1. Introduction to GEO/GEOSS and GEO Cold Region Yubao Qiu GEO Secretariat yqiu@geosec.org 26 October 2012 Beijing, China

2. U.S. Department of State, Washington DC July 31, 2003 GEO, the Group on Earth Observations An Intergovernmental Organization with 89 Member Countries, the European Commission and 64 Participating Organizations There is a Need to coordinate observations and to Share all Earth Observation Data in Standard Interoperable Formats.

3. GEO members : space ability Disaster Energy ClimateWater Health Weather Ecosystem Agriculture Biodiversity

4. GEO POs : Sci & Tec oriented Disaster Energy ClimateWater Health Weather Ecosystem Agriculture Biodiversity

5. GEOSS: A Global, Coordinated, Comprehensive and Sustained System of Observing Systems Built from the expansion and interlinking of existing observation and information systems and the investments of Members and Participating Organizations in new systems.

6. How GEO works Coordinating activities of Members and Participating Organisations Supporting the development of capabilities for Observations, Processing and Information Dissemination Encouraging cross-cutting approaches The GEO implementation tool is the Workplan

7. The GEO Workplan To address targets of the Implementation Plan and track relevant progress, the main tool is a Workplan, approved every year by the GEO Plenary. The Plan is structured in tasks encompassing all the SBA’s and the transverse areas leading to the progressive definition and implementation of GEOSS Current Workplan is the 2012-2015, available at GEO website http://www.earthobservations.org/ http://www.earthobservations.org/

9. 1. Awareness of biodiversity 2. Value of BD integrated 3. Incentives for BD 4. Sustainability 5. Habitat loss 6. Marine resources7. Agriculture, forest and aquaculture 8. Pollution9. Alien species10. Coral reefs andother threatenedecosystems11. Protected areas 12. Threatened species13. Genetic diversity14. EcosystemServices15. Climate changeresilience 16. Access and Benefit Sharing17. National BDStrategies & Action Plans 18. Indigenous knowledge 19. Knowledgesharing20. Resources Biodiversity Water Climate Ecosystem Agriculture Health Ocean Land Cover Forest Impacts Societal BenefitAreas/Targets* Cross-cutting Areas Aichi Biodiversity Targets Strategic Goal AStrategic Goal BStrategic Goal CStrategic Goal DStrategic Goal E Cross Cutting Area Cold Region? Working Plan 2012-2105 Target and Task

10. 1. Awareness of biodiversity 2. Value of BD integrated 3. Incentives for BD 4. Sustainability 5. Habitat loss 6. Marine resources7. Agriculture, forest and aquaculture 8. Pollution9. Alien species 10. Coral reefs and other threatened ecosystems11. Protected areas 12. Threatened species 13. Genetic diversity 14. EcosystemServices15. Climate changeresilience 16. Access and Benefit Sharing17. National BD Strategies & Action Plans 18. Indigenous knowledge 19. Knowledgesharing20. Resources Biodiversity Water Climate Ecosystem Agriculture Health Ocean Land Cover Forest Impacts Societal BenefitAreas/Targets* Cross-cutting Areas Aichi Biodiversity Targets Strategic Goal AStrategic Goal BStrategic Goal CStrategic Goal DStrategic Goal E Working Plan 2012-2105 Target and Task

11. Global Issue: The Cryospheric Components It includes snow, sea ice, lake and river ice, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, permafrost and seasonally frozen ground, and solid precipitation

12. Heritage: IGOS-P, IPY, GEO Tasks By Jeff Key, 2010 “Legacy of the International Polar Year 2007-08”, AR-09-03b. (Subtask of AR- 09-03: Advocating for Sustained Observing Systems) Another subtask, “Accelerating the Implementation of the Global Climate Observing System” (CL-09-02), includes the Global Cryosphere Watch. A few other tasks address snow and ice issues at least peripherally (e.g., CL-06-01, EC-09-01). “Legacy of the International Polar Year 2007-08”, AR-09-03b. (Subtask of AR- 09-03: Advocating for Sustained Observing Systems) Another subtask, “Accelerating the Implementation of the Global Climate Observing System” (CL-09-02), includes the Global Cryosphere Watch. A few other tasks address snow and ice issues at least peripherally (e.g., CL-06-01, EC-09-01). A contribution to GEOSS : The GCW - The cryosphere community of practice concept is part of the GCW strategy. WP2012-2015: GEO - Information Services for Cold Region

13. Disaster Energy ClimateWater Health Weather Ecosystem Agriculture Biodiversity Space ObservationsIn-situ Measurements Needs Services Observation Platform Coordination

14. Now : GEO Cold Region Contribution: Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, United States, IEEE, SAON, WMO, INTERACT, ICIMOD, CLIC… In Work plan 2012-2015: Priority ActionsWork plan 2012-2015  Promote the implementation of the SAON project (Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks; see also IN-01-C3-Promotion and Coordination across Surface-based and Space-based Observing Systems)  GLIMS, GlobGlacier, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center. see also IN-01  In-situ and remotely-sensed data measuring frozen ground, glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice, and snow. (incl. INTERACT, and etc)  Link Polar Data Catalogue, National Snow and Ice Data Centre, and SAON through GEOSS interoperability standards (as part of GCW) New Actions:  Provide the CryoClim Cryospheric climate monitoring service  Integration of Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) in GEOSS  Providing the essential climate variable sea ice for the Arctic and the Antarctic  Snow Cover mapping and experiment for the Tibetan Plateau  Glacier dynamics mapping in Tibetan Plateau using satellite observations

15. PSTG … GCW … Global Initiatives: Arctic: SAON INTERACT Antarctic: … The third pole CEOS IGOS-P Cryo. GEO Web Portal Regional GEOSS GEO Broker

16. Output: 1)Science-based vision 2)User Driven 3)Strategy Driven 4)Development: suggestions The way forward…?

17. Thank you! GEO Cold Region: COLD-REGION@list.geosec.orgCOLD-REGION@list.geosec.org