grassl. The group met three times in Brussels (12 NOV, 22 JAN, 31 MAR).

Written contributions in three sections (Functionalities, Architecture, Assets) were produced as final output and served as input to the final report.

A 1.3.3. WG 3: In-situ infrastructure and data

Main issues to be addressed: • Needs regarding in situ observation data for the GMES Atmosphere Service including:

• Vertical atmospheric layers, e.g. low troposphere, troposphere, [UT / LS], stratosphere • Spatial coverage

o European area o Global (non-European) observations

• Needs regarding infrastructure: Key elements to be considered for an in-situ infrastructure (technological development, investment, European and international coordination, testing, operation, data processing)?

• Existing European infrastructure o Observation networks and facilities (including ground-based, airborne and balloon

systems), opportunity experiments or campaigns o Functional supply chains o Status: research / demonstration / operational o Quality control status o Data policies

• Main weaknesses of existing capacities o In terms of measurement techniques o In terms of space / time coverage / sampling

• Coordination framework for this infrastructure o European level o Contribution to international observation capacities and vice versa


• Resource needs for their continuation • Governance issues linked to in situ observations for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service:

• In situ operators (including the European meteorological infrastructure) o Coordination mechanisms needed and their structure o Service level agreement approach for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service o European funding to be mobilised (coordination, technology development, data

exchanges, data centres)? • Data policies for the GMES Atmosphere Core Service • International issues

o Links with international coordination bodies o Binding agreements for GMES Atmosphere Core Service Provision

• Research and development • R&D functions linked to the GMES Atmosphere Core Service • Transfer of R&D activities in the overall supply chain • Lessons learnt from previous R&D projects and activities

The working group was co-chaired by Tim Haigh and Geir Braathen, intermittently supported in their work as chairs by Andreas Volz-Thomas (FZ Jülich) and Robert Höller (UBA Austria). The group met twice in Brussels (9 OCT, 7 APR).

A summary of the group’s discussions was produced as final output and served as input to the final report.

A 1.3.4. WG 4: Space infrastructure and data

Main issues to be addressed: • Description of the best case specification for data/images collected from space needed for the different

components of the Atmosphere Service, especially in terms of space and time scales • Description of possible degradations of these specifications and their likely impact upon the Atmosphere

service. • Description of the satellite systems and instruments required to fulfill these various options. • Analysis of the foreseeable satellite systems in Europe and worldwide which would contribute to fulfill

these various options. • Analysis of the compliance of ESA and European national space agencies projects with these

requirements for the lowest cost. • Analysis of the major gaps in terms of continuity, parameters, precision, space time coverage and their

impact on the Emergency service. • Is there any need for a coordination mechanism regarding space data? • R&D priorities

The working group analysis and report should take stock of previous and on-going works and activities.

The working group was chaired by Erik Liljas and met once at EUMETSAT in Darmstadt on 20 September 2007.

A full report and a summary of the group's discussions were produced as final output and served as input to the final report.

The group’s findings were communicated to ESA and EUMETSAT at a joint workshop at ESTEC on 25 April 2008.


ANNEX 2: References and glossary of abbreviations Reference documents (A) Orientation paper for User Workshop GMES Atmospheric Service (November 2006): http://www.gmes.info/library/files/5.%20Implementation%20Groups%20Documents/GMES%20Atmosphere%20Core%20Service/GAS%20WS%20orientation%20doc%2020061124.pdf

(B) Report on User Workshop for GMES Atmospheric Service (February 2007): http://www.gmes.info/library/files/5.%20Implementation%20Groups%20Documents/GMES%20Atmosphere%20Core%20Service/GAC-2007-11_GAS_WS_Report.pdf

(C) Sentinel Mission Requirements Document (April 2007): http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/GMES/Sentinel4and5MRDissue1rev0signed.pdf

(D) GMES governance and architecture principles non-paper (December 2007): http://circa.europa.eu/Members/irc/enterprise/gmesadcoun/library?l=/share_test/advisory_december&vm=detailed&sb=Title (access limited to national GMES coordinators)

(E) GMES governance non-paper (April 2008): http://circa.europa.eu/Members/irc/enterprise/gmesadcoun/library?l=/share_test/gac_11/gac-11-04_governancepdf/_EN_1.0_&a=d (access limited to national GMES coordinators)

(F) In-situ observation working group progress report (April 2008): http://circa.europa.eu/Members/irc/enterprise/gmesadcoun/library?l=/share_test/gac_11/gac-11-02_situpdf/_EN_1.0_&a=d (access limited to national GMES coordinators)

Glossary

ACRONYM MEANING 3D Three-dimensional 4D Four-dimensional AATSR Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer AERONET AErosol RObotic NETwork AirBase The public air quality database system of the EEA AirCE Air Quality Information System of Central Europe AIRS Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder

AirSDIC Spatial Data Interest Community (atmosphere-related) with regard to INSPIRE Directive implementation process

AOD Aerosol Optical Depth AQ Air Quality

A-Train Constellation of 6 Franco-American EO satellites in sun-synchronous orbit to build high-definition 3D images of the Earth's atmosphere and surface

ASCOPE Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth: to improve our understanding of the global carbon cycle and regional CO2 fluxes. Proposed Earth Explorer Mission Concept

AURA NASA mission with relevance to stratospheric ozone, AQ, and climate AVHRR(-3) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer BAS British Arctic Survey (aircraft) BSRN Baseline Radiation Surface Network C6H6 Benzene CAFE EU Clean Air for Europe programme CALIPSO The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation - satellite mission Cal/Val Calibration/validation

CARBOEUROPE FP project - aim is to understand and quantify the terrestrial carbon balance of Europe and associated uncertainties

CARIBIC Civil Aircraft for Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on Instrument Container CC Climate Change

CCE Climate Change Energy (various EU initiatives; term used to indicate that the energy and CC challenges are related and must be addressed jointly and coherently)


ACRONYM MEANING CECILIA FP6 project: Central and Eastern europe Climate change Impact and vulnerabiLIty Assessment CENER National Center for Renewable Energies in Spain CEOS Committee of Earth Observation Satellites CF Climate Forcing CFC Chlorofluorocarbons CH4 Methane CHOCHO Glyoxal

Citeair Common Information to European Air - a project co-funded by the EU’s INTERREG IIIC Programme

ClO Hypochlorite CLRTAP Convention on Long Range Trans-boundary Air Pollution CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) CO Carbon monoxide CO2 Carbon dioxide COM(XXXX) Commission Communication (XXXX – year of release) CREATE FP5 project: construction, use and delivery of an European aerosol database CS Core Service(s) DG ENV EC Directorate General for Environment DM Delayed mode (data delivery) DNI Direct Normal Irradiance DoW Description of work DS Downstream Services

DUE ESA Project (Data User Element); intended to support the GCOS plan with systematic satellite-based EO on the ECV global snow aeral extent and related products

EAN European Aeroallergen Network EARLINET European Aerosol Research Lidar Network EarthCARE European-Japanese satellite mission regarding cloud formation and aerosols EC European Commission ECCP European Climate Change Programme ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ECOMET Economic Interest Grouping of the National Meteorological Services ECV Essential Climate Variable EEA European Environment Agency EIONET European Environment Information & Observation Network (coordinated by EEA)

EMEP European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (Cooperative Programme focused on long range transport of air pollution in Europe), established under CLRTAP

