JCOMM Expert Team on Marine Climatology - Task Team on Marine-Meteorological and Oceanographic Summaries (TT-MOCS) Elizabeth Kent National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

Expert Team on Marine Climatology: ToR  The ETMC, in close collaboration with UNESCO/IOC-IODE, GOOS, GCOS, CCl and CBS subsidiary bodies and related experts, shall:  Determine procedures and principles for the development and management of global and regional oceanographic and marine meteorological climatological datasets;  Review and assess the climatological elements of the Commission, including the operation of the MCSS and the GCCs, and the development of required oceanographic and marine meteorological products;  Review the GOOS and GCOS requirements for climatological datasets, taking account of the need for quality and integration;  Develop procedures and standards for data assembly and the creation of climatological datasets, including the establishment of dedicated facilities and centres;  Collaborate and liaise with other groups as needed to ensure access to expertise and ensure appropriate coordination;  Keep under review and update, as necessary, relevant technical publications in the area of oceanographic and marine meteorological climatologies.

Climatological oceanographic and marine meteorological products  WMO has a statutory obligation to produce climatological summaries, which are calculated and delivered by volunteer "Responsible Members" on a regional basis  The need for, and the production of, these summary products has declined over the years  Regional divisions no longer make sense  30-year summaries of limited use in a changing climate?  Huge variety of data products available from the scientific community  JCOMM are therefore considering what requirements there are now for summary products - hence TT-MOCS

Existing summary products Current division of responsibilities

Initial thoughts  Who are the users of statistical information on marine climate?  Scientists looking at long term change  Climate modellers  Operational planners  Others?  Are there existing and maintained "scientific" products which meet the stability and accuracy requirements (which are currently undefined)?  If so, we need a labeling exercise and some sort of portal where users can go to find data suitable for their needs.  Clearly any JCOMM activity should link with others, e.g. in WCRP

Initial thoughts … cont.  How do we judge the adequacy of datasets?  Some are clearly more suitable than others for applications looking at longer time scales  The observing system is evolving, many components are being strengthened, but some are in decline  Is the sampling and stability adequate - and does it remain so?  One role for JCOMM could be to co-ordinate the monitoring of operational data streams against adequacy requirements to feed into the GCOS reviews  Research is needed to define the metrics for adequacy for all relevant applications

Initial thoughts … cont.  Are gridded data products what everyone needs?  Assumes capacity to download and process possibly large datasets  Assumes users have analytical skills and know what they want to calculate  If the right summary products can be defined and calculated centrally then effort may be saved  Why should anyone want climate summaries?  Hi-resolution sampling of many parameters is available in near real time  Forecasts are often available  Users can often calculate what they need from available datasets

Initial thoughts … cont.  Climate change gives a possible application of summary products  Statistics could be defined of expected parameters based on observations, perhaps for each decade  The same statistics could be calculated from climate model output - both for the same period(s) as the observations and for future projections  Presenting both in the same way might help users to better understand regional changes relevant to them  Makes no sense to just do this for the oceans

Why JCOMM / WMO?  Statutory framework  Existing "Responsible Members" have expressed a willingness to take on a new role in the production of summaries  Ability to consult widely  All countries who are members of WMO as users  The task team is at a very early stage - these are just first ideas  We don't want to duplicate effort  We still need to work out what people actually want  We want to work with others who have similar interests and objectives  Please get in touch if you can help or advise us