OVERVIEW OF THE PACIFIC ISLAND REGION GLOBAL CLIMATE OBSERVING SYSTEM (GCOS) PROGRAMHoward J. Diamond, NOAA/NESDIS, Office of the CIO, 1335 East-West Highway, Room 7214, Silver Spring, MD 20910, howard.diamond@noaa.gov and

Mark L. Morrissey, EVAC, Univ. of Oklahoma, 3200 Marshall Ave., Suite 110, Norman, OK 73072-8032

Basic Elements of a Climate Watch

WMO GCOS Office Home Page http://www.wmo.ch/web/gcos/gcoshome.html

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 2001Action Plan Meeting at NIWA in Auckland, NZ – February 2002Implementation Plan Meeting in Nadi, Fiji – March 2002Ocean Observations User Conference in October 2002 in Nadi, FijiConcept of a Regional PI-GCOS Steering Committee Endorsed by the GCOS Steering Committee – April 2003Selection of a Regional PI-GCOS Program Officer – October 2003 Data Management Workshop Planned in Dec 2003 – Auckland, NZNew PI-GCOS Program Officer at SPREP – January 2004U.S. Partnering with Australia and New Zealand via Bi-Lateral Climate Partnerships Project to Fund Pacific GCOS Activities

GCOS Surface Network (GSN)

989 Stations

SPREP

GCOSSteering

Committee

WMO / IOC / UNEP / ICSU UNFCCC

GTOS

GOOS

WMOSubRegional

Office

GCOSSecretariat

PI-GCOSSteering

Committee

PI-GCOS Conceptual Framework

StakeholdersGCOS

NationalCoordinators

PI-GCOS Officer

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 IslandsOther 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 SuccessNeed 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”