OVERVIEW OF THE PACIFIC ISLAND REGION GLOBAL CLIMATE OBSERVING SYSTEM (GCOS) PROGRAM Howard J. Diamond, NOAA/NESDIS, Office of the CIO, 1335 East-West Highway, Room 7214, Silver Spring, MD 20910, and Mark L. Morrissey, EVAC, Univ. of Oklahoma, 3200 Marshall Ave., Suite 110, Norman, OK Basic Elements of a Climate Watch WMO GCOS Office Home Page OBJECTIVES OF GCOS To provide the data required to meet the needs for: Climate system monitoring; Climate change detection and attribution; and Response monitoring, especially in terrestrial ecosystems and mean sea level Research toward improved understanding, modeling, and prediction of the climate system Application to National Economic Development demonstrated benefits of climate forecasts in support of agriculture advance forecasts of El Niño/La Niña events improved tropical storm and extreme weather prediction increased lead times for drought prediction Pacific Island Region GCOS Activities First Regional GCOS Workshop in Apia, Samoa – August 2000 Several Accomplishments to Date Partnership Established in South Pacific Region; Partners: SPREP, SOPAC, Australia BoM, New Zealand NIWA, NOAA, and Regional Hydrology Community Follow-up Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii – October 2001 Action Plan Meeting at NIWA in Auckland, NZ – February 2002 Implementation Plan Meeting in Nadi, Fiji – March 2002 Ocean Observations User Conference in October 2002 in Nadi, Fiji Concept of a Regional PI-GCOS Steering Committee Endorsed by the GCOS Steering Committee – April 2003 Selection of a Regional PI-GCOS Program Officer – October 2003 Data Management Workshop Planned in Dec 2003 – Auckland, NZ New PI-GCOS Program Officer at SPREP – January 2004 U.S. Partnering with Australia and New Zealand via Bi-Lateral Climate Partnerships Project to Fund Pacific GCOS Activities

GCOS Surface Network (GSN) 989 Stations 150 Stations GCOS Upper Air Network (GUAN) GCOS OBSERVING NETWORKS PI-GCOS Implementation  Regional GCOS Implementation Plan Developed  Prioritized list of 31 Projects in 5 Objective Areas Advocacy Sustaining Operational Observing Networks Managing and Exchanging Regional GCOS Data Accessing and Developing Products and Services Building Capacity for Long-Term PI-GCOS Sustainability  Selected Projects With Identified Funding Regional GCOS Coordinator Demonstration Project for the Development of Synoptic Climatologies Expanding the Use of Climate Prediction Data Rescue Regional Maintenance and Logistics Support Pacific Data Portal – [through the GOSIC]  Scope of the other 27 Pacific Island GCOS Projects is in the range of $24M (US) over the period from 2003 through 2008 PI-GCOS Activities  Selection of GUAN and GSN Site Support Dependent on Inputs from AOPC, GCOS Secretariat, and Donors  These Site Selections are Outside the Scope of the PI-GCOS Regional Program and are Dependent Upon the Global Requirements for the GCOS Networks  GUAN Sites in PI-Region to be Updated w/FY03 Funds  Penrhyn Island, Cook Islands  Other GUAN Site Support for FY03 [Africa – 4; Indian Ocean – 1; South America - 1]  GUAN Sites in PI-Region Considered for FY04 Funding in Priority Order  Honiara, Solomon Islands  Christmas Island, Kiribati  Rarotonga, Cook Islands  GSN Sites in PI-Region for FY04 Funding – TBD  Use of AWS an Issue Being Explored (Maintenance and Continuity Issues)  Complementary Technology Keys to Regional GCOS Success Need to have a focused regional organization that is willing to take up the mantle of advancing GCOS in the region; a regional program officer is desired but not necessarily required. In the Pacific Region, SPREP was a natural for this. Need a solid and consolidated planning mechanism to advance projects in the region Need to identify partners and donors willing to participate in regional projects and/or contribute resources Leveraging upon existing bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements that can incorporate GCOS projects is a key factor to consider (e.g., US/New Zealand Climate Change Partnership and new Group on Earth Observations) Representation needs to consist of persons with interest in advancing GCOS in the region rather than being based upon national representation Broad-based membership - Partners need to come from inside and outside the meteorological community; GCOS is more than a meteorological system One key to success in the Pacific has been to advance PI-GCOS from the “grass-roots”