1. CEOS VC/WG working day – Report on the integrated ocean surface products discussion Julia Figa-Saldaña, Hans Bonekamp EUMETSAT SIT Workshop Agenda Item 5 CEOS SIT Technical Workshop EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015

2. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015 What do we mean by integration of products? In some domains, for example altimetry, there is a need to parameter and product integration steps to better meet the user requirements. Generally these steps are done when creating higher level products. For Sea Surface Temperature (SST), the Group for High Resolution SST (GHRSST) has guided the individual missions on how to produce L2P which can easily be combined with those of other mission towards integrated usage by providing standards on the format and the characterization of the information content. These aspects have close links to cal/val work. Some specific applications can trigger the need for a combination of single parameter products into super-products, e.g. surface wind vectors and waves for marine forecasting, SST and ocean color for fisheries, etc. Super-products have often usability gaps, which may be filled or resolved by model data. From the point of view of data accessibility, there are not many centralized access points for integrated ocean products. The existing few are set-up by single agencies, e.g., AVISO, PO.DAAC.

3. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015 Identified topics for discussion VC’s role and links to application-based groups VC’s and WG-CV links to the science teams One-stop-shopping Missing VC or WG topics Links to the modeling community

4. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015 VC’s role and link to application-based groups How to best liaise with the application-based groups to define requirements for super-products and give them visibility at CEOS? Through some of the CEOS working groups (e.g. WG-disasters) some of these super-products are being considered and already developed, such as flood monitoring products and tools. A potential area where super-products could be explored by CEOS VCs and WG collaboration was predicting and addressing coastal inundation due to storm surge

5. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015 VC’s and WG-CV links to the science teams Understanding that most of the cal/val and product standards work is done for individual parameters within the science teams, how can the output best be adopted, harmonised and represented by the WG on cal/val and the VCs? The WG on cal/val is in itself compartmented in several sub-groups, but I a general clear challenge to coordinate within CEOS the availability and handling of in-situ variables – many of the data used is coming from outside the CEOS community. WG-CV reports that their efforts go from pre-launch activities to in-orbit calibration and data harmonisation in orbit – individual topics and relations with VCs have taken place on an ad-hoc basis

6. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015 One-stop shopping All CEOS data are in principle represented in the International Directory Network (IDN) – (Action VC-1) … how does the IDN support one-stop-shopping for different user groups and how can the VCs contribute? IDN is just the first step! Ultimate goal is successful data discovery and access to data, both by the users and by CEOS - the key is the metadata and format standards and success in accessing content follows from that. Data discovery tools on the IDN data collections are already available, i.e., the CEOS WGISS Integrated Catalog (CWIC) based on OpenSearch, can search the IDN for relevant data to a specific application area, user case or specific VC in a transparent way. Next push for IDN update (action VC-1) – recommending all VCs to use CWIC in that process to check the completeness and accuracy in the description of our own VC data set collections.

7. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015 Missing VC or WG topics? Is there a need for a Sea Ice VC (or WG), integrating different missions (altimetry, scatterometry, dedicated missions,..), and more in general, are there any other such gaps for other important geophysical variables? Support to the fact that CEOS needs to address/respond to the Arctic issue in general, as sea ice is an already established variable, but the satellite missions supporting it (e.g. SAR) are not addressed specifically within any of the VCs – links to WMO Polar year? Worry about having another VC or WG. In any case, there is a process for VC creation which is bottom up and requires support / backing by the user community. Other gaps for ocean – it is necessary to address in CEOS the air-sea interaction issue in a more integrated way.

8. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015 Links to the modelling community How can the VC’s best support the representation of their geophysical variables in modelling community fora such as GODAE/ETOOFS and how can this be achieved? Data providers are already represented in GODAE patrons group, but there is a lack of awareness/visibility of what CEOS can do for this community It was proposed that a CEOS VCs presentation is given in the next GODAE workshop in December, highlight CEOS VC/WG activities and contributions.

9. SIT Tech. Workshop 2015 EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany 17 th -18 th September 2015