February 2006

9

CEOP Phase 2: An Important Effort for Future Climate Observational and Research Studies
Soroosh Sorooshian, Chairman of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) International Global Energy and Water
Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Scientific Steering Group (SSG)

In the relatively short period since it wasconceived in the late 1990s and endorsed by
the Global Energy and Water Cycle
Experiment (GEWEX) Scientific SteeringGroup (SSG) and the World Climate Research
Programme (WCRP) Joint ScientificCommittee (JSC) in 2001, CEOP has
developed a comprehensive mechanism forcoordinating observations and the archival of
Soroosh Sorooshiandata sets associated with its global networkof reference sites, ranging from in-situ and satellite observations, tomodel-generated information. CEOP elements include specialized
methodologies to integrate observations based on coordination among
field science groups, space agencies, and numerical weather prediction
centers at all scales from local to global.
Having had the opportunity to experience the evolution of CEOP as
an international project, there are a number of interesting observations
which I wish to share with you. First, when we presented the casefor CEOP Phase I to JSC, it was mildly criticized for “being only anotherdata/observation effort” and without a well-defined scientific agenda.
Shortly after the initial CEOP data sets became available and scientists
started to formulate plans to examine a number of climate-related science questions, concerns were raised about the territorial domain andthe ownership by various programs of specific scientific topics. CEOP’s
proposed Monsoons System Studies, specifically, the CEOP Inter-monsoon Model Study (CIMS), is a case in point. As a result of concerns
over CIMS in June 2005 a Pan-Monsoon Workshop was held in Irvine,
California, which brought together colleagues from all WCRP projects
with the goal of articulating some of the common scientific monsoon
questions that all projects, including CEOP, could help to address.
My reason for giving the specific example of CIMS is to highlight a
few points. First, if it wasn’t for CEOP, I am not certain that we would
have had such a workshop anytime soon. Second, is this single workshop sufficient to streamline all WCRP activities related to monsoons?
The answer is no – but we certainly are moving in the right direction. I
anticipate that a number of other CEOP science initiatives will touch
some sensitive cords and hence result in steps to achieve a greater
degree of coordination and synergism between programs. In my view,
JSC, under the COPES framework, has a key role to play in this regard.
But this by no means is a suggestion of “passing the buck” entirely to
JSC. At our most recent GEWEX SSG meeting in Dakar, a number ofissues were identified which require coordination within GEWEX, specifically between our panels (GHP, GMPP and GRP) and CEOP. I am notsuggesting that we should have excessive top-down coordination but
more coordination between panel leaders could be helpful. At the endof the day, it is the teams of scientists who write successful proposals
that obtain the funds necessary to carry out the research on issues
such as monsoons, precipitation, extremes, etc. It is my personal belief
that we have to be extremely careful of not creating too many high level
coordination committees and panels who have no funding power and, if
their priorities are not in sync with each other, may confuse the funding
agencies with too many acronyms. Sensitivity to the national approaches that work for the scientists to obtain resources to carry out researchshould be respected and not jeopardized by mixed signals coming fromthe top.
In closing, thanks to CEOP, we are finally facing the reality that manyof the burning climate-related questions that WCRP is trying to address
under the COPES framework cut across different projects. It is my personal belief that we should worry less about the turf issues and support
sound scientific efforts. This is the main reason why the GEWEX SSG in
its recent (January 2006) meeting in Dakar, Senegal, endorsed thebasic framework of the CEOP Phase II Implementation/Science Plan.
We all recognize that there is no such a thing as a “perfect” plan forany science program. It is always a “work-in- progress.” Hence I salute
all of you who are giving so much of your time and energy to CEOP andmaking it the model of a truly grassroots and broad-based international
effort. For those in doubt, I strongly encourage you to participate in one
of CEOP’s frequently held conference calls. Each of these calls
involves as many as 15 scientists from almost all continents dealing
with issues related to observations, data management, model outputs
and scientific research. Needless to say, the leadership provided by
Toshio Koike for CEOP and the support given by Japan for this effort isunmatched and truly appreciated by all in GEWEX .
Contents:• CEOP Phase 2: An Important Effort for Future Climate
Observational and Research Studies • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1• CEOP Phase 1 Reference Site Data Set Availability • • • 2,3• The WDC-Climate as CEOP Model Data Center • • • • • • 3,4• Centralized Data Archiving and Integration System:
University of Tokyo Contribution • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5• The WGISS Test Facility for CEOP • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6,7• CEOP presentations and issues at the CTWF Workshop • 7,8• Summary of the Asian Water Cycle Symposium • • • • • • • • 8