EMI European Meteorological Infrastructure EN standards European Norm standards ENSEMBLES FP6 project to develop an ensemble prediction system for climate change

ENVISAT ESA Satellite (an advanced polar-orbiting Earth observation satellite which provides measurements of the atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice)

EO Earth Observation EO-DAP Earth Observation Data Access Portfolio EOMD Earth Observation Market Development: ESA funding programme EPER European Pollutant Emission Register EPS EUMETSAT Polar System (formed by the MetOp satellites) ERA 40 ECMWF Reanalysis – 40 years ERCS GMES Emergency Response Core Service ESA European Space Agency ESTEC ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre EU European Union EUMETCast EUMETSAT’s Broadcast System for Environmental Data EUMETNET The Network of European Meteorological Services EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites EUSAAR European Supersites for Atmospheric Aerosol Research


ACRONYM MEANING EUV European UV network EUV-DB The European Data Base for UV EWS Early Warning System FDHSI Full Disc High Spectral resolution Imagery FMI Finish Meteorological Institute FP (6, 7, 8) EU Framework Programme (6,7,8) FT-IR spectrometry Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry FZ Jülich ForschungsZentrum Jülich GAC GMES Advisory Council GACS GMES Atmosphere Core Service GAINS Greenhouse gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies model by IIASA GAS GMES Atmosphere Services GATO Global Atmospheric Observation project GAW Global Atmosphere Watch GAWSIS GAW Station Information System GAW-WDC GAW World Data Centres GCOS Global Climate Observing System GEBA Global Energy Balance Archive GECA Generic Environment for Calibration/validation Analysis GEMS FP6 project for GACS development

GEO Global Earth Observation: process under UN umbrella to bring EO capacities together internationally

GEO (satellite) Geostationary satellite orbit GEOLAND FP precursor project for the LMCS

GEOmon FP6 project building an integrated pan-European atmospheric observing system of GHG, reactive gases, aerosols, and stratospheric ozone.

GEONETCast GEO’s near real time, global network of satellite-based data dissemination systems GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of Systems GEWEX Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment GHG Green House Gas GHI Global Horizontal Irradiance GMES Global monitoring for environment and security GOES USA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite(s) GOME-2 The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 instrument GOMOS Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (onboard ENVISAT) GOSAT JAXA's GHG observing Satellite GSE GMES Service Element GTS Global Telecommunication System H2O Water

HALO FP6 project addressing cross-cutting issues between GMES land, marine and atmosphere precursor projects

HCFC HydroChloroFluoroCarbons HCHO Formaldehyde HDO Deuterium hydrogen oxide (deuterium-substituted water) HELCOM Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area HF Fluoric acid HMS Hungarian Meteorological Service HNO3 Nitric acid HPC High performance computing IAGOS Integration of Routine Aircraft measurements into Global Observing System

IAGOS-ERI IAGOS (Integration of routine Aircarft measurements into a Global Observing System) – European Research Infrastructure

IASI Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer onboard MeToP ICOS Integrated Carbon Observation System IDMP International Daylight Measurement Programme


ACRONYM MEANING IG (GMES atmosphere) Implementation Group IGACO International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Observations IMPEL EU network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law INSPIRE Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community IPCC International Panel on Climate Change IPs Integrated project(s) [FP6] IPSL Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (France) IR Infrared IRS Infrared Spectrometer ISO International Organization for Standardization ISOWG In-situ Observation Working Group JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JRC (EC) Joint Research Centre LEO satellite in Low Earth Orbit LIDAR Laser Images Detection And Ranging LRTAP Long Range Trans-boundary Air Pollution LS Lower stratosphere MACC FP7 project proposal for building GACS MCS Marine Core Service

MERIS Medium-spectral Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (a programmable, medium-spectral resolution, imaging spectrometer operating in the solar reflective spectral range. Fifteen spectral bands can be selected by ground command)

MERSEA FP6 precursor project for the MCS MetOp/EPS EUMETSAT satellites, provide detail on atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles MIPAS Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding MIRAS Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis MMW Millimetre-wave limb-sounding MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer

MOZAIC Measurements of OZone and water vapour by in-service AIrbus airCraft project (Precursor project of IAGOS)

MS Member State(s) MSG Meteosat Second Generation satellite series MTG-S Meteosat Third Generation Satellite N2O Nitrous oxide nadir/SWIR Downward-facing viewing angle -90° shortwave infrared instrument NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NDACC Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change NGO Non Governmental Organization(s) NIES (Japanese) National Institute for Environmental Studies NILU Norwegian Institute for Air Research NITROEUROPE FP project NMS National Meteorological Services NO Nitric oxide NO2 Nitrogen dioxide NOx Nitrogen oxides NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NPOESS (USA) National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

NPP USA National Polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite system preparatory project will provide continuity after the EOS Terra and Aqua missions

NRT Near Real Time (data delivery) O3 ozone OCO Orbiting Carbon Observatory ODIN Swedish satellite relevant to measuring ozone depletion and global warming parameters OMI Ozone Monitoring Instrument (onboard AURA) OMPS Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite


ACRONYM MEANING OSE Observing System Evaluation OSPAR OSlo-PARis: convention for the protection of the environment of the Northeast Atlantic OSSE Observing System Simulation Experiment

PARASOL French microsatellite: measures the direction and polarization of light reflected by the Earth-atmosphere system

PBL Planetary Boundary Layer PM (1, 2.5, 10) Particulate Matter, max. size in µm

PREMIER PRocess Exploration through Measurements of Infrared and millimetre-wave Emitted Radiation) Proposed ESA Earth Explorer Mission Concept to understand processes that link trace gases, radiation, chemistry and climate in the atmosphere

PROMOTE Project financed by ESA as GMES Service Element (GSE) for GAS QA Quality assessment QC Quality control QUASUME Quality Assurance of Spectral Ultraviolet Measurements in Europe project R&D Research and Development RAINS Regional Air pollution INformation and Simulation model, by IIASA RBCC-E GAW's Regional Brewer Calibration Center Europe RD(1) Rapid Delivery (with delay approx. 1 day) RDCC-E GAW's Regional Dobson Calibration Centre Europe RMDCN Regional Meteorological Data Communication Network RTD SPACE Research, Technology and Development activities under FP theme “Space” SAF Satellite Application Facilities

SCIAMACHY SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY onboard ENVISAT

SEIS Shared Environmental Information System SEVIRI Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager onboard MSG SHADOZ Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes SHMI Swedish Hydro-Meteorological Institute SLA Service Level Agreement SO2 Sulphur dioxide SUVDAMA/SCOUT Scientific UVDAta Management/SCOUT projects TCCON Total Carbon Column Observing Network TOC Total Ozone Column TRAQ TRopospheric composition and Air Quality: proposed ESA Earth Explorer Mission UBA Umweltbundesamt (in this case Austrian Federal Environmental Agency) UF User Federation UN United Nations UNECE UN Economic Commission for Europe UNEP UN Environmental Programme UNFCCC UN Framework Convention on Climate Change US Upper Stratosphere UT Upper troposphere UTLS Upper troposphere/lower stratosphere UV (A,B) Ultraviolet (radiation) UVN UV-visible and near-infrared UVNS UV-visible-near-infrared and shortwave infrared VII Visible-Infrared Imager VOCs Volatile Organic Carbons WCCOS World Calibration Center for Ozone Sondes WCRP World Climate Research Programme WDC(s) World Data Centre(s) WG (GMES atmosphere) Working Group(s) WIS WMO Information System WMO World Meteorological Organisation


