In 1998, these governmental and inter-governmental agencies have formed an IGOS Partnership with a view to further the definition, development and implementation of an Integrated Global Observing Strategy. Towards this end, the IGOS Partnership provides a continuing mechanism to oversee the IGOS process, with meetings arranged among the partners twice a year in association with CEOS Plenary sessions and meetings of the Sponsors Group for the Global Observing Systems. The Partnership proposes to assess gaps in observations for user needs and seeks to address in a structured way the various user requirements. The IGOS Partnership also aims to promote all aspects of the strategy implementation, among national and international agencies, as well as different user groups. IGOS encourages the use of modular approaches to strategies for specific components, elements or processes that need to be integrated.
More detailed strategies exist or are being developed for a number of sub-components.
The CEOS Strategic Implementation Team is taking the lead in developing the space component of an IGOS, while the G3OS and their sponsors will prepare an in situ component during 1999. These nested processes of strategic planning at different levels of integration are an important part of the IGOS process, allowing each subsidiary group, module or partnership to work out the specifics at its own level. Where the IGOS Partners see the need for additional sub-components, they can stimulate the interested bodies to begin their own strategic process within the IGOS framework. IGOS itself helps to cap and interrelate these sub-components. Thus, in an integrated manner, the IGOS Partners are planning the effective combining of space and ground observations and the effective utilization systems for monitoring and managing the climate, terrestrial surface and oceans.