CCl report to ICG-WIGOS Dr William Wright Co-chair OPACE1 on Data Management Commission for Climatology E-mail: w.wright@bom.gov.au This presentation will have two parts, (1) an overview of current and proposed work within the CCl relevant to implementation of WIGOS; (2) some issues and challenges for the global climate community in implementing WIGOS.

Main activities of relevance to WIGOS Technical Commission guidance on WIGOS Implementation – CCl representatives CCl technical requirements and guidance Quality management – best-practice framework for practices and procedures Standardisation - CDMS Data discoverability, metadata and interoperability Capacity development Other developments of interest CCl Issues Requested actions. This slide summarises the main areas within CCl of relevance to observational system planning. Point 1: CCl has for some time had Task Teams etc concerned with observational standards and practices, and has participated in meetings of, e.g. ET-AWS. During this time, we have always tried to frame our observational needs from the point of view of the producers and the consumers of climate services. This focus has been sharpened with the implementation of the GFCS, which places the emphasis very firmly on meeting the needs of users, particularly in the areas of disaster management, water, health . , as well as in the ongoing need to monitor the climate and climate change. Point 2: These emphasise that for observation data to be of any use they must be accessible and managed in secure climate databases. At the Open Science Conference in Denver in late 2011 we presented two posters on the activities of the ET-CDMS and the TT-DARE, both within my OPACE 1. I’ll briefly describe current activities in these areas.

CCl participation in WIGOS-related teams CCl is active on WIGOS Task Teams and Expert Teams (refer para (2)) These provide strong links between the CCl and WIGOS CCl looking to nominate a representative for the IPET-WIFI

CCl Guidance – written sources, guidance docs and technical regulations CCl developed a Statement of Guidance for ET-EGOS (2011). It emphasises best-practice rather than quantitative requirements CCl regularly participates in GCOS-AOPC meetings Various other sources of written guidance are available from CCl (refer para 5) Guidance documents on AWS standards for climate and data quality control under preparation CCl plans to expand its number of technical regulations

Advancing best-practice climate data management Recent (Mar 4-8 2013) climate data management Workshop in Nanjing, China Workshop recommended development of an HQ GDMFC Recommended establishment of an IPET-Climate Data Management Framework, involving at least CCl, CBS and WCRP

Standardisation and interoperability ET-CDMS is finalising a specifications document for CDMS to, inter alia, encourage standardisation of functionality (Mandatory, Recommended, Optional) ET-CDMS also tasked with defining Climate Version of WMO Core Metadata Profile WMO Core profile is adequate for DAR, but not WIGOS metadata ET-CDMS looking at data interoperabilty through open spatial standards, and will work through IPET-MDRD (late IPET-MDI) I don’t know whether this activity strictly fits within the ICG-WIGOS scope, but from a climate perspective the historical climate record is essential, and if you can’t have access to that, there are essentially no climate services. We consider this, and enabling access to effective climate data management, vital activities, and they are the fundamental activities within my OPACE.

Capacity development Best practice guidance and training in climate data management, and CDMS implementation/Data Rescue.

Other developments of interest Mechanism for recognising Centennial Climate Stations involving CCl, CIMO and other relevant Technical Commissions Workshops linking data rescue to climate change detection indices in various Regions, most recently West Africa and RA II TT-DARE tasked with international data rescue portal (I-DARE) to coordinate disparate activities Redefining Climate Normals

Issues and challenges Distinguishing GCOS from non-GCOS Automating observations Continuity and sustainability Measurement of solid precipitation (suggest cross-program) Data from non-NMHS providers Data exchange, esp of historical data (Resource mobilisation) Point 2: Increasing automation of observations. Main issues here are around the loss, or fundamental change in nature of, certain visual observations of relevance to climate (e.g., phenomena); homogeneity issues (between automated and manual, and between different sensors, algorithms, core processing systems between different automated systems).

Requested actions Consider the incorporation of CCl references in its suite of WIGOS Reference material Agree on establishment of a cross-Commission IPET-CDMF Comment on mechanism for Centennial Climate Station designation Towards measurement of solid precipitation – other TC involvement

Other points The implementation of GFCS strengthens the need for climate systems, and observations, to meet the requirements of users (see also QMS)