Planning our Evolving Climate Observing System: Identifying Priorities and Evaluation Techniques

As climate science continues to rely on accurate global observations to refine projections and to gain new insights into the complexity of Earth System Science, new priorities and evaluation techniques are being developed internationally to help guide future observations. This presentation will summarize some of the recent work in this area including the recent organized efforts in Europe and the US to address Climate Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) and their value to the observational, modeling and emergency response communities. Recent publications point to the high value of global spatial coverage and the strong need for long-term accuracy and stability. These efforts will be summarized in an attempt to stimulate community discussion on the highest priorities for the coming decades.