The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is holding a public consultation from 13 January to 13 March 2020 on the requirements for global essential climate observations needed by users of climate data and Essential Climate Variables. 

 As stated by the GCOS website: "This public consultation addresses not only the observation community, but all communities that work with climate data including climate science, modelling, policy,  adaptation, mitigation.

ECVs are concepts that may be characterized by one or a group of ECV Products. For example, the ECV 'Lakes' is a concept and in order to characterize it, several ECV Products such as 'lake water level' and 'lake colour' are required to monitor the relevant climate aspects. ECV Product requirements are instrument-agnostic: the requirements do not imply that any specific equipment should be used; they do not distinguish between satellite and in-situ observations."

Participate in the Public Call

We particularly encourage the mountain research community to provide feedback on the user requirements specific for mountain environments. Whether you work on this data as a user or provider, visit the GCOS website to provide your feedback for data requirements of specific ECV products. More comprehensive instructions can be found the homepage of the call. 

 Photo by Pixabay user BitBot-Media