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GCW Terrestrial Snow Observation RRR Workshop

Start date
End date
Location
Reading, UK

Activity Areas (1)

Advisory Group on the Global Cryosphere Watch (AG-GCW)

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Rolling Review of Requirements (RRR) provides a systematic and transparent process to support the high-level design and evolution of the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) aligned with its Vision in 2040. Specifically, the RRR gathers information about observing requirements, capabilities, and their cost-effectiveness. It then provides guidance on the most important priorities for addressing the gaps between requirements and capabilities, with consideration of WMO priorities. The Terrestrial Snow RRR, led by Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW), is concerned with two application areas (AA) within the broader Cryosphere Earth Systems Application Category (ESAC):

  1. Terrestrial Cryosphere Forecasting and Monitoring (AA 5.1) - this AA involves monitoring and forecasting of snow, land ice, permafrost, and lake and river ice on time scales from hours to months and a range of spatial scales in support of disaster risk reduction, hydrology, hydropower, agriculture, transportation, recreation, and other activities.
  2. Cryosphere Climate Monitoring (AA 5.3) - this AA covers cryospheric observations defined by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) as essential to detect, model and assess changes and feedbacks in the Earth System and their impacts, support adaptation to such changes, monitor the effectiveness of mitigation policies, and develop global and regional climate information services.

Workshop goals:

The overall aim of the workshop is to conduct a Critical Review of differences between user requirements and observing system capabilities for terrestrial snow, in order to draft a detailed Statement of Guidance (SoG) for Terrestrial Snow Observation. More specifically, the key objectives of the workshop are as follows:

  1. To identify and agree on priority variables to include in the SoG for Terrestrial Snow Observation.
  2. To conduct a detailed gap analysis of current observation capabilities for each priority variable.
  3. To draft a written summary of identified gaps and recommendations for addressing the gaps.
  4. To review and propose necessary updates to the names and definitions of snow variables included in WMO's OSCAR Tool.

Following the workshop, further work will focus on defining quantitative observing requirements. The quantitative observing requirements for climate monitoring, as part of the GCOS Implementation Plan, have been developed under the leadership of Colleen Mortimer and are available here: https://library.wmo.int/viewer/58111/download?file=GCOS-245-ECVs-Requ-2022-Upd-2025_en.pdf&type=pdf&navigator=1 

Workshop logistics:

Please find below the following logistical information: