General conclusions. The analysis leads to the following general conclusions: Environmental in situ data from the Arctic are managed by national data centres, international data centres, funding agencies and individual research project, both in countries with Arctic coastline and countries with an Arctic interest. National observations programmes generally meet national priorities and lack international coordination. The purpose of using in situ observations in Copernicus ranges from calibrating and validating satellite sensors and algorithms, numerical models to assimilation into operational and re- analysis model prognoses. In addition, for climate service, consistent and long-term observations are needed to identify the trend and long-term variability of the climate. In situ observations are very sparse in the central Arctic. Due to lack of good communication facilities many data are delivered in delayed mode and are therefore inappropriate for NRT productions in particular. Other data e.g. research data are made publicly available too late to be available even for interim re-analysis purposes i.e. there is a need for internationally agreed standards for timely delivery of delayed mode data taking into account scientists right to publish. The Arctic environment puts high demands on robust technology and there is a clear need to pursue innovative technology development. Several services express that the limited amount of data is a bigger problem than the quality of data, although poor data quality in itself is problematic. Insufficient data management structures at data producer level constitute a big problem which negatively affects: o Formats of data and metadata o Accessibility o Timely delivery o Quality documentation Access to Russian data are extremely limited and calls for a dedicated action to free more critical observations in cooperation with Russian authorities. The given heterogeneity of the data sources implies that: o Automated data quality control is difficult and poor quality can consequently significantly impact verification results o It is important that data are collected at sites which are representative of their wider area rather than their immediate surrounding For land meteorological observations, the coordination has been rather weak, and many independent and somehow overlapping archives exist. Many observations are only available through request, and documentation and quality control may be sparse and difficult to assess. Surface observations are available from SYNOP stations, ships and drifting buoys. There are however large gaps over the Arctic oceans and in the inner Arctic. In particular, there is a lack of observations over northern and eastern Greenland, east of Svalbard, east of the ▇▇▇▇ Delta around the ▇▇▇▇▇▇ Bay over the Labrador Sea as well as over the coastal areas of Nunavut and Yukon. Upper air measurements are important for data assimilation as well as for process understanding. Currently, the spatial distribution of stations is low, especially for higher vertical levels. There are very few observations north of 70°N and no radiosonde observations in the inner Arctic. Upper air measurements of more variables would be useful as well. Aircraft data are variable in time and space. There are very few data in the inner Arctic. Several weather ships have closed down due to the high expenses (“C” southeast of Greenland and “M” in the Norwegian Sea). The GTS system is used for effective distribution of NRT meteorological data. Meteorological observation data was made available from the CDS with the first full launch of data end of September 2019. There is a high benefit from high-accuracy in situ data in many forms but most importantly for evaluation and quality control of various CAMS production lines. For these observations it is particularly important to have accurate estimates of observation errors. Most useful data for verification are derived from fixed stations It would be beneficial if the non-NRT data would also be made available in an agreed time frame. It would be helpful if all available data can be accessed from dedicated centres without the need to approach individual organisations. Major gaps in oceanographic data for Copernicus applications are identified as follows: There are large amounts of non-European marine data, for all key variables, which have not been collected for Copernicus use, i.e. in C3S and CMEMS in situ database. Openly accessible data are inhomogeneous (hence gapped) in space, time and parameters: o The Marginal Ice Zone, the central Arctic Ocean and other ice-covered waters are particularly undersampled areas o There are high density data in fishing areas; o Data in winter are sparser than in summer; o The availability of wave, snow and ice parameters in particular, as well as biogeochemical parameter observations, is below a critical level o Mooring data ideally need to cover the length of a full Arctic winter. Near real-time delivery of CTD observations from research vessels is desirable The organisation of in situ data used in the CMEMS production line is handled by INSTAC, which already contains huge amounts of ocean in situ data (actually more than presently used by CMEMS MfC’s and TAC’s). This analysis however reveals that there exist significant amounts of freely available in situ data not yet available in INSTAC, which can be due to technical problems in establishing proper machine to machine communication, or lack of sufficient metadata or that the MFC and TAC’s are not yet ready to use the data or cannot use the data due to timeliness issues - a large part of research data can only be accessed years after the data were collected and are therefore not fit-for-purpose in near real time forecast and interim reanalysis applications T/S profiles: Data are more than sufficient for Copernicus in ice-free waters. More data are needed in the central Arctic SST and sea level: o Data are sufficient for Copernicus service o Existing SST data need more comprehensive metadata. SST data from sensors on ice may cause problems. Sensors can be dropped on or trapped in the ice but metadata does not indicate this. This can cause large biases. It may be beneficial to go back to old data and check if they are affected (for long-term stability of data sources). o Sea level data need a common quality standard and format o