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Headline indicators for global climate monitoring

Trewin, Blair ; Cazenave, Anny ; Howell, Stephen ; Huss, Matthias ; Isensee, Kirsten ; Palmer, Matthew D. ; Tarasova, Oksana and Vermeulen, Alex LU orcid (2021) In Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 102(1). p.20-37
Abstract

The World Meteorological Organization has developed a set of headline indicators for global climate monitoring. These seven indicators are a subset of the existing set of essential climate variables (ECVs) established by the Global Climate Observing System and are intended to provide the most essential parameters representing the state of the climate system. These indicators include global mean surface temperature, global ocean heat content, state of ocean acidification, glacier mass balance, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent, global CO2 mole fraction, and global mean sea level. This paper describes how well each of these indicators are currently monitored, including the number and quality of the underlying datasets; the... (More)

The World Meteorological Organization has developed a set of headline indicators for global climate monitoring. These seven indicators are a subset of the existing set of essential climate variables (ECVs) established by the Global Climate Observing System and are intended to provide the most essential parameters representing the state of the climate system. These indicators include global mean surface temperature, global ocean heat content, state of ocean acidification, glacier mass balance, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent, global CO2 mole fraction, and global mean sea level. This paper describes how well each of these indicators are currently monitored, including the number and quality of the underlying datasets; the health of those datasets; observation systems used to estimate each indicator; the timeliness of information; and how well recent values can be linked to preindustrial conditions. These aspects vary widely between indicators. While global mean surface temperature is available in close to real time and changes from preindustrial levels can be determined with relatively low uncertainty, this is not the case for many other indicators. Some indicators (e.g., sea ice extent) are largely dependent on satellite data only available in the last 40 years, while some (e.g., ocean acidification) have limited underlying observational bases, and others (e.g., glacial mass balance) with data only available a year or more in arrears.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
volume
102
issue
1
pages
20 - 37
publisher
American Meteorological Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85100414397
ISSN
0003-0007
DOI
10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0196.1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5cd3c009-e6b7-4d91-b8d5-c5ec2b790a93
date added to LUP
2021-02-19 07:54:51
date last changed
2022-06-29 11:07:04
@article{5cd3c009-e6b7-4d91-b8d5-c5ec2b790a93,
  abstract     = {{<p>The World Meteorological Organization has developed a set of headline indicators for global climate monitoring. These seven indicators are a subset of the existing set of essential climate variables (ECVs) established by the Global Climate Observing System and are intended to provide the most essential parameters representing the state of the climate system. These indicators include global mean surface temperature, global ocean heat content, state of ocean acidification, glacier mass balance, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent, global CO<sub>2</sub> mole fraction, and global mean sea level. This paper describes how well each of these indicators are currently monitored, including the number and quality of the underlying datasets; the health of those datasets; observation systems used to estimate each indicator; the timeliness of information; and how well recent values can be linked to preindustrial conditions. These aspects vary widely between indicators. While global mean surface temperature is available in close to real time and changes from preindustrial levels can be determined with relatively low uncertainty, this is not the case for many other indicators. Some indicators (e.g., sea ice extent) are largely dependent on satellite data only available in the last 40 years, while some (e.g., ocean acidification) have limited underlying observational bases, and others (e.g., glacial mass balance) with data only available a year or more in arrears.</p>}},
  author       = {{Trewin, Blair and Cazenave, Anny and Howell, Stephen and Huss, Matthias and Isensee, Kirsten and Palmer, Matthew D. and Tarasova, Oksana and Vermeulen, Alex}},
  issn         = {{0003-0007}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{20--37}},
  publisher    = {{American Meteorological Society}},
  series       = {{Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society}},
  title        = {{Headline indicators for global climate monitoring}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0196.1}},
  doi          = {{10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0196.1}},
  volume       = {{102}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}