The 2022 Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) implementation plan (GCOS-244)

This is the latest in a series of implementation plans produced by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) programme since its inception in 1992. It provides a set of high priority actions which if undertaken will improve global observations of the climate system and our understanding of how it is changing. This plan aims to identify the major practical actions that should be undertaken in the next 5-10 years. Climate observations have been very important: they have unequivocally shown that anthropogenic climate change is occurring, and they have informed the verification of the models and the projections needed to successfully adapt to and mitigate climate change.

This plan outlines actions to improve the global climate observing system. Below are some of the recommendations:

• Ensure necessary levels of long-term funding support for in situ networks, from observations to data delivery
• Address gaps in satellite observations likely to occur in the near future
• New Earth observing satellite missions to fill gaps in the observing systems
• Define governance and requirements for Global Climate Data Centres
• Improving discovery and access to data and metadata in Global Climate Data Centres