GPS measurements associated with tide gauges are of crucial importance in order to correct sea level for vertical land motion but many tide gauges are not equipped with GPS. Currents: Existing data are in general sufficient but are not centralized Sea ice: o Many existing datasets on ice drift, ice thickness, ice surface temperature and snow depth/temperature have not been collected in Copernicus databases o The number of ice drifters with GPS is too few to derive high quality ice drift products o The current sources of in situ Sea Ice Thickness data are airborne surveys and ice tethered buoys and moorings. Airborne surveys are essentially snapshots and buoys only monitor at a given location. In order to be useful in a C3S context, airborne surveys should have a regional coverage of significantly more than 100 km o There is a significant lack, spatially and temporally, of sea ice thickness data, ice drift buoys and airborne observations for the Russian Arctic Waves: o Only a few wave buoys are running operationally in the Arctic with open data access. o Most of the wave data do not have open access. o Even with good data sharing, existing wave data are not sufficient for modelling wave- ice interactions. Biogeochemistry o Data collection is scattered and lacks coordination o Data are too sparse, especially in non-Nordic Seas The technology gap is particularly problematic in the ocean domain, there is a special need to focus on developing innovative and cost-effective technology for: o Under-ice water monitoring, either to reduce the cost or improve the efficiency of existing technology such as ITP and gliders, or by developing new technologies. o Marginal ice zone monitoring, e.g. marine mammal tagged observations, acoustic tomography technology and opportunity fishing vessels. o Biogeochemical, snow and sea ice variables o Communication of near real time data transmission and delivery In relation to data management there is a demand for o More metadata to better select or filter out the platforms to be used with confidence for validation o Improved quality control A lot of national snow depth observation data exist at national meteorological services which are not distributed via GTS. For snow, it would be valuable if more properties were measured (e.g. snow water equivalent, snow coverage, snow grain size). Snow data with higher resolution (especially better coverage) are needed for requested high- resolution products Cryosphere observations should be representative of the surrounding region as the number of observations is limited. A better coverage of AWS on the Greenland Ice Sheet is requested. Stations need to be equipped with a GPS. NASA airborne operations have provided valuable data which are being used to validate satellite products in C3S. The cutting of Operation IceBridge will leave a gap in the delivery of in situ data for validation of satellite products. A European airborne survey programme is suggested as a contribution to fill this gap. Snow measurements will, in the longer term, be made available via Climate Data Store (CDS).
Appears in 1 contract
Sources: Framework Service Contract
General conclusions. The analysis leads to the following general conclusions: • Environmental in situ data from the Arctic are managed by national data centres, international data centres, funding agencies and individual research project, both in countries with Arctic coastline and countries with an Arctic interest. • National observations programmes generally meet national priorities and lack international coordination. • The purpose of using in situ observations in Copernicus ranges from calibrating and validating satellite sensors and algorithms, numerical models to assimilation into operational and re- analysis model prognoses. In addition, for climate service, consistent and long-term observations are needed to identify the trend and long-term variability of the climate. • In situ observations are very sparse in the central Arctic. • Due to lack of good communication facilities many data are delivered in delayed mode and are therefore inappropriate for NRT productions in particular. Other data e.g. research data are made publicly available too late to be available even for interim re-analysis purposes i.e. there is a need for internationally agreed standards for timely delivery of delayed mode data taking into account scientists right to publish. • The Arctic environment puts high demands on robust technology and there is a clear need to pursue innovative technology development. • Several services express that the limited amount of data is a bigger problem than the quality of data, although poor data quality in itself is problematic. • Insufficient data management structures at data producer level constitute a big problem which negatively affects: o Formats of data and metadata o Accessibility o Timely delivery o Quality documentation • Access to Russian data are extremely limited and calls for a dedicated action to free more critical observations in cooperation with Russian authorities. • The given heterogeneity of the data sources implies that: o Automated data quality control is difficult and poor quality can consequently significantly impact verification results o It is important that data are collected at sites which are representative of their wider area rather than their immediate surrounding • For land meteorological observations, the coordination has been rather weak, and many independent and somehow overlapping archives exist. Many observations are only available through request, and documentation and quality control may be sparse and difficult to assess. • Surface observations are available from SYNOP stations, ships and drifting buoys. There are however large gaps over the Arctic oceans and in the inner Arctic. In particular, there is a lack of observations over northern and eastern Greenland, east of Svalbard, east of the ▇▇▇▇ Delta around the ▇▇▇▇▇▇ Bay over the Labrador Sea as well as over the coastal areas of Nunavut and Yukon. • Upper air measurements are important for data assimilation as well as for process understanding. Currently, the spatial distribution of stations is low, especially for higher vertical levels. There are very few observations north of 70°N and no radiosonde observations in the inner Arctic. • Upper air measurements of more variables