1. Global Terrestrial Observing System
linking the world’s terrestrial monitoring systems to provide a global vision of the Earth we share

2. GTOS Mission Statement
To provide policy makers, resource managers and researchers with access to the data they need to detect, quantify, locate, understand and warn of changes (especially reductions) in the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to support sustainable development.

3. Focuses on five issues of global concern:
1. Changes in land quality
2. Availability of freshwater resources
3. Loss of biodiversity
4. Impacts of climate change
5. Effect of pollution and toxicity

4. GTOS Sponsors Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
International Council of Science Unions (ICSU)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

5. Key GTOS Partners Countries (Europe, Southern Africa, South Asia)
Research institutes and universities
Global change programmes (GCOS, GOOS, IGBP ... )
Committee of earth observation satellites
Framework convention on climate change
Convention on biodiversity

6. The global observation hierarchy
1. Large-area experiments
2. Long-term research centres
3. Field stations
4. Periodic, unstaffed sample sites
5. Frequent low resolution remote sensing

7. Regional / National Networks
GT-Net Structure
GTOS
Secretariat
Steering Committee
(GTSC)
GT-Net Panel
Ecology-Net
Coastal-Net
Glacier-Net
Hydrology-Net
Southern
Asia
Africa
Thematic Networks
Regional / National Networks
Central
Europe

8. GT-Net Members
Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD)
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)
Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN)
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
Fluxnet
International Cooperative Programme on Integrated Monitoring
of Air Pollution Effects on Ecosystem (ICP IM)
Organismo Autonomo Parques Nationales
Réseau d’Observatoires de Surveillance Ecologique
à Long Terme (ROSELT)
UK Environmental Change Network (ECN)
US Long-term Ecological Research Networks (LTER)
Worldwide Network of Biosphere Reserves (MAB-BR)

9. GTOS System of Networks: GT-Net
Objective:
to link existing terrestrial monitoring networks in order to carry out studies of regional and global environmental change.
Key activities:
to share and exchange environmental data;
to define policies on data and information access;
to develop standards for metadata and in situ data;
to undertake demonstration projects
(the first one on Net Primary Productivity).

10. GT-Net demonstration project
GT-Net will undertake projects which demonstrate the
value of linking existing networks by generating data sets
which are useful in studying global change. It will serve
as a test bed for collaboration among networks and sites,
including data sharing and exchange, and obtaining the
experience needed for further development of GT-Net

11. GT-Net demonstration project
The first project will concentrate on improving current estimates of
global terrestrial primary productivity. It will adopt a hierarchical
approach and use models which combine satellite data with in situ
observations. A set of products, which have Net Primary Production
(NPP) as their common foundation, will be produced. The NPP project
will: (1)distribute a standard global NPP product to regional networks
for evaluation; and (2) derive regionally specific crop, range and forest
yield maps for land management applications.

12. Net Primary Productivity
The calculation of NPP requires input data which are valuable long-term observations in their own right:
Land cover
Leaf Area Index (LAI)
Net primary productivity
Soil water holding capacity and nitrogen content
Temperature
Rainfall

13. GTOS-NPP
Critical vegetation variables of LC, LAI and NPP are measured at local and regional scales, and used to validate the global satellite based estimates. NEP measurements provide a separate validation and translation of the carbon budget based NPP to estimate commodity yields (with local weather data if available).

14. Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Sites TEMS Meta-database
A register of long-term terrestrial observation
sites around the world
Information on more than 700 sites
Searchable on the Web:
Supporting the NPP project

16. Value-Added of GTOS
Framework to link terrestrial databases, sites, networks
Improved access to terrestrial data & information
Better collaboration between ecological networks
Filling gaps in key observations
Stronger links between science and policy
Faster response to emerging issues
Harmonization of measurements & terminology