ANNEX 3: Detailed outputs (scope) of the GAS

A 3.1. Specification of CS products for AQ and CF in relation to the intended use

Inter-

mediate use of CS products

Direct use of CS products

End users

CS product

Pollu- tant

Para- m

eters

Period

Exten- sion

SpatialR

eso- lution

Uncerta

inty298

AIR QUALITY

- Info on EU-wide AQ[3]30

General public

EU-wide AQ maps

PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO, NO2, SO2

Surface concen-tration

NRT, 3-day forecast, (historic, scenarios)

Euro- pe 25 km •

30%

-

Large scale AQ assessment (including compliance AQ thresholds)

EU/ national/ local authorities

EU-wide AQ maps and interme diate data

PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO, NO2, SO2, CO31

Surface concentration

Historic, NRT, 3-day forecast

Euro- pe 25 km •

30%

-

Scientific und/dev: - Model validation

Science Commu- nity

Global and EU-wide maps and interme diate data

PM1, PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO, NO2, CO, SO2

32 HCHO

All Historic

Euro- pe; global

BTC33

-

Scientific und/dev: - Emission data34

Science Commu- nity

Science report on emission data

PM2.5, PM10, NO, NO2, HCHO, O3, CO, CHOCHO

Emissions of source types

Historic

Euro- pe; global

BTC

- AQ mana- EU/ Concen- PM1, Surface Scenarios Euro BTC33 •30 29 The percentage indicates the typical uncertainty of an individual concentration value. BTC: Better than current. 30 This could also be defined for intermediate use, with downstream providers providing it to the end users. 31 Tracer included in CLRTAP and precursor of O3 32 SO2 not relevant at European, but at global level 33 Accuracy requirements (BTC: “better than current”): Several of the foreseen product do already exist to some degree, and are based on surface monitoring and modelling, without satellite data. These products cannot be provided by satellite data solely. Satellite data, as additional information, may however improve the existing products. For those products, it is more suitable to require from CS products that they improve the current accuracy (“Better Than Current”) than attempting to catch the desired accuracy in one overall accuracy percentage. The other WGs should then estimate the accuracy improvement due to inclusion (assimilation) of satellite data. The same applies to some degree to spatial resolution. 34 Global emission inventories with a good regional resolution (at least 20 km) are essential for all UNEP regulations, post-Kyoto, AQ and CC. So far inventories have been worked out in the framework of funded projects which does not guarantee consistence and continuity.


Inter-mediate

use of CS products


End users

CS product

Pollu- tant

Para- m

eters

Period

Exten- sion

SpatialR

eso- lution

Uncerta

inty298

gement nat/ local authorities

tration scenarios

PM2.5, PM10, 03, NO2

concentration

pe %

Input for downstream (DS) local forecast, alerts, …

DS local forecast, alerts, …

Local authorities and public35

EU-wide AQ and emission maps

PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3 HCHO, CO, SO2

3D concs, surface concs

NRT Euro- pe

•50 km •30%

Input for DS local AQ assess-ment

Info on local AQ

Local authorities and stakeholder

EU-wide AQ maps

PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3

Surface concs Historic Euro-

pe •50 km

Input for DS scenario development

Local AQ scenarios

Local authorities and stakeholder

EU-wide AQ maps

PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3

3D concs, surface concs

Scenarios Euro- pe BTC33

BTC33 Scientific understanding /development Input for emission estimates

Better info on air pollution in general Better emission inventories,

All stakeholder Authorities and stakeholder

Columns, AODs, surface monitoring data EU-wide

PM1, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3 HCHO, C6H6, CO, SO2

All 3D conc grids

Historic Historic

Euro- pe; global Euro- pe; global

Scientific reports;

CLIMATE FORCING

Scientific under -standing /development

Sustained monitoring of climate system and its composition (input for climate research, modelling,.)

Scientific Community nity

3D distribution maps, intermediate data

CO2, CH4, O3, aerosols (type resolved), gaseous precursors: CO, SO2, NOx, VOCs Haloge nated Hydrocarbons (CFCs, HCFCs,..)

3D gridded fields, concen-trations

monthly/ seasonal global

•x : 10-50 km

Scientific Under Scientific Distribu- Surface 3D gridded monthly/ global •x :

35 “local” refers to spatial extent: includes regional and even national for small countries.


Inter-mediate

use of CS products


End users

CS product

Pollu- tant

Para- m

eters

Period

Exten- sion

SpatialR

eso- lution

Uncerta

inty298

under-standing /develop-ment

standing of atmosphere dynamics and thermo-dynamic parameters (input for climate research, modelling,.)

Commu- nity

tion maps, inter mediate data, long-term records

para-meters36: Tair, precipita-tion, p(air), surface radiation budget, wind speed /direction Water vapour

fields

seasonal 1-10 km

Under standing of atmosphere dynamics and thermo-dynamic parameters (input for climate research, modelling,.)

Scientific Commu- nity

Distribu-tion maps, interme diate data, long-term records

Upper air parameters36: earth radiation budget (+ solar irradiance), upper-air T (+MSU radiances), wind speed /direction, cloud properties

3D gridded fields, vertical profiles

monthly/ seasonal global

1000-5000 km & 50 km

Input for policy makers, conven-tions, NGOs, public

Determi- nation of sources and sinks

Scientific Commu- nity

maps, intermediate data

CO2 surface, CH4 surface, Haloge nated Carbons (CFCs, HFCFs..) Anomalies from expected climatology

Surface fluxes, gridded fields

Monthly, seasonal

Glo bal, Euro-pean

36 Not a priority for the CS, (compare sections 3.2 and 3.5).


A 3.2. Specification of CS products for O3 and UV in relation to the intended use

Product Output type

Use/case description

Extension

Provision

Temporal Resolution

Spatial resolution

Forecast

Uncertainty

Accuracy

Operational precision

USER TYPE: High-capacity, intermediate users: e.g. research, met services/forecasting, satellite agencies Improved + sustained monitoring of current status and trends in stratospheric O3 depletion, O3 depleting gases & changes of UV radiation

O3 total column (TOC)

long-term record

e.g. ozone research: global changes, trends, validation of satellite missions, O3-climate interactions

global daily •x: 500-1000 km

1-3%

Long-term drift within 1%

Ozone profiles (T/LS, O3 sondes)

long-term record, verti- cally resolved

e.g. ozone research: modelling of ozone distribution by UT/LS dynamics, validation of sat observations, O3-climate interactions

global daily

•x: 500-1000 km, •z: 0.1-1 km, to 30-35 km

3-10%


Ozone 3D distr. oceans (UT/LS, airborne)


e.g. ozone research: heterogeneous processes contr. By O3 incl. Air traffic

global: oceans daily37

•x: 10-10000 km, •z: 0.1-1km betw. 0-12 km

1-3%


Ozone profiles (US, lidars, micro- waves


e.g. ozone research: chemical processes, recovery of the O3 layer and O3 hole

global daily38

•x: 1000-5000 km; •z: 1-5km

3-15%


Other required variables

37 limited according to flight schedules 38 limited according to weather conditions


Product Output type


Extension

Provision

Temporal Resolution


Forecast

Uncertainty

Accuracy


polar stratos-pheric clouds

long-term record, verti-cally resolved

e.g. ozone research global hourly

300km •x, 1-2km •z

<1% long-term drift

ozone- destruc tive species (ClOx, NOx,..)