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CEOP Newsletter No.9

CEOP Phase 1 Reference Site Data Set Availability
Steve Williams and Scot Loehrer, National Center for Atmospheric Research / Earth Observing Laboratory (NCAR/EOL)
Boulder, Colorado, USA

The achievement of the primary science goals of CEOP Phase 1
would not be possible without ready access to the high quality observations of sub-surface, surface, near surface and upper air parameters being made at the 35 CEOP reference sites. The procedures thathave been developed and implemented by the CEOP Reference Sites
and the CEOP Central Data Archive (CDA) at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) (formerly UCAR/JOSS) for consistent formats and quality assurance havebeen vital to this process. The CEOP Phase 1 Reference Site data set
is a unique global data set that will be useful for model evaluationand validation studies as well as research into the global energy andwater cycles. Another important aspect of CEOP Phase 1 is that it
has shown the advantage of coordinated international data activities
between Reference Site operators, the research community, operational centers and data management groups.

Figure 1: Data flow chart for CEOP Phase 1 Annual Cycle Data Sets (EOP-3 andEOP-4)The Preliminary Enhanced Observing Period (EOP-1) took placefrom July to September 2001 and a prototype composite referencesite data set was developed by NCAR/EOL. As many sites were still indevelopment during this phase, only 16 sites submitted data forinclusion in this data set. These data were converted by NCAR/EOL
to a common format and underwent quality checks prior to data
release. Two types of data sets were developed for the preliminary
period: a surface meteorology, flux and radiation data set and a soil
heat flux, moisture and temperature data set. Both data sets were atan hourly resolution. This prototype data set was released in
February 2003 and is available at the following URL:
http://www.joss.ucar.edu/ghp/ceopdm/archive/eop1_data/. These
data have been utilized in a number of model validation studies (e.g.
Rockel, et al., CEOP Newsletter 8, Hirai and Matsumura, CEOP
Newsletter 6). The prototype data set was thoroughly evaluated during the CEOP Reference Site Manager’s Workshop and 2nd CEOP
Implementation Planning Meeting in March 2003. Several improvements were agreed upon for the following annual cycle data sets and
NCAR/EOL developed the CEOP Reference Site Data set Procedures
Report to outline the new data and metadata formats and requirements (http://www.joss.ucar.edu/ghp/ceopdm/refdata_report/).

The full annual cycle data sets include EOP-3 (October 2002 to
September 2003) and EOP-4 (October 2003 to December 2004).
Among the changes from EOP-1, the annual cycle data sets arecomprised of four 30-minute resolution data sets: a surface meteorology and radiation (SFC), meteorological tower (TWR), soil temperature and moisture (STM), and flux (FLX). Additionally, high resolution
sounding data (SONDE) in the native format are made available. In
another change, the GEWEX Continental Scale Experiments andReference Site managers coordinate the format conversion and initial quality assurance. The initial submissions for these data sets
started in October 2003. Each data set that is submitted to EOL
undergoes a process that is shown in Figure 1. All submitted data
sets and documents are first inventoried via a set of specialized web
pages. A suite of automated checks are conducted that ensure thedata are in the proper format, ensure the values are reasonable for alocation on Earth, summarize the usage of the data quality flags, etc.
Time series plots are created and manually examined for each parameter measured for each station included in a Reference Site.
Finally, a number of other manual checks are conducted to examine
for consistency between the submitted data and documentation.
Whenever potential problems are identified in the course of thesechecks, they are communicated back to the data provider for confirmation or correction. Once all issues have been resolved, the data
are made available via the CEOP EOP-3 and EOP-4 Reference Site
Data Archive web page(http://www.joss.ucar.edu/ghp/ceopdm/archive/). The EOP-3 andEOP-4 data sets have also recently been used in CEOP research(e.g. Rockel, et al., CEOP Newsletter 8).
A summary of the data available as of 19 December 2005 is
included in Table 1. A total of 8 Reference Sites have two complete
annual cycles (EOP-3 and EOP-4) available from the CDA. These
include the BALTEX Cabauw and Lindenberg, CAMP Himalayas,
GAPP Bondville and ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP), LBA Brasilia
and Manaus, and Other ARM North Slope of Alaska (NSA) andTropical Western Pacific (TWP) reference sites. Another 10 reference
sites have the complete first annual cycle (EOP-3) data set available.
Finally, another 7 reference sites have data available from the firsthalf of EOP-3 (October 2002 to March 2003). The remaining 10
Reference Sites have submitted data sets to the CDA, however
potential issues or questions have not been finalized and theReference Sites are in the process of evaluating these items before
the data will become available.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the significant efforts of each of theReference Site managers and Continental Scale Experiment representatives in coordinating the collection and reformatting of the datafrom their sites and making it available in a timely manner.

