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The Water Cycle Theme has been approved by the partners
In the summer of 2000, the IGOS Partnership identified the water cycle
as a critical area where a Theme was needed to meet the anticipated requirements
for water cycle observations to support global initiatives such as Agenda
21, the Programme for Action for Sustainable Development and the UN Convention
on Climate Change. In addition, the Integrated Global Water Cycle Observations
(IGWCO) theme is needed to provide monitoring data and contribute to improved
predictions for variables such as precipitation, soil moisture and runoff
over many times scales and spatial scales from local to global. IGWCO
is also needed to address several critical science questions regarding
the role of the water and energy cycle in maintaining the stability of
the Earth?s climate system, feedback processes involving clouds and land
surfaces that influence regional and global climate change, and the availability
of fresh water resources.
The observations required to advance our understanding and modeling of
these and other science questions cannot be adequately addressed through
continued reliance on ad-hoc observing systems. In August 2002, the World
Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg recognized the
paramount importance of water issues and encouraged supporting global
observations for improved understanding of the global water cycle. The
Water Cycle Theme will be built on the experience of projects, such as
the WCRP’s Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), that
deal with the development of global data sets for clouds, precipitation
and other important water-cycle variables such as soil moisture, evaporation/evapotranspiration,
energy and radiation budget parameters, among others.
Objectives
The IGWCO Theme will provide a framework for guiding decisions regarding priorities and strategies for the maintenance and enhancement of water cycle observations to support:
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Monitoring of climate variability and change |
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Effective water management and sustainable development of the world's
water resources |
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Societal application for water resource development and environmental
management |
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Specification of initial conditions for numerical weather and water
forecasts and monthly to seasonal climate predictions |
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Research directed at priority water cycle questions |
The Theme will also promote strategies that will facilitate the acquisition, processing and distribution of data products needed for effective management of the Earth?s water resources.
Approach
The development of the Water Cycle Theme, led by WCRP, was being carried out by a writing group that receives guidance and review comments from an advisory committee before submitting materials to the IGOS Partnership. The IGWCO is focused on three priority areas, namely: precipitation (and clouds); surface hydrology (including soil moisture, evaporation/evapotranspiration, ground water, surface energy budgets, etc.); and applications.
In developing the report the writing team is:
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Reviewing the needs for terrestrial and atmospheric water-cycle observations,
also observations of the exchange fluxes of water/energy between
the atmosphere and the oceans, and between the terrestrial and ocean
components of the Earth system. |
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Reviewing plans for existing and planned observational systems. |
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Coordinating with other IGOS-P Themes to identify how they could support
the needs of the Water Cycle Theme. |
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Reviewing the mechanisms for coordinating among the observing system
components and the user community. |
Four functional groups are viewed as being critical to the development of water-cycle products and must be represented in these discussions. They include in-situ observation groups, remote sensing groups, data assimilation centers and water resource managers.
Benefits
The IGWCO will produce or contribute to:
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Products for improved water management decisions at a variety of time
and space scales. |
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Initialization fields for weather and climate forecasting. |
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Enhanced understanding of the global water and energy cycle. |
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Advanced capabilities for measuring the Earth system. |
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The scientific and observational basis for the sustainable development
of the world's water resources. |
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Information that can be used within appropriate decision making processes
to assist in negotiations between regions and between nations over
water. |
Status
The Water Cycle Theme proposal was approved by the IGOS partners in November 2001 and a writing team is preparing the Water Cycle Theme Report. Three workshops have been held (in USA, Europe, Japan) in order to gather community inputs for this report. Through the workshops, the vast scope of the water issue and the importance of water cycle observations for more efficient water management have been recognized. Based on these workshops a draft Water Cycle Theme report was prepared and submitted to the June 2003 meeting of the IGOS Partnership in Paris. Based on the feedback from this meeting and subsequent comments from IGOS Partners and others, the report was finalized by October 2003 and approved at a special session of the IGOS Partnership.
Subsequently, the Theme has moved into the implementation phase - to establish an international framework for long-term monitoring of the water cycle and for maximizing the use of new water cycle information for societal benefit. International administrative expertise and governmental cooperation from all countries will be needed to achieve the next steps:
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Establishment of an international ground-based observation network
for the water cycle by engaging a broad group of participants -
beyond those currently contributing to CEOP (a WCRP/GEWEX project
described below). |
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A comprehensive and continuous satellite observing strategy for the
water cycle, especially for global rainfall. |
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Information systems and services for integration and distribution of
data and products, and for application of scientific results to
actual social applications. |
Membership
European Space Agency (ESA/CEOS)
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS)
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IHDP)
International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA/CEOS)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA/CEOS)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) (Lead)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Membership
Contact:
Rick Lawford (lawford@umbc.edu)
Wolfgang Grabs (wgrabs@wmo.int)
Report
- draft - v.1.05 - November 2003 - 619kb
Poster
- 102kb
Presentation
- April 2004 - 12,240kb
Integrated Global Water Cyle Observations (IGWCO) Theme Web Site