300km •x, 1-2km •z

<1% long-term drift

reservoir species (CLy)



300km •x, 1-2km •z

<1% long-term drift

Routine provision of updated ozone maps and UV forecasts

TOC fields

e.g. ozone research : TOC distribution vs. UT/LS dynamics

global NRT daily

10km •x, ground & sat assim.

1-2%

ozone profiles fields

e.g. ozone research : 3D O3 distribution vs. UT/LS dynamics

global


UV-B, UV index fields

e.g. ozone research, val of UV mosels

global NRT daily


1-5%

need for atmosphere dynamics & thermodynamics incl. clouds Historic European UV records and mapping

Global UV spectral irra diances

long-term records

e.g. UV research: UV RT models; trends

Europe+ neigh- bor hood

several scans daily for different SZAs

500-1000km •x

1-5%


Global UV narrow band (multi channel) irradiance

long-term records

e.g. UV research: short-time variations, UV climatol, val of UV models


Hourly & higher sums

100-500 km •x

5 -10%


Global erythemal irradiance (daily doses, max/min) and UV-index

long-term records, maps

e.g. UV research: UV climate and health, application of UV models


Hourly & higher doses

100-500 km •x

5 -10%



Product Output type


Extension

Provision

Temporal Resolution


Forecast

Uncertainty

Accuracy


USER TYPE: Core-product direct users: e.g. policy makers, authorities, environmental agencies, conventions, citizens Improved + sustained monitoring of current status and trends in stratospheric O3 depletion, O3 depleting gases & UV radiation

TOC

long-term analyses, geograph. resolved

e.g. Montreal Protocol - trends, documentation of O3 recovery, O3-climate interactions

global Annually, seasonally

1000km •x, ground & sat assimilated

Long-term drift wi thin 1%

Ozone profiles (UT/LS, US)

long-term record, 3D resolved

e.g. Montreal protocol - trends, O3 recovery, Kyoto - O3/climate, UT/LS chem.. - air traffic and long-range transport

global Monthly, seasonally

100-5000km •x, 0.1-5km •z

Long-term drift within 1-3%

Global UV spectral irradiances

long-term records /changes, typical regions

e.g. O3/climate, UV/environ-ment, UV/health


Monthly, seasonally

typical regions


Global erythemal irradiance (daily doses, max/min) and UV-index

long-term records/ changes, geograph. resolved

e.g. O3/climate, UV/environ-ment, UV/health


Monthly/ seasonally/ annually

typical regions, zonal belts


Routine provision of updated ozone and UV forecasts

TOC maps e.g. met services, citizen

Global daily Daily AVGs

100 km •x, ground & satellite assimilated

1-5 days39

1-5%

UV-B at surface maps

e.g. met services, citizen

Global daily Daily totals /extremes

100 km •x, ground & satellite assimilated

1-5 days39

1-5%

39 current state-of-the-art technologies, still in progress


Product Output type


Extension

Provision

Temporal Resolution


Forecast

Uncertainty

Accuracy


Historic European UV records and mapping

UV-B at surface

long-term changes, maps

e.g. climate change, environmental impacts


Monthly/ seasonally/ annually

typical regions, zonal belts

USER TYPE: Downstream providers: e.g. private sector/industry, health services, NGOs, tourism Improved + sustained monitoring of current status and trends in stratospheric O3 depletion, O3 depleting gases & UV radiation

TOC / UV-B / UV-Index at surface

actual values

e.g. operational public health protection information

Region nal NRT daily regional

1-3% TOC ; 5-10% UV39

Routine provision of updated ozone and UV forecasts

UV-B / UV-Index at surface

maps, actual values, short-term forecasts

e.g. operational public health protection information

Region nal NRT daily regional

1-5 days39

1-5% maps3

9

Historic European UV records and mapping

UV-B at surface

long-term records and statistics

e.g. downstream assessments

Regio nal, Europe+ Neigh- bor hood

hourly, daily, monthly averages

Regional or 1x1 degree horizontal ; ground & sat assimil.

Long-term drift <3% for data;1-3% for maps


A 3.3. CS products for solar radiation

Product Output type

Use/case description Extent Delivery Temporal

resolution Spatial

resolution Forecast Accuracy

High-capacity, intermediate users: research, met services

Global Horizontal Irradiance Direct Normal Irradiance

time series, averages, maps

Scientific understanding of short and long-term variability, including extreme events such as volcano eruptions

Europe (Africa, Asia)

archive, forecasts

15-min instant-aneous, hourly, daily, monthly

1-3 km (MSG)

3-12 hours, 1-7 days

Core-product direct end users: policy makers, authorities/agencies, international organisations, citizens

Global Horizontal Irradiance

long-term averages, maps

Policy development and monitoring Public information


archive long-term monthly

1-3 km (MSG)

Downstream providers: value-adding providers: (solar energy project development, financing, plant operation, electricity network management)

Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI)

time series, averages, maps

Energy yield assessment for plant siting & project development; Site audits for financing and insurance; Power plant monitoring and operation; Electricity network management, Energy performance modelling and certification of buildings.


archive, NRT, forecasts

15-min instant-aneous, hourly, daily, monthly

1-3 km (MSG)

3-12 hours, 1-7 days, seasonal forecasts

Bias (archive data): DHI < 3%, DNI <6%


ANNEX 4: In situ priority capacities Prepared by GAS In-situ Working Group (WG3) with input from the PROMOTE and GEMS projects

Legends and general remarks

Timeliness and use of in-situ data: • NRT (Near-Real-Time delivery): within 3 hours of observations (target), within 24 hours (threshold) • RD (rapid delivery): within 1 day (target), within 3 days (threshold) • DM (delayed mode delivery): within 1 month (target), within 6 months (threshold)

NRT data are used for analysis and forecast services. RD and DM data are uses for model validation/development as well as for the services: re-analyses, assessments.

Site types: • RS: Regional sites • LS: Locally influenced sites • SS: Super Sites

General requirements for in-situ observations: • Observations must be accompanied with detailed error estimates (accuracy/precision), which are

needed for data assimilation purposes and for assessment of uncertainties, • and site character descriptions (metadata). • Detection limits for each instrument/parameter must be specified. • It is fundamental that regional sites with a large spatial representativeness operate with high quality

monitoring to detect even minor trends.

Comment: H2O is not considered, as humidity is a key meteorological variable (at least in the troposphere); there is a clear observational strategy for this one already.