CEOP Newsletter No.9

Table 1: CEOP Reference Site data sets available as of 19 December 2005. Data sets thathave the complete EOP-3 and EOP-4 period
available from the CDA are shaded dark green
and those shaded light green have the complete
EOP-3 and first half EOP-4 period available.
Those shaded dark red have the complete EOP3 period available and those shaded pink havethe first half of EOP-3 available. Boxes shaded
white represent data sets that are expected but
are not yet available and the black boxes aredata sets that are not collected at the site.

The WDC-Climate as CEOP Model Data CenterFrank Toussaint, Michael Lautenschlager, Hans Luthardt, Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany

1. Introduction
Within CEOP, three main data types have to be handled: 1) satellite data, 2) in-situ products from different measuring stations, and3) model output from different numerical weather prediction (NWP)
centers. The model data is managed by the World Data Center for
Climate (WDC-Climate) in cooperation with the Max-Planck-Institutefor Meteorology (MPI-M) for the CEOP community. For more information on WDC-Climate see www.wdc-climate.de.
The model output data can be grouped into two types. The first is
the globally gridded model output, which covers all four space-time
dimensions and is stored every model’s time step on a global basis.
Two years of data to cover the two CEOP annual cycles (EOP-3, -4)
require up to one Terabyte for an output set of about 60 to 100
parameters (4 time steps a day, 320x160 longitude/latitude grid, 50
altitude levels).
The second type of model data is used to compare against themeasurements taken at the CEOP reference sites located around theglobe. Accordingly, for each physical parameter a 1-D Model Output
Location Time Series (MOLTS) is extracted from each of the model
data grids. Together with the in-situ measurements these data correlate with the 35 CEOP "reference sites", which are listed at the
CEOP Data Management Web Page:
http://www.joss.ucar.edu/ghp/ceopdm/ref_site.html
2. The Homogenization Task at WDC-Climate
The CEOP data arrive at the WDC-Climate from eleven different
numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers. Grid data is disseminated in the standard Gridded Binary (GRIB) format, but different
data struc-tures and code tables are used. The code tables specify
the physical quantities, which themselves may be defined differently.
Thus, map-ping the output of different models from different centers
can be a difficult task. Furthermore, the data have different storage
structures (vertical coordinate system, order of dimensions, etc.).

Because of these issues, it is more difficult to deal with different
data structures than with large data volumes. Structure homogenization requires a considerable amount of effort.
Since most users are mainly interested in downloading homogeneous data, it is important to quickly clarify their requirements and toinclude as many options as possible in the WDC-Climate storage
structure and format. Decisions of this type have to be made separately for time series of global coverage, time series of verticalprofiles, and so on. The current set of filing states can be seen at:
http://www.mad.zmaw.de/CEOP/Data_timeline.html (see figure 1).
3. Grid Point Data from Climate Models
Grid point data is uploaded to WDC-Climate in GRIB format, however, since the GRIB convention codes each physical parameter witha so-called "code number", the coding may differ between the different NWP centers.
About one half of the expected data has already been uploaded to
the WDC-Climate archive. It covers mostly the time to the end of the
CEOP Phase 1 period (end of 2004). The upload of data from all of
the centers is expected to continue beyond that point in time anddata from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in
the USA data beyond the end of 2004 is already in the archive andcontinues to be uploaded. Most of this data was already transferred
into the Climate and Environmental Data Retrieval and Archive
System (CERA) database and is accessible through the Internet fromthe CEOP database at WDC-Climate in the data structure provided
by the NWP centers.
4. MOLTS Data
For the local time series of the NWP centers’ models it was
decided to hold the data in three different forms. First the data
blocks are stored as they are provided originally by the CEOP partners. This original data is disseminated in very different formats.
Depending on their source the data formats vary from pure binary

