94
Chapter 11
Key Theme 3 explicitly stresses the need to provide the information
(input and validation) needed for soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer
(SVAT) models and to “develop an interface between remote sensing and
SVATs (jointly with ISLSCP)”. A better mutual integration of SVAT
models with remote sensing algorithms, and the combined use of multiple
sensor types, short-wave, thermal and microwave, seems promising in this
respect.
Key Theme 8 places its emphasis on the up-scaling aspects of global data
set production, i.e., the aggregation of vegetation and soil characteristics
from local scale to the grid-element size of (gridded) global data sets.
3.
WCRP-GEWEX/ISLSCP
The goal of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX)
Program is “to reproduce and predict, by means of suitable models, the
variations of the global hydrological regime, its impact on atmospheric and
surface dynamics, and variations in regional hydrological processes and
water resources and their response to changes in the environment, such as
the increase in greenhouse gases. GEWEX will provide an order of
magnitude improvement in the ability to model global precipitation and
evaporation as well as accurate assessment of the sensitivity of atmospheric
radiation and clouds to climate change”.
Among the specific objectives are global measurements of atmospheric
and surface properties in order to determine the hydrological cycle and
energy fluxes; pilot studies encompassing the full range of experimental
scales from local to global; and advancing the development of observing
techniques, data management and assimilation systems for operational
application to long-range weather forecasts, hydrology, and climate
predictions. This latter objective includes making recommendations to space
agencies with respect to instruments planned for satellite platforms.
The three GEWEX Research Foci combine modeling and observations
and impose challenging observational needs in the fields of radiation
(atmospheric and surface radiation fluxes and heating with the precision
needed to predict transient climate variations and decadal-to-centennial
climate trends), energy and water budget, and soil moisture.
The International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP)
was established to promote the use of satellite data for the global landsurface data sets needed for climate studies. For more than a decade,
ISLSCP has played a key role in addressing land-surface processes,
developing climate models, experiment design and implementation, and data
set development. In some sense, it can be regarded as an intermediary
Chapter 11
Key Theme 3 explicitly stresses the need to provide the information
(input and validation) needed for soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer
(SVAT) models and to “develop an interface between remote sensing and
SVATs (jointly with ISLSCP)”. A better mutual integration of SVAT
models with remote sensing algorithms, and the combined use of multiple
sensor types, short-wave, thermal and microwave, seems promising in this
respect.
Key Theme 8 places its emphasis on the up-scaling aspects of global data
set production, i.e., the aggregation of vegetation and soil characteristics
from local scale to the grid-element size of (gridded) global data sets.
3.
WCRP-GEWEX/ISLSCP
The goal of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX)
Program is “to reproduce and predict, by means of suitable models, the
variations of the global hydrological regime, its impact on atmospheric and
surface dynamics, and variations in regional hydrological processes and
water resources and their response to changes in the environment, such as
the increase in greenhouse gases. GEWEX will provide an order of
magnitude improvement in the ability to model global precipitation and
evaporation as well as accurate assessment of the sensitivity of atmospheric
radiation and clouds to climate change”.
Among the specific objectives are global measurements of atmospheric
and surface properties in order to determine the hydrological cycle and
energy fluxes; pilot studies encompassing the full range of experimental
scales from local to global; and advancing the development of observing
techniques, data management and assimilation systems for operational
application to long-range weather forecasts, hydrology, and climate
predictions. This latter objective includes making recommendations to space
agencies with respect to instruments planned for satellite platforms.
The three GEWEX Research Foci combine modeling and observations
and impose challenging observational needs in the fields of radiation
(atmospheric and surface radiation fluxes and heating with the precision
needed to predict transient climate variations and decadal-to-centennial
climate trends), energy and water budget, and soil moisture.
The International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP)
was established to promote the use of satellite data for the global landsurface data sets needed for climate studies. For more than a decade,
ISLSCP has played a key role in addressing land-surface processes,
developing climate models, experiment design and implementation, and data
set development. In some sense, it can be regarded as an intermediary