Selected GEOGLOWS responses to the GEOSS Water Strategy Richard (Rick) Lawford GEOGLOWS Side Event GEO Plenary Kyoto Japan October 30, 2018

GEOGLOWS and the GEOSS Water Strategy The GEOSS Water Strategy renewed the observational component of the water community’s efforts to communicate its needs within the framework of GEOSS. Working with other initiatives and organizations GEOGLOWS will implement the GEOSS water strategy recommendations. GEO Water Strategy The report recommendations dealt with: Enhancing user engagement (8) Expanding data acquisition strategies (3) Advancing satellite data acquisition (10) Strengthening in-situ data acquisition (10) Encourage/conduct research and product dev. (16) Facilitating data sharing and common standards (7) Expanding capacity development (4) IGOS Water Theme report April 2004 GEOSS 10 Year Implementation Plan February 2005 GEOSS Water Strategy January 2014

GEOGLOWS ACTIONS TO ADDRESS RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE GEOSS WATER STRATEGY REPORT    A.2. GEO Water should develop and launch a continuous process to identify, articulate, and further refine user needs in the various water communities from the local scale to the global scale.   B.3. The Global Climate Observing System’s participants should be invited to undertake a joint study with GEO to assess the current prioritization of observational and modelling efforts for water cycle variables as part of its support to the UNFCCC. D.1. In-situ observational networks should be strengthened to ensure that the required data are collected and made freely available to the international community. GEO and WMO members should both engage in assessing gaps in their national networks and develop a plan for addressing those gaps. GEOGLOWS Plan: GEOGLOWS is coordinating a review of Essential Water Variables which will be the first step in addressing the need for an on-going process to identify, articulate, and further refine user needs in the various water communities . The review of EWVs will involve consultations with the various user communities, with a special emphasis on the SDGs and the Sendai Framework needs. It will also take advantage of the work that has already been done by WMO related to in-situ data. Through collaborations with GCOS this activity will also benefit from the work on the water-related ECVs.

Recommendation:   D.3. National precipitation gauge networks should be strengthened and all measurements should be collected, archived, and made available to the international community. Special attention should be given to strengthening the gauge networks at high latitudes where more accurate snowfall information is needed for evaluating changes arising from climate change.   GEOGLOWS plan: GEOGLOWS is undertaking a study to address the trends in the availability of in-situ data holdings in the GPCC and GRDC.

Recommendation: E.6. An inventory of all surface water data archives, including both natural and man-made lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands, should be developed. Based on the details of this inventory, a plan for implementing a process to establish protocols for collecting data and metadata on surface water stores should be developed. GEOGLOWS plan: NASA/CNES affiliates are delivering satellite water level estimates which will become more accurate when SWOT becomes operational.  In-situ validation data are being accumulated in support of this effort. Dr. Charon Birkett, Univ of Maryland http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/global_reservoir/Default.aspx

Flood Recommendation: A.6. A review of the water resource managers’ needs should be undertaken to gather water cycle information related to extreme values. Data collection and information systems should be assessed to ensure these data are available for research activities. E.12. GEO Water and the IGWCO CoP should explore the needs for data to assess changes in the frequency and probability distributions in the extremes in water-related variables and parameters, especially those that impact the availability of freshwater resources.   GEOGLOWS Plan: A small GEOGLOWS working group is undertaking a review of the requirements for observing, monitoring, modeling and forecasting water cycle extremes. The goal is to Improve the observation, detection, monitoring, early warning and prediction of water cycle extremes and reduce/mitigate their adverse impact on social, economic, environmental and ecological systems. Flood (from B. Bonsal) ( from T. Koike)

Recommedation:   G.3. Periodic GEO Water Strategy capacity-building workshops should be convened, without specific geographical focus, to develop a broad strategy for GEO Water capacity-building. These workshops should focus on developing synergies between the work done in different geographical areas, a means for more effectively transferring the results from one region to another, and common training materials that can be used in different geographical areas.   GEOGLOWS Plan: GEOGLOWS in collaboration with AmeriGEOSS is undertaking periodic workshops and capacity development work. It is anticipated that this work could be expanded to include AfriGEOSS in the near future if funding is available.   (Colombia, 2015)

Recommendation: A.7. GEO members should support the development of water cycle solutions integration in order to meet the needs of water resource managers and other end-users by translating water cycle observations into actionable products. Mapping Crop Water Requirements to Assist Growers in Optimizing Water Use GEOGLOWS NASA affiliates have been producing actionable products for California that could be generalized to other regions. Landsat 8 Sentinel-2A California’s agricultural sector produced $54b In 2014 NASA SIMS web and mobile data services puts irrigation demand across 8 million acres of farm land directly into the hands of farmers and water managers Students work hand in hand with growers to assess the accuracy of the satellite estimates and quantify benefits Forrest Melton, NASA ARC, https://c3.nasa.gov/water/projects/1/

Recommendations: G.4 GEO Water and the IGWCO COP should undertake a feasibility study to determine how Earth observations can be integrated with other data types to produce a system for monitoring water use. B.1. An integrated monitoring system should be developed to track consumptive and non-consumptive water use and its changes using satellite and in-situ observations along with models that relate water use to land cover and demographic information.   GEOGLOWS Plan: GEOGLOWS will work toward developing a routine method for estimating water use (with USGS, NASA, etc.) to monitor water use trends and water efficiency monitoring (SDG 6.4). USGS experience will be included along with NASA applications projects in developing this system (Lead: TBD).

Evapotranspiration (30 m – 1km) Potential Contributions of EO Data: Evapotranspiration (30 m – 1km) Agricultural use (~70% of total water consumption) Industrial use Infer type, nature and distributions of industrial activity from high resolution imagery. Domestic use Population density derived from Landsat data.

GEOGLOWS is filling major gaps in water services as identified in the GEOSS Water Strategy. This includes bringing EO data (satellite and in-situ data) and information to users. While the recommendations in the GEOSS Water Strategy report are a useful guideline, technologies have been advancing and GEOGLOWS also needs to leverage these new opportunities.

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