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CEOP Newsletter No.9

over different forms of NetCDF to plain ASCII. Furthermore, thedescriptions of the contents are inhomogeneous. In this raw form
most data are presently accessible by the WDC-Climate web browser interface.
In a second step the data are homogenized to the network
Common Data Form – Climate and Forecast (netCDF-CF) standard
format. The WDC-Climate was assisted in this process by the broader CEOP Community, especially the Australian, Bureau of
Meteorology Research Center (BMRC) and the German,
Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH (GKSS). Presently, the conversion of this data is in progress.
Finally, the data are directly filled into Database tables as standard real numbers, where they can be accessed number by number
via the Internet. This form of access is optimized for the link to the
WTF-CEOP system (WGISS Test Facility for CEOP, Distributed Data
Integration System Prototype). The interface, necessary for the tabledata download from the database, is currently running and data
retrieval from WTF-CEOP has started for a pilot data set inNovember 2005.
5. The CERA-2 Graphical User Interface
Since CEOP climate data is requested from all over the world,
WDC-Climate offers an Internet access and download capability to
all users. Presently, this is achieved by a Java browser applet, which
can be found at ceop.wdc-climate.de. However, plans are in place toswitch to an html database interface in early 2006 in an effort toavoid problems associated with system firewall protection schemes.
Additionally, a Java programme for script based data access is available.
In the archive catalogue the data is grouped by projects that consist of various experiments. Every experiment is subdivided into data
sets (see ceop.wdc-climate.de). The CEOP data can be obtained
under the project name “CEOP: Coordinated Enhanced Observing
Period”.

Figure 1: CEOP Model Database Status at WDC-Climate as of 22 November 2005

6. Direct Web Access to Metadata and Data
Recently, an Extensible Markup Language (xml) interface to thecomplete set of catalogue data (metadata) was installed. As theinformation can be mapped to different formats, the WDC-Climate
metadata can be ingested into other catalogue systems. For the httpaccess to the metadata see wini.wdc-climate.de.
For MOLTS table data the direct http-access is provided and prototypically used by WTF-CEOP. The servlet responds to the URLqueries by html or plain text.
7. CEOP as Prototype Element of the WDC-Climate Data
SystemMost of the data downloads that were requested from WDCClimate during 2005 were related to CEOP (see figure 2). As a resultof the regular interaction with the various elements of CEOP and
feedback from users of this data it is gratifying to say that the integration of all model data from the CEOP NWP centers was withoutmajor problems and will be a promising and stable basis for future
CEOP as well as broader climate model archiving activities.

Figure 2: Data downloads requested from WDC-Climate during 2005

CEOP Newsletter No.9

Centralized Data Archiving and Integration System: University of Tokyo Contribution
Masaru Kitsuregawa1, Toshihiro Nemoto1, Masaki Yasukawa1, Eiji Ikoma2, Kenji Taniguchi3, Toshio Koike3
Institute of Industrial Sciences (IIS), University of Tokyo, 2Center for Spatial Information Science (CSIS), University of Tokyo,
3
Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo1