Priorities: • 1: essential • 2: important • 3: good to have


A 4.1. Air quality

Air quality: priority 1 Parameter Data Type Timeliness Accuracy Temporal

resolution Gaps Remarks

Ozone Surface stations, continuous

NRT 5 ppb, (15% acc. to EU directive)

30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/ South-eastern Europe; (RS well covered in EMEP)

Unvalidated data

Ozone Surface stations, continuous

DM 5 ppb, (15% acc. to EU directive)

30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/ South-eastern Europe; (RS well covered in EMEP)

Validated data

Ozone Aircraft vert. profiles NRT 5 ppb 1 min Sustainability Unvalidated data

Ozone Aircraft vert. profiles DM 5 ppb 1 min Sustainability Validated data

NO Surface stations, continuous

NRT 100 ppt (15% acc. to EU directive)

30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/ South-eastern Europe Unvalidated data

NO Surface stations, continuous

DM 100 ppt (15% acc. to EU directive)

30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/ South-eastern Europe Validated data

NO2 Surface stations, continuous

NRT 100 ppt (15% acc. to EU directive)

30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/ South-eastern Europe Unvalidated data

NO2 Surface stations, continuous

DM 100 ppt (15% acc. to EU directive)

30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/ South-eastern Europe Validated data

PM2.5 Surface stations, continuous

NRT 0.1 µg.m-3

(25% acc. to EU directive)

30 min to 1 hour

Very few available

Unvalidated data & few observational sites


DM 0.1 µg.m-3


30 min to 1 hour

Very few available

Validated data & few observational sites

PM10 Surface stations, continuous

NRT 0.1 µg.m-3


30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/South-eastern Europe Unvalidated data

PM10 Surface stations, continuous

DM 0.1 µg.m-3


30 min to 1 hour

LS: East/South-eastern Europe Validated data

Speciated aerosol

Surface stations, continuous

DM 5 ppb 3 hours RS: included in EMEP monitoring requirements

Aerosol Optical Depth

Vertical column integrals

NRT 0.005 (target) / 0.01 (threshold)

15 min

Sustainability (currently mainly from NASA-AERONET)

At few sites




Ozone Aircraft UTLS NRT 5 ppb 5 min

Ozone Sonde vertical profile DM 5 ppb 1 min

Ozone LIDAR vertical profile DM 1 hour

NOx Aircraft vertical profiles RD 50 ppt 1 min


NRT 30 min to 1 hour

Very few observational sites

PM2.5 Aircraft vertical profiles RD 1 min

Speciated NM VOC

Surface stations, continuous

DM 20 ppt 30 min to 1 hour

Some SS needed




Ozone Ground-based vertical profiles RD 5 ppb 30 min to

1 hour

Ozone Tower observations NRT 5 ppb 30 min to

1 hour few observational sites Unvalidated data

NOy Aircraft vertical profiles / UTLS NRT 100 ppt 1 min / 5 min

NOx Aircraft UTLS RD 50 ppt 5 min NOx from soils flux Emission fluxes

NO2 Vert. column integrals (DOAS, FTIR)

RD

PAN Aircraft vert. profiles /UTLS RD 25 ppt 1 min / 5 min

CO Surface stations, continuous

NRT 2 ppb 30 min to 1 hour Few RS Unvalidated data

CO Tower observations NRT 2 ppb 30 min to


CO Aircraft vert. profiles / UTLS NRT 2 ppb 1 min / 5 min

HCHO Aircraft vertical profiles RD 100 ppt 1 min

HCHO Vertical column integrals (DOAS, FTIR)

RD

Ammonia fluxes Emission fluxes

Isoprene and terpenes flux Emission fluxes

SO2 Surface stations, continuous

NRT 100 ppt 30 min to 1 hour Unvalidated data

SO2 Tower observations DM 30 min to

1 hour few observational sites

PM10 Tower observations NRT 0.1 µg.m-3 30 min to


PM2.5 Tower observations NRT 0.1 µg.m-3 30 min to


PM2.5 Aircraft UTLS RD 0.1 µg.m-3 5 min

Visibility Surface stations, continuous

NRT 30 min to 1 hour

Aerosol size distribution

Tower observations DM 30 min to

1 hour few observational sites

Speciated aerosol Aircraft UTLS DM 5 min


A 4.2. Ozone and UV

Ozone & UV: priority 1 Parameter Data Type Timeliness Accuracy Temporal


UV Index

hourly/max values for operational nowcasting. Surface stations, continuous

NRT 5-10% 1 hour Downstream service

Ozone Sonde vertical profile NRT 5-7% weekly

More stations needed in data sparse areas. More of the existing stations should deliver in NRT Calibration centres needs more sustainable support

There are many stations in Europe. One should consider relocation of some stations to data sparse areas

Ozone Aircraft vertical profiles and UTLS measurements

RD 1 min No funding since 2004

The MOZAIC project has been terminated. Long term sustainable funding is needed from 2009.

Ozone Total column, measured from surface based stations

NRT DM

1-3% 1%

Daily or better. For satellite validation a time resolution of 1 hour or better is required.

More stations needed in data sparse areas. More of the existing stations should deliver in NRT Calibration centres needs more sustainable support

Total ozone can be measured with Dobson and Brewer spectrophotometers, UV/Vis DOAS spectrometers and with FT-IR interferometers.

Halogen source gases (CFCs, HCFCs, halons)

Surface concentrations Total column measured from surface based stations.

DM Depends on the component

1 hour or better

More stations needed downwind of potential source regions

Important for checking compliance with Montreal Protocol


Ozone & UV: priority 2 Parameter Data Type Timeliness Accuracy Temporal


Ozone LIDAR vertical profile RD 1-2%

Daily, weather permitting

Few stations globally. Data delivery should be more rapid.

Needs clear sky conditions. Problems with sustainable operation.

Ozone Microwave vertical profiles RD Daily

Very few stations globally. Data delivery should be more rapid.

Important for middle and upper stratosphere. Problems with sustainable operation.

UV Index Climatology from surface based stations

DM 5-10% 1 hour

No sustainable funding for a central European calibration facility. No single focal point for European UV data.

A calibration centre exists but lacks sustainable funding. Calibrations are carried out only occasionaly.

Erythemal UV

Surface based observations

NRT DM

5-10% 3% 1 hour Same as for UV

index Same as for UV index

Spectral UV Surface based observations DM 1-5% 1 hour Same as for UV

index Same as for UV index

Active halogen species (BrO, ClO, OClO)

Total column measured from surface based stations.

RD Depends on the component

Daily

More measurements needed in polar regions

Halogen reservoir species (HCl, HBr, ClONO2)

Total column measured from surface based stations.


Daily

More measurements needed in polar regions


Ozone & UV: priority 3 Parameter Data Type Time

liness Accuracy Temporal resolution Gaps Remarks

Active halogen species (BrO, ClO, OClO)

Profiles measured from surface based stations and balloons


Daily

Halogen reservoir species (HCl, HBr, ClONO2)



Daily

Halogen source gases (CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, halons)


DM Depends on the component

Monthly

Nitrogen species (NO2, HNO3)

Total column measured from surface based stations and profiles


daily

Horizontal resolution:

• Total ozone : 500-1000 km – the current density of the ground network in EU that allows validation of models and satellites, mapping through assimilation and latitude-longitude estimation of trends

• Erythemal UV/UV Index: 100-500 km – sufficient density for operational UV nowcasting for the public, validation of models and UV climatology

• UV global spectral irradiances: 500-1000 km – the current density of the ground network in EU that allows validation of models and satellites and UV climatology

Data quality:

• Total ozone: 1-3% for NRT and RD data, 1% long-term drift for the Delayed data – achievable for the majority of regularly calibrated EU Dobson and Brewer instruments, not known for the SAOZ/DOAS instruments

• UV Erythemal: 5-10% for NRT data and within 3% long-term drift for delayed data. Improvement due technological development is expected

• UV global spectral irradiances: 1-5% for individual scans, within 3% long-term drift of Delayed data for regularly calibrated spectrophotometers – mostly the Brewer instruments

• Generally: High quality of ozone and UV observations is achievable and the data are taken as reliable sources of information if the ISO standards/rules are implemented in the whole process of data generation and quality control – see also 3.1.