would be useful as well. • Aircraft data are variable in time and space. There are very few data in the inner Arctic. • Several weather ships have closed down due to the high expenses (“C” southeast of Greenland and “M” in the Norwegian Sea). • The GTS system is used for effective distribution of NRT meteorological data. • Meteorological observation data was made available from the CDS with the first full launch of data end of September 2019. • There is a high benefit from high-accuracy in situ data in many forms but most importantly for evaluation and quality control of various CAMS production lines. For these observations it is particularly important to have accurate estimates of observation errors. • Most useful data for verification are derived from fixed stations • It would be beneficial if the non-NRT data would also be made available in an agreed time frame. It would be helpful if all available data can be accessed from dedicated centres without the need to approach individual organisations. Major gaps in oceanographic data for Copernicus applications are identified as follows: • There are large amounts of non-European marine data, for all key variables, which have not been collected for Copernicus use, i.e. in C3S and CMEMS in situ database. • Openly accessible data are inhomogeneous (hence gapped) in space, time and parameters: o The Marginal Ice Zone, the central Arctic Ocean and other ice-covered waters are particularly undersampled areas o There are high density data in fishing areas; o Data in winter are sparser than in summer; o The availability of wave, snow and ice parameters in particular, as well as biogeochemical parameter observations, is below a critical level o Mooring data ideally need to cover the length of a full Arctic winter. • Near real-time delivery of CTD observations from research vessels is desirable • The organisation of in situ data used in the CMEMS production line is handled by INSTAC, which already contains huge amounts of ocean in situ data (actually more than presently used by CMEMS MfC’s and TAC’s). This analysis however reveals that there exist significant amounts of freely available in situ data not yet available in INSTAC, which can be due to technical problems in establishing proper machine to machine communication, or lack of sufficient metadata or that the MFC and TAC’s are not yet ready to use the data or cannot use the data due to timeliness issues - a large part of research data can only be accessed years after the data were collected and are therefore not fit-for-purpose in near real time forecast and interim reanalysis applications • T/S profiles: Data are more than sufficient for Copernicus in ice-free waters. More data are needed in the central Arctic • SST and sea level: o Data are sufficient for Copernicus service o Existing SST data need more comprehensive metadata. SST data from sensors on ice may cause problems. Sensors can be dropped on or trapped in the ice but metadata does not indicate this. This can cause large biases. It may be beneficial to go back to old data and check if they are affected (for long-term stability of data sources). o Sea level data need a common quality standard and format o GPS measurements associated with tide gauges are of crucial importance in order to correct sea level for vertical land motion but many tide gauges are not equipped with GPS. • Currents: Existing data are in general sufficient but are not centralized • Sea ice: o Many existing datasets on ice drift, ice thickness, ice surface temperature and snow depth/temperature have not been collected in Copernicus databases o The number of ice drifters with GPS is too few to derive high quality ice drift products o The current sources of in situ Sea Ice Thickness data are airborne surveys and ice tethered buoys and moorings. Airborne surveys are essentially snapshots and buoys only monitor at a given location. In order to be useful in a C3S context, airborne surveys should have a regional coverage of significantly more than 100 km o There is a significant lack, spatially and temporally, of sea ice thickness data, ice drift buoys and airborne observations for the Russian Arctic • Waves: o Only a few wave buoys are running operationally in the Arctic with open data access. o Most of the wave data do not have open access. o Even with good data sharing, existing wave data are not sufficient for modelling wave- ice interactions. • Biogeochemistry o Data collection is scattered and lacks coordination o Data are too sparse, especially in non-Nordic Seas • The technology gap is particularly problematic in the ocean domain, there is a special need to focus on developing innovative and cost-effective technology for: o Under-ice water monitoring, either to reduce the cost or improve the efficiency of existing technology such as ITP and gliders, or by developing new technologies. o Marginal ice zone monitoring, e.g. marine mammal tagged observations, acoustic tomography technology and opportunity fishing vessels. o Biogeochemical, snow and sea ice variables o Communication of near real time data transmission and delivery • In relation to data management there is a demand for o More metadata to better select or filter out the platforms to be used with confidence for validation o Improved quality control • A lot of national snow depth observation data exist at national meteorological services which are not distributed via GTS. • For snow, it would be valuable if more properties were measured (e.g. snow water equivalent, snow coverage, snow grain size). • Snow data with higher resolution (especially better coverage) are needed for requested high- resolution products • Cryosphere observations should be representative of the surrounding region as the number of observations is limited. A better coverage of AWS on the Greenland Ice Sheet is requested. Stations need to be equipped with a GPS. • NASA airborne operations have provided valuable data which are being used to validate satellite products in C3S. The cutting of Operation IceBridge will leave a gap in the delivery of in situ data for validation of satellite products. A European airborne survey programme is suggested as a contribution to fill this gap. • Snow measurements will, in the longer term, be made available via Climate Data Store (CDS).
Appears in 1 contract
Sources: Framework Service Contract