The better understanding and improved predictability of the energy
and water cycle cannot be achieved without data and information sharing capabilities, including data management and integration systems
that comprise functions related to data access, archive, integration andvisualization, and information fusion. The success of CEOP in linking to
the GHP CSEs as the basis for the collection of in-situ data and toagencies and centers to contribute satellite and NWP model outputs
respectively has included a parallel achievement in establishing aninternational framework for archiving these data and providing them tothe science community. The data should be freely available to any andall users free of any costs. It is, therefore, essential to establish integration services for collecting, archiving and distributing coordinated andquality checked in-situ, satellite, and model output datasets.
The total amount of the CEOP Phase 1 data will be around 300
Terabytes. The data was originally produced by various sources andcame in a wide variety of formats and structures. CEOP started byaddressing possible solutions to this important heterogeneity issue. In
response to this situation there was recognition of the need for data
management systems for the collection, sharing, integration and supplyof data from which users can extract subsets from wherever they needthem and whenever they want them, and in formats familiar to the science community.
The development of a centralized data archiving and integration system is one of the major components achieved through CEOP.. he purpose of the CEOP centralized system are to provide researchers with anenvironment that is easy to manipulate and has an integrated interface
with various formatted earth environmental datasets that can be
retrieved by accessing basic processing and visualization functions
associated with the archived data.
The architecture of the centralized data archiving and integration
system is shown in Figure 1. The system manages all of the data andmetadata together using a tape library system and disk arrays to store
the data with location transparency. The details of the system andarchitecture are given in Nemoto and Kitsuregawa (2005).
Users can access all types of data through a single interface andcan view the retrieved data as graphical charts or images, depending
upon their dimensionality. Retrieved data is listed in the user’s workspace and various processing and visualization operations can beapplied to it. The client has various functions like changing temporaland spatial resolution, spatial and temporal averaging, unit conversion,and basic mathematical functions (logarithm, trigonometric functions,square root, power, etc) that are very useful in analyzing the data. The
visualization functions include one-dimensional (line, scatter) and twodimensional plots. Multiple data sets can be overlaid in a single plot
(Figure 2). Users can customize specifications for plotting (color, contour interval, region, images size, etc). All these operations are available
in the working space of each user on the server (Ikoma et al., 2005,
Taniguchi et al., 2005).

The system architecture enables users to browse and analyze alarge volume of data, even if their computer environments do not haveenough capacity for the entire amount of data. This feature is anotheradvantage of the CEOP centralized data integration system. At thesame time, retrieved or processed data can be acquired by the users
on their own computers. At present, NetCDF and several text formats
are available that the users can choose from according to their needs.
The system has already been opened to the CEOP community. To
use the CEOP centralized system, users do not need any commercial
software; however, a CEOP data client application is required that isprovided through the CEOP client web page listed in following references.
References:
Nemoto, T and M. Kitsuregawa, CEOP Data Server and Browse/Analysis Interface,
CEOP/IGWCO Joint Metting Proceedings, pp.83-86, 2005.
Ikoma E. et al, Development of a Visual Data Mining Application for EarthEnvironmental Data, CEOP/IGWCO Joint Metting Proceedings, pp.87-90, 2005.
Taniguchi, K. et al., CEOP centralized data system and integrated analysis tools,
Proc. of the 11th CEReS International Symposium on Remote Sensing, Dec. 13-14
2005, Chiba University, in press.
CEOP data client web page; http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop-dc/ceopdc_top.htm

Figure 1: The Architecture of the CEOP Centralized Data Archiving and Integration
SystemFigure 2: Example of visualization. In-situ precipitation data (colored dots), satellite
data (GMS IR1) and model output (Geopotential Height) is overlaid.

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CEOP Newsletter No.9

The WGISS Test Facility for CEOP
Osamu Ochiai1, Ben Burford1, Ken McDonald2, and Yonsook Enloe2, 1JAXA, Tokyo, Japan; 2NASA, USA