A 4.3. Climate

Climate: priority 1 Para meter Data Type Timeliness Accu-

racy Temporal resolution Gaps Remarks

CO2 Continuous measurements from surface stations

RD DM

0.5 ppm 0.1 ppm Hourly

Insufficient coverage in remote marine areas of the Northern Hemisphere, the tropics and in the Southern Hemisphere.

CO2 Flask samples from surface stations

DM 0.1 ppm Weekly


CO2 Tower observations

RD DM

0.5 ppm 0.1 ppm Daily


CH4 Continuous measurements from surface stations

RD DM

4 ppb 2 ppb Hourly

Insufficient coverage in remote marine areas of the Northern Hemisphere, the tropics and in the Southern Hemisphere

CH4 Flask samples from surface stations

DM 2 ppb Weekly


Climate: priority 2 Parameter Data Type Timeliness Accuracy Temporal


CO2 Aircraft vertical profiles

RD DM


CO2 Vertical column integrals (DOAS, FTIR)

DM 0.5 ppm Daily

CH4 Tower observations

RD DM

4 ppb 2 ppb Daily

CH4 Vertical column integrals (DOAS, FTIR)

DM 2 ppb Daily

N2O Flask samples from surface stations

DM 0.1 ppb Weekly


Halo carbons Flask samples DM

Depending on the component

Weekly See foot note40

Halo carbons continuous DM

Depending on the component

Hourly or better

More stations needed downwind of potential source regions

40 CFCs, HCFCs and halons are Montreal protocol gases, and mentioned as such under ozone and UV, but they are also potent greenhouse gases.


Climate: priority 3 Parameter Data Type Timeliness Accuracy Temporal


CO2 Surface-based vertical profiles

DM 0.5 ppm Daily

CO2 Aircraft UTLS RD DM


CH4 Surface-based vertical profiles

DM 2 ppb Daily

CH4 Aircraft vertical profiles

DM 0.5 ppb Daily

CH4 Aircraft UTLS RD DM

4 ppb 2.0 ppb Daily

SF6 Flask samples from surface stations

DM 0.02 ppt Weekly

O2/N2 Flask samples from surface stations

DM 1 per meg Weekly

13CO2 Flask samples from surface stations

DM 0.01 ‰ Weekly


ANNEX 5: Current capacities of space infrastructures & outlook until 2026

The charts/figures provide an image of the current situation (June 2008). The green green fields show the operational programmes (e.g. EUMETSAT and NOAA programmes) meanwhile the blue blue ones are R&D missions. The end of the life of individual satellites and R&D missions is difficult to foresee since the satellites and the instrumentation in many cases have been able to provide data a longer period than planned or guaranteed. The periods of potential coverage or unclear situations are illustrated with light colours. The data gaps, deficiencies in completeness for the essential continuity of a GMES Atmosphere Core Service, are indicated in an orange-brown orange-brown colour.

GMES Sentinels 4 and 5 as proposed are also included in the figures in green even though no definite decision was taken. These Sentinels should primarily address the needs for climate gases and aerosol monitoring, high vertical resolution measurements in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/LS) region for ozone and climate applications, and high temporal/spatial resolution measurements of tropospheric composition for application to air quality.

The figures or tables are separated in six different blocks in order to provide a relatively detailed analysis: 1. Stratospheric reactive gases global (columns) 2. Stratospheric parameters global (profiles) 3. Tropospheric Aerosols 4. Greenhouse Gases (Global) 5. Tropospheric reactive gases (global) 6. Tropospheric reactive gases (Europe/Africa regional)

Referring to the recommendations concerning the space infrastructure, the need for Sentinel 4 is apparent in A5.6; the gap between ENVISAT observations and Sentinel 5 is apparent on the A 5.1 & 2 charts.

Air Quality, Climate Forcing as well as O3/UV/Renewable Energy are themes that cannot be addressed separately from space. Sometimes there is a combined need within a couple of the GAS themes for the same atmospheric component, sometimes there is an advantage to build the satellite sensor to simultaneously cover multiple issues. The table below shows a simplified matrix to show the themes in relation to the analysis in the figures.

GHG Aerosol Reactive gases, tropospheric

Reactive gases, stratospheric

Long Range Transport and Air Quality x x

Climate monitoring and forcing x x x x

O3/UV/Renewables x x x

The figures are showing that there is continuity in some respect. This continuity is partly due to the need within the evolving meteorological programmes to include more of the gases that contribute to processes built-in in the advanced numerical weather prediction models. As regards EUMETSAT as well as NOAA, it should also be noted that the responsibility for climate monitoring is augmented.


A 5.1. Stratospheric reactive gases global (columns) Daily coverage

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26O3

GOME (ERS-2) ESAAM Orbit SCIAMACHY (ENVISAT) ESA

GOME-2, IASI (METOP) EUMETSATSentinel 5 UVN (Post-EPS) ESA/EUMETSAT

OMI (AURA) NASAPM Orbit OMPS nadir, CrIS (NPP) NOAA

OMPS nadir, CrIS (NPOESS) NOAA Note 1 Also IASI, CrIS have some capabilities to get stratospheric column information (quality to be demonstrated)

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26NO2


GOME-2 (METOP) EUMETSATSentinel 5 UVN (Post-EPS) ESA/EUMETSAT

OMI (AURA) NASAPM Orbit OMPS (NPP) NOAA

OMPS (NPOESS) NOAA Note 1 OMPS nadir has reduced sensitivity to NO2 compared to GOME, SCIA, OMI and GOME-2,

due to non-optimum spectral range (ends at 380 nm)

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26BrO / OClO




OMPS (NPOESS) NOAA

A 5.2. Stratospheric parameters global (profiles) Daily coverage; high vertical resolution needed for upper troposphere / lower stratosphere

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26O3

SMR, OSIRIS (ODIN) SWEDENGOME (ERS-2) ESA

AM Orbit ACE-FTS/MAESTRO (SciSat) CanadaSCIAMACHY/MIPAS/GOMOS (ENVISAT) ESA GOME-2, IASI (METOP) EUMETSAT

Sentinel 5 (Post-EPS) ESA/EUMETSAT

SBUV (NOAA-16, etc)OMI, MLS (AURA) NASA

PM Orbit OMPS nadir/limb (NPP) NOAAOMPS nadir (NPOESS) NOAA (limb tbc)

no O3 profiles with adequate vertical resolutionNote 1 nadir UV sounder (SBUV, GOME, SCIA, OMI, GOME-2, OMPS nadir) have some limited capabilities to deliver stratospheric profile informationNote 2 not shown here is that O3 profile satellite data set can be tracke back to the 1980´s by SAGE/HALOE/MLS


Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

H2OSMR (ODIN) SWEDEN

AM Orbit MIPAS/SCIAMACHY/GOMOS (ENVISAT) ESAACE-FTS/MAESTRO (SciSat) Canada GOME-2, IASI (METOP) EUMETSAT

PM Orbit MLS (AURA) NASAno strat. H2O profiling capabilies

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26NO2

AM Orbit OSIRIS (ODIN) SWEDENSCIAMACHY/MIPAS/GOMOS (ENVISAT) ESA

HIRDLS (AURA) NASAPM Orbit OMPS Limb (NPP) NOAA

OMPS Limb (NPOESS) NOAA tbcin case OMPS remains de-selected, no strat. NO2 profiling

Note 1 OMPS nadir has reduced sensitivity to NO2 compared to GOME, SCIA, OMI and GOME-2, due to non-optimum spectral range (ends at 380 nm) Note 2 OMPS Limb has lower spectral resolution as SCIA Limb, but might yield some stratospheric profile information on NO2

