GEO, CEOS and GCOS

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In addition to European and International partners, EUMETSAT interacts with other international organisations such as GEO, CEOS and GCOS.

Group on Earth Observations (GEO)

The intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations () is leading a worldwide effort to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) over the next decade. GEO was set up following calls for action by the G8 after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, which highlighted a need for coordinated observations relating to the state of the planet to support decision making.

The group is a voluntary partnership of governments and international organisations – current membership includes 86 governments and the EC, as well as 61 intergovernmental, international and regional organisations which have “Participating Organisation” status (including EUMETSAT).

GEO provides a framework within which these entities can coordinate to develop new projects and work towards the key objective of the group: global access to affordable Earth observation data, which is being implemented through the creation of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

GEO is constructing the GEOSS on the basis of a 10 Year Implementation Plan for the period 2005-2015.

GEOSS will work with and build upon existing national, regional and international systems to provide comprehensive, coordinated Earth observations from thousands of instruments worldwide. The collected data will be transformed into vital information for society, concentrating on nine “Societal Benefit Areas”:

• Reducing loss of life and property from natural and human-induced disasters.
• Understanding environmental factors affecting human health and well-being.
• Improving management of energy resources.
• Understanding, assessing, predicting, mitigating and adapting to climate variability and change.
• Improving water resource management through better understanding of the water cycle.
• Improving weather information, forecasting and early warning of severe weather.
• Improving the management and protection of terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems.
• Supporting sustainable agriculture and combating desertification.
• Understanding, monitoring and conserving biodiversity.

EUMETSAT is contributing to GEOSS through the development of the GEONETCast infrastructure with systems developed in cooperation with CMA, NOAA and Roshydromet. In addition a number of projects including the AMESD and MESA projects, developed in collaboration with the African Regional Economic Communities, the African Union and the European Commission (EC), the DAWBEE project and a number of FP7 projects are supporting the use of GEONETCast.

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites ( ) is an international coordinating mechanism involved in the management of international civil space-borne missions designed to observe and study the Earth. Comprising 30 Members (most of which are space agencies) and 20 Associates (associated national and international organisations), CEOS is recognised as the major international forum for the coordination of Earth observation satellite programmes and for the interaction of these programmes with users of satellite data worldwide.

EUMETSAT has been a Member of CEOS since 1989 and is leading CEOS activities mainly in the field of the CEOS Constellation discussions on Ocean Surface Topography, Ocean Surface Wind, Ocean Colour and Atmospheric Monitoring. EUMETSAT is represented in the which held its first meeting in May 2011 and in the CEOS Education, Training and Capacity Building Working Group ().

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)

The Global Climate Observing System () was established in 1992 to ensure that the observations and information required to address climate-related issues are obtained and made available to all potential users. It is co-sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization () , the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission () of UNESCO, the United Nations Environment Programme () and the International Council for Science ().

The GCOS programme mandate is that climate observation will be enhanced and continued into the future to enable users to:

Detect further climate change and determine its causes;

Model and predict the climate system;

Assess impacts of climate variability and change;

Monitor the effectiveness of policies for mitigating climate change;

Support adaptation to climate change;

Develop climate information services;

Promote sustainable national economic development;

Meet other requirements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other international conventions and agreements.

GCOS includes both in situ and remote sensing components, with its space based components coordinated by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites () and the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (). As a system of climate-relevant observing systems, it constitutes, in aggregate, the climate observing component of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems ().

The GCOS programme is also responsible for addressing the following core tasks:

Defining and regular updating of climate requirments for global observing systems, and;

Highlighting gaps in global observing systems for climate and taking remedial action.

In 2010, GCOS released an Update of the for the Global Observing System for Climate in Support of the UNFCCC which includes a section on requirements for space observations.

GCOS also defined a set of 50 Essential Climate Variables (), which are standard climate observations required to support the work of the UNFCCC and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ().

Finally GCOS has issued a set of GCOS Climate Monitoring Principles (), adopted by COP through decision 11/CP.9 at COP-9 in December 2003. Many of these GCMPs are relevant for space observations.

EUMETSAT supports GCOS activities with the production of a calibrated set of observations from its Metop, Meteosat and Jason satellites.