The CEOP science community utilizes a wide variety of data sets,obtained from many different sources ranging from field observations and satellites to modeling software. The CEOP Program initiated a discussion with the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites(CEOS) Working Group on Information Systems and Services(WGISS) for assistance in the development of advanced tools for
integrated access, visualization and comparison of these multiple
types of data. CEOS WGISS initiated a project, the WGISS Test
Facility for CEOP (WTF-CEOP), to collaboratively prototype a set oftools and services needed to provide data integration to support
CEOP science. JAXA (the lead agency) and NASA participated in thefirst phase of WTF-CEOP by initiating independent prototypes, bothof which were successfully demonstrated at the Spring 2005 CEOP
meeting. A second phase is currently being planned where existing
tools and software (e.g. OPeNDAP suite of complementary clientsand servers such as the Grads client, Ferret, and Live Access Server;
the Open Geospatial Web Coverage Server, NASA’s ECHO catalog
system, and the THREDDS catalog server) are expected to be tailored in order to provide a wider set of the data services needed fordata integration.
I. The JAXA Prototype for WTF-CEOP
The purpose of JAXA’s Prototype for the WTF-CEOP is to provide
user-friendly access to the CEOP (in-situ, satellite and model output)
data. The system is distributed in the sense that, while the system islocated in Tokyo, the data is located in archive centers, which areglobally distributed (see Figure 1). The in-situ data is archived at
NCAR/EOL (former UCAR/JOSS) in Boulder, Colorado, USA. The
model output data (MOLTS and gridded global fields) is archived at
the WDC-Climate in cooperation with MPI-M in Hamburg, Germany.
The satellite data is archived at the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS)
at the University of Tokyo, in Tokyo, Japan. Other (non-CEOP) globally
distributed data that is on DODS servers can be added in the futureaccording to scientists’ requests.
The system is integrated in the sense that all of the data is temporally and geospatially coordinated and can be selected and viewed
within the same system. The in-situ and MOLTS data are time series
data and the gridded global model output and satellite data are 4D(time series of 2D scenes at levels or in multiple frequency bands).
The system knows the geolocation and time of all data sets andsupports selection of the data through a uniform set of menus (seeFigure 2), by data type, agency, reference site and station, and supports sub setting according to time, area and height/depth (seeFigure 3).
Users can access the system at http://jaxa.ceos.org/wtf_ceop .
This site requires a brief registration to satisfy the CEOP data policyof keeping a record of users who receive CEOP data. The system
has been online since June 1, 2005. All in-situ data is available on
WTF-CEOP while MOLTS, satellite and global model output is being
added steadily. Future plans call for investigation and prototyping
into advanced data search and discovery functions, access of datafrom other server technologies such as OGC (Open Geospatial
Consortium) WCS (Web Coverage Servers) and integration of datacatalog and data search capabilities such as the GCMD (Global
Change Master Directory). In addition, developments in the Global
Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) will be closely followed and will influence development of the system.

Figure 1: JAXA’s Prototype for WTF-CEOP

Figure 2: Flow of data selection using menus

Figure 3: Select time, subsetting and output styleCEOP Newsletter No.9

amount of data transferred over the network. NASA’s 1st phase prototype was a proof of concept prototype. In Phase 2, this prototype is
expected to be enhanced with additional capabilities and madeoperational. The software will be made available to other interested
CEOS agencies (e.g. JAXA, ESA) willing to host the software andprovide Web Coverage Server access to their satellite data.

Figure 4: Example of output image

II. NASA’s Prototype for WTF-CEOP
NASA’s 1st phase Prototype for WTF-CEOP takes two existing
technologies, the OGC Web Coverage Server and the OPeNDAP andinterconnect them, leveraging the geospatial processing capabilitiesof the OGC Web Coverage Server with transparent data access to
OPeNDAP-enabled science data applications and analysis clientsused by many CEOP scientists. Figure 5 shows the architecture diagram of this prototype. This prototype will enable greater interoperability and data flow and access to distributed data sources of EOS
Level 1B and Level 2 and higher-level processed products by existing science communities. By using an OPeNDAP enabled client suchas the Grads client and access to satellite data through NASA’s prototype, CEOP scientists will be able to access global model output
data and then overlay the satellite data over it and compare data
values (see Figure 6). NASA’s prototype will provide an intelligent
data geo-rectification and regridding service, allowing remote processing and intelligent subsetting on the data and reducing the

Figure 5: NASA’s Prototype for WTF-CEOP

Figure 6: NASA’s Prototype showing satellite data with model output data

CEOP presentations and issues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Third World
Academy of Sciences (TWAS), World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Forum (CTWF)
Workshop (15-18 November 2005, Zhuhai, China)
Michael G. Bosilovich1, Xubin Zeng2, and Zhaohui Lin3
1
NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD, USA; 2 University of Arizona, Tucson AZ, USA; 3 International Centerfor Climate and Environment Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Beijing, China

The Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), Third World Academy of
Sciences (TWAS) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
have since 2000 sponsored an annual forum (CTWF) on the
Physico-Mathematical Problems Related to Climate Modeling andPrediction. This year, the theme of the workshop was Land Surface
Models and Their Applications (15-18 November 2005, Zhuhai,
China). Over three days, topics of invited presentations included
directions for improving land parameterizations, increasingly finescale representations (and interactions with the atmosphere), hydrological processes, ecosystems modeling, data assimilation and field
experiments. In addition, there were poster sessions for local students to discuss their work covering many of these same topics.