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26BrO / ClO / OClO

AM Orbit OSIRIS/SMR (ODIN) SWEDENSCIAMACHY (ENVISAT) ESA

PM Orbit MLS (AURA) NASAno active Halogen profiles

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26Strat. aerosol / PSCs

OSiRIS (ODIN) SWEDENAM Orbit SCIAMACHY/MIPAS/GOMOS (ENVISAT) ESA

ACE-FTS/MAESTRO (SciSat) Canada

HIRDLS(AURA) NASAPM Orbit OMPS Limb (NPP) NOAA

OMPS Limb (NPOESS) NOAA tbcin case OMPS limb remains de-selcted, no aerosol profiling and PSC

Note 1 not shown here is that aerosol profile satellite data set can be tracke back to the 1980´s by SAGE

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26Reservoir Gases

SMR (ODIN) SWEDENAM Orbit MIPAS (ENVISAT) ESA

ACE-FTS/MAESTRO (SciSat) Canada

PM Orbit TES, HIRDLS(AURA) NASAno reservoir gases

no strat. H2O profiling capabilities


A 5.3. Tropospheric aerosol

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26Aerosol (AOT, SSA)

AM Orbit MODIS, MISR (Terra) NASAMERIS, AATSR, SCIAMACHY (ENVISAT) ESA AVHRR, GOME-2 (METOP) EUMETSAT

Sentinel 3post EPS Imager, UVNS (post EPS) EUMETSAT/ESA

MODIS (Aqua) NASAOMI (AURA) NASA TES: Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer OMI : Ozone Monitoring Instrument

PM Orbit PARASOL (CNES)APS (Glory) NASA Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS)

VIIRS, OMPS (NPP) NOAAVIIRS, OMPS (NPOESS) NOAA

MSG (SEVIRI) EUMETSATHourly (Europe, Africa) FCI (MTG) EUMETSAT

Sentinel 4 UVN (MTG) ESA/EUMETSATNote 1 UV nadir sensor (GOME, SCIA, OMI, GOME-2, OMPS, UVN etc.) add information on single scattering albedoNote 2 also some information on Albedo, Ocean colour, Vegetation is derived from these sensors

A 5.4. Greenhouse Gases (Global)

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26CO2Thermal Infraredreduced sensitivity AIRS (AQUA) NASAin lower troposphere, IASI (METOP) EUMETSATsome height resolution CrIS (NPP NPOESS Preparatory Project) NOAAin the free troposphere CrlS (NPOESS) NOAA

TANSO-FTS (GOSAT Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite) JAXASolar Backscatter SCIAMACHY (ENVISAT) ESAcolumn, OCO (Orbiting Carbon Observatory) NASAincl. Boundary layer Sentinel 5 SWIR (Post-EPS) ESA/EUMETSAT

no CO2 with sufficient sensitivity to boundary layer

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26CH4Thermal Infraredreduced sensitivity AIRS (AQUA) NASAin lower troposphere, IASI (METOP) EUMETSATsome height resolution CrIS (NPP NPOESS Preparatory Project) NOAAin the free troposphere CrIS (NPOESS) NOAA

TANSO-FTS (GOSAT Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite) JAXASolar Backscatter SCIAMACHY (ENVISAT) ESAcolumn, Sentinel 5 SWIR (Post-EPS) ESA/EUMETSATincl. boundary layer no CH4 with sufficient sensitivity to boundary layer

Note 1 Sentinel 5 SWIR specifications currently not optimised for CO2Note 2 TANSO-FTS (GOSAT) includes thermal infrared and solar backscatter channelsNote 3 CrIS's spectral resolution is substatially lower than IASI's,

hence contribution to high quality GHG data is questionableNote 4 To derive CH4 from IASI, solar and thermal IR can be used,

resulting in some sensitivity in the boundary layer


A 5.5. Tropospheric reactive gases (global) Daily coverage

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26trop. O3


GOME-2, IASI (METOP) EUMETSATSentinel 5 UVN+ TIR (Post-EPS) ESA/EUMETSAT

TES, OMI (AURA) NASAPM Orbit OMPS + CrIS (NPP) NOAA

OMPS + CrIS (NPOESS) NOAA Note 1 trop. O3 demonstrated for GOME (Liu et al.)Note 2 trop. O3 from UV-Vis limb-nadir awaiting demonstrationNote 3 trop. O3 from UV+TIR (GOME-2 + IASI, OMI+TES etc.) awaits demonstrationNote 4 Spatial & temporal resolutions of GOME-2 and OMPS not adequate for regional to local applications

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26trop. NO2




OMPS (NPOESS) NOAA no data with sufficient sensitivity to tropospheric NO2 in PM orbit

Note 1 OMPS nadir has substantially reduced sensitivity to trop. NO2 compared to GOME, SCIA, OMI and GOME-2, due to non-optimum spectral range (ends at 380 nm)

Note 2 Spatial & temporal resolutions of GOME-2 and OMPS not adequate for regional to local applications

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26trop. SO2


GOME-2, IASI (METOP) EUMETSATSentinel 5 UVN+ TIR (Post-EPS) ESA/EUMETSAT


OMPS (NPOESS) NOAA Note 1 IASI (and may be Sentinel 5 TIR, CrIS) has some sensitivity to enhanced SO2 (strong volcanic erruptions)

in the middle to upper troposphereNote 2 Spatial & temporal resolutions of GOME-2 and OMPS not adequate for regional to local applications


Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26VOC surrogates: HCHO, CHOCHO




OMPS (NPOESS) NOAA no CHOCHO from PM orbit

Note 1 OMPS will not deliver CHOCHO due to ist limited wavelength rangeNote 2 Spatial & temporal resolutions of GOME-2 and OMPS not adequate for regional to local applications

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26CO

MOPITT (TERRA) NASAAM Orbit SCIAMACHY (ENVISAT) ESA

IASI (METOP) EUMETSATno CO with sufficient sensitivity to boundary layer Sentinel 5 SWIR + TIR (Post-EPS)

AIRS (Aqua) NASATES (AURA) NASA

PM Orbit CrIS (NPP) NOAACrIS (NPOESS) NOAA

no CO with sufficient sensitivity to boundary layerNote 1 TIR sensors (MOPITT,AIRS, TES, IASI, CrIS) have limited sensitivity in the boundary layer

A 5.6. Tropospheric reactive gases (Europe/Africa - regional) Hourly coverage

Year 20.. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26trop. O3 Sentinel 4 UVN + IRS (MTG) ESA/EUMETSATtrop. NO2 Sentinel 4 UVN (MTG) ESA/EUMETSATtrop. SO2 no data with adequate temporal Sentinel 4 UVN + IRS (MTG) ESA/EUMETSATVOCs (HCHO, CHOCHO) and spatial resolution Sentinel 4 UVN (MTG) ESA/EUMETSATCO IRS (MTG) ESA/EUMETSATNote 1 MTG IRS may have some sensitivity to enhanced SO2 (strong volcanic erruptions)

in the middle to upper troposphereNote 2 MTG IRS has limited sensitivity in the lower troposphere Note 3 trop. O3 from UV+TIR (GOME-2 + IASI etc.) awaits demonstration


ANNEX 6: Existing assets for GACS The purpose of this document is to provide an indicative listing of the existing assets which might be utilized in the architecture necessary to execute the operational functionalities of a future GMES Atmosphere Service (GAS). This listing is intended to serve as an indicator of the extent to which the planned scope and architecture of GAS might be covered now or in the near-future, and where there may be gaps in existing capabilities. It is thus not intended to be a recommendation of the entities which will, or should be, involved in the implementation of the GAS.

