*GLOBAL CLIMATE OBSERVATION: THE ROAD TO THE FUTURE*

Climate observations are essential for understanding the complexities of the global climate system, indeed virtually all breakthroughs that have been made in understanding climate have come from observations. This is why it is crucial to make further progress towards achieving a fully implemented, sustainable, global observing system for climate. The next Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) status report will be compiled and published during the course of 2015 and will help to critically assess the current system and provide the basis for the next GCOS Implementation plan. Ahead of this, the conference *Global Climate Observation: the Road to the Future*is convened from *2-4 March 2016*at the *Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam*, to allow experts dealing with climate observations and other key stakeholders the opportunity to review and give input to and feedback on the implementation plan prior to its publication.

GCOS is responsible within the United Nations framework, for ensuring a sustained, long term, reliable system for monitoring the global climate.  An important aspect of this is the 

definition of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), which are critical to our understanding 

of the climate. This conference will be the opportunity for experts to discuss current efforts with respect to the 50 GCOS ECVs that support the work of the UNFCCC and the IPCC, and many other international organisations and programmes, and to highlight possible new ECVs. These discussions will be a key input into the new GCOS Implementation Plan.

The new plan will take into account requirements for observations with regard to climate services from various initiatives including the GEO-led Blue Planet, the ICSU-led Future Earth, the UNEP-led programme PROVIA and the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report.  New developments in climate observing systems and frameworks within the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) such as the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) will also be considered in this plan.

*Please mark your calendars now *for this important conference from *2-4 March 2016*. The registration page for the conference will open in due course and more detail on the programme will be available at that time.Please also pass this announcement on to colleagues and contacts who would also be interested in participating.

In the meantime if you have any questions related to the conference, do not hesitate to contact Carolin Richter, Director GCOS crichter@wmo.int 

crichter@wmo.int

>or the organising committee

GCOS-SC@eumetsat.int GCOS-SC@eumetsat.int

>via email.

*/The GCOS Mission/*

Fonte: Secretaria do IO/FURG