While many of the presentations touched on issues that concern
CEOP (such as the surface energy balance and monsoon lifecycles),there were three presentations directly related to CEOP activities. Dr.
Kun Yang (University of Tokyo) presented his study of land processes
and model evaluation in Tibet, focusing on the processes (model andobserved) during the onset of the monsoon. Dr. Huizhi Liu (Instituteof Atmospheric Physics, Beijing) presented a study of the observed
seasonal and diurnal variations of moist processes at the land surface in semi-arid Northeastern China with some considerations forclimate change. Dr. Michael Bosilovich presented a coupled landatmosphere data assimilation experiment, using many CEOP reference sites to understand the impact of the assimilation of surface

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temperature on the surface energy budget.
There was general interest in CEOP and its progress, as well as
recognition of the need for long-term climate data sets along thelines that CEOP proposes. More information on the 2005 CTWF
Workshop and the invited and poster presentations can be found at:

http://www.icces.net/ctwf2005/home.htm. The theme for the CTWF
Workshop in 2006 will most probably be related to data assimilation,
and CEOP readers are welcome to contact (ctwf@mail.iap.ac.cn) for
participation in future CTWF activities.

Summary of the Asian Water Cycle Symposium 2-4 November 2005, Tokyo, Japan
S. Benedict and P. Koudelova, CEOP International Coordination Function

The Asian Water Cycle Symposium was held in Tokyo, 2-4
November 2005 as the first step toward establishment of a regional
Water Initiative in Asia contributing to Global Earth Observation
System of Systems (GEOSS). It was emphasized at the meeting thatthe key elements of a Water Initiative in Asia needed to include thedevelopment of a sustainable scheme for water cycle data collection, sharing, exchange, and management in compliance with themain objectives of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
Committee on Architecture and Data, which are Convergence ofObservation, Interoperability, and Data Management. The meeting
was co-hosted by GEO, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA), Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology(JAMSTEC), and the University of Tokyo (UT) and involved more than
140 participants from 19 countries including scientists, water management experts, governmental and Non-governmental Organization(NGO) representatives. Through the reports and discussions at the
symposium, the participants recognized the common water-related
issues and socioeconomic needs related to disasters including
floods, droughts, landslides, water scarcity, river and water management, and effects of climate change in Asia. There was a great dealof information and ideas exchanged that dealt with the extensive
impacts of human activities as well as the large natural variation ofwater resources in the region. To address these issues, the participants agreed that it would be helpful to have a well coordinatedeffort that could combine global earth observations and physical,
chemical, biological and socio-economic measurements and information to address the scientific challenges toward understanding
local and regional variations in water assets. By considering the successes and weaknesses of previous and current on-going national,
regional and international water themed initiatives the participants
were able to begin to formulate improved methods for convergenceand harmonization of observation activities, interoperability arrangements and effective and comprehensive data management as themain functional elements of an Asian Water Cycle Project.
An important outcome of the meeting was the establishment of
the International Task Team that will follow up with the actions identified as the “next steps” and agreed to at the time of the summary
session of the meeting. CEOP was accepted as a prototype of an
integrated data system that could be applied at the regional level in
Asia and it was agreed that close collaboration with CEOP, during its
second phase, would be started at new reference sites that will bepart of the Asian Water Initiative.

CEOP/IGWCO Joint Meeting , 26February - 4March 2006, Paris, France
http://copes.ipsl.jussieu.fr/Workshops/CEOP_IGWCO/Programme.html
5th International Implementation Planning Meeting for the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period(CEOP) and 2nd Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partners (IGOS-P) Integrated Global Water Cycle
Observation Theme (IGWCO) Workshop will be held in UNESCO Headquarters
7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris France
Subway stations: Segur or Ecole Militaire or Cambronne

Newsletter Editorial Board: Robert SCHIFFER, Carlos R. MECHOSO, Paul D. TRY
Contact Address of International Coordination Body:
Sam BENEDICT (International Coordinator)
742 “H” Avenue
Coronado, CA, 92118, USA
Phone: +1-619-437-7904
Fax: +1-619-437-6814
E-mail: sam.benedict@gewex.org

Petra KOUDELOVA, Akiko GODA
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
Phone: +81-3-5841-6132
Fax: +81-3-5841-6130
E-mail: ceop@monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Supported by: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)