[SatNews] They met, they convened and now the responsibility is in their hands to...
EUMETSAT Director-General, Alain Ratier, accepts the chairmanship of CEOS from Luc Brulé, Director-General of Earth Observation in the Canadian Space Agency.
The two main priorities of EUMETSAT’s chairmanship will be the implementation the new governance agreed at the 27th plenary to meet CEOS current and future challenges, and the further development of climate monitoring activities. EUMETSAT will ensure that CEOS activities are carried out in accordance with the Strategic Guidance, Governance and Processes agreed following a “CEOS self study” performed by NASA over the last two years.
Regarding climate monitoring, EUMETSAT will support the joint Climate Working Group established by the CEOS and the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) to implement the Global Architecture for Climate Monitoring from Space in response to the requirements of the Global Climate Observing System and the WMO programmes.
As part of its CEOS chairmanship EUMETSAT will host the Climate Symposium organized by the World Climate Research Program in Darmstadt, October 13-17 2014. The event will be supported by the European Commission, the World Meteorological Organisation and CEOS and CGMS space agencies. The symposium will broaden the debate on the ability of space data to respond to the scientific challenges identified by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fifth Assessment Report by bringing together CEOS and CGMS space agencies and the international science community working on climate change.
The outcome of the symposium will be presented at the 2014 CEOS Plenary meeting hosted by EUMETSAT and the Norwegian Space agency, in Tromsö, Norway, October 28-30, 2014. EUMETSAT’s involvement in CEOS supports the implementation of the EUMETSAT Strategy, “A global operational satellite agency at the heart of Europe”, approved by the organization’s Council in June 2011. One of the strategic objectives is “to be an active partner in European and global initiatives of relevance to space-based weather, climate and environmental monitoring”.