The listing was assembled by looking to the major research and service development initiatives going on in Europe. Most notably: from the European Commission, major FP6 consortia were looked at, namely those of the GEMS and GEOMon projects, and from the European Space Agency, consortia such as those from PROMOTE and smaller DUE projects were looked at. Additionally, other assets, such as those related to the WMO were considered.

It should be noted that the assets considered here are only those which can potentially fulfil the functions of the GAS architecture and not those assets which provide the input data and methodologies required to operate the GAS. Thus, in situ data networks, research networks and satellite data providers are not considered in this document. Listings of the in situ data and the satellite data providers can be found in the documents from the GAS Working Groups 3 and 4, respectively; a listing of research networks was provided in the Orientation Paper for the GAS User Workshop.

Overview This document presents information on existing assets by Architecture Element: (1) Observation acquisition and pre-processing (2) Global Monitoring, Assimilation and Forecasting (3) Ensemble of European-scale monitoring, assimilation and forecasting systems (4) Data Services (5) Core R&D

Because of the functionalities related to element (5) above, and the uncertainties of the R&D needs that will come up within the GAS timeframe, assets related to element (5) will not be explicitly listed. However, the assets listed for elements (1), (2), and (3) should certainly be considered assets for element (5) as well.

Each element under consideration is treated as a separate section in the following text. In each sections, a simple summary of the assets will start the section and will be followed by a listing of the assets split into one of two categories of capabilities: existing operational/pre-operational infrastructure or existing expertise.

A 6.1. Observation acquisition and pre-processing 20 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure in place to allow them to support the GAS ‘observation acquisition and pre-processing’ element. A further 22 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.

Entities with existing operational or pre-operational infrastructure • ACRI • BIRA (Institut d’Aeronomie Spatiale de Belgique) • CGS (Carlo Gavazzi Space) • DLR (German Aerospace Center) • DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst) • ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) • Ecole des Mines de Paris • EIONET • EUMETSAT SAFs • FMI (Finnish Meteorological Institute) • IUP_UB (University of Bremen) • KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute)


• Météo-France • Prev’Air • University of Oldenberg • WDCA (WMO World Data Centre for Aerosols) • WDCGG (WMO World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases) • WDC-RSAT (ICSU/WMO World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere) • WOUDC (WMO World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre) • WRDC (WMO World Radiation Data Centre)

Entities with existing expertise • ARPA-SIM (ARPA Emilia.Romagna) • CEA – LSCE (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique) • CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) • GMV (Grupo Tecnológico e Industrial GMV S.A.) • EEA (European Environmental Agency) • EMPA • ICARE (Interaction Cloud Aerosol Radiation) • IPGP (Institute of Earth Physics of Paris) • ISAC (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the Italian National Research Council) • LOA (Laboratoire d'Optique Atmosphérique) • MPI-Chem (Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry) • NKUA (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) • NUIG (National University of Ireland, Galway) • PIEP (Polish Institute of Environmental Protection) • PSI (Paul Scherrer Institute) • RAL (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) • RMIB (Royal Belgian Meteorological Institute) • TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Research) • University of Heidelberg • University of Helsinki • University of Leicester • University of Oxford, Atmospheric Ocean and Planetary Physics41

A 6.2. Global Monitoring, Assimilation and Forecasting 10 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure in place to allow them to support the GAS ‘ensemble monitoring, assimilation and forecasting system’ element at a Global scale. A further 11 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.

Entities with existing operational or pre-operational infrastructure • BIRA (Institut d’Aeronomie Spatiale de Belgique) • DLR • EC-JRC-IES (Joint Research Center of the European Commission) • ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) • FMI (Finnish Meteorological Institute) • FZJ (Forschungszentrum Juelich) • KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) • METEO-FR • MPI – Met (Max Planck Institute for Meteorology)

41 Suggested addition to this list: RIVM (National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, NL); also suggested in A 6.3


• UK Met-office

Entities with existing expertise • CEA – LSCE (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique) • CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) • DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute) • NILU • NKUA (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) • NUIG (National University of Ireland, Galway) • RMIB (Royal Belgian Meteorological Institute) • SA – UPMC (University Pierre et Marie Curie) • University of Leeds • University of Oslo • University of Reading (Dept of Meteorology)

A 6.3. Ensemble of European-scale monitoring, assimilation & forecasting systems

13 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure in place to allow them to support the GAS ‘ensemble monitoring, assimilation and forecasting system’ element at a European scale. A further 6 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.

Entities with existing operational or pre-operational infrastructure • DLR (German Aerospace Center) • DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute) • ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) • FMI (Finnish Meteorological Institute) • FRIUUK (Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung Universität Köln) • KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) • MET.NO (Meteorological Institute of Norway) • METEO-FR • NKUA (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) • PREV’AIR Consortium • TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Research) • UK Met-office • University of Oldenberg

Entities with existing expertise These organisations have expertise which could support the GAS functionality of providing ensemble monitoring, assimilation and forecasting systems at a European scale:

• ARPA-SIM (ARPA Emilia.Romagna) • CHMI (Czech Hydrometeorological Institute) • CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) • ICSTM (Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine) • ISAC (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) of the Italian National Research

Council (CNR)) • PIEP (Polish Institute of Environmental Protection)

A 6.4. Data Services 19 organisations were identified as currently having the necessary operational or pre-operational infrastructure in place to allow them to support the GAS ‘data services’ element. A further 3 organisations were found to have expertise which could support this element.


Entities with existing operational or pre-operational infrastructure • Armines • BIRA (Institut d’Aeronomie Spatiale de Belgique) • DLR (German Aerospace Center) • ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) • EUMETSAT-SAFs • FMI • FRIUUK (Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung Universität Köln) • KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) • METEO-FR • NILU • Prev’Air • UK Met-office • WDCA (WMO World Data Centre for Aerosols) • WDC-Climate (ICSU World Data Center for Climate) • WDCGG (WMO World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases) • WDC-RSAT (ICSU/WMO World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere) • WRDC (WMO World Radiation Data Centre) • WMO GTS/WIS • WOUDC (WMO World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre)

Entities with existing expertise These organisations have expertise which could be used to support the GAS functionality of providing data services:

• CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) • Ecole des Mines de Paris • University of Oldenberg • University of Bremen

A 6.5. Further organisations of possible relevance The following list, just as the preceding lists in A 6.1-6.4, does not pretend to be complete. The purpose is for information only, no further use is intended.

• Servizio Meteoreologico dell’Aeronautica Militare (Air Force Metereological Office) • ASI (Italian Space Agency) • ISPRA - Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (High Institute for

Environmental Protection and Research), formerly APAT • Protezione Civile e rete dei centri di competenza (Civil Protection and Competence Centres

Network) • CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council) • ENEA - Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente (Italian National Agency for New

Technologies, Energy and the Environment) • CMCC - Centro Euromediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (Mediterranean Centre for

Climate Change). • Aemet (National Spanish Meteorological Agency) • Ciemat (Energy and Environmental Research Center, Spain) • Cener (Renewable Energies National Center, Spain) • University of Jaén.