The Climate Symposium 2014 brought together nearly 500 climate scientists, experts, policy makers and representatives from space agencies and industry to take stock of achievements reached so far in climate change science and Earth observation.
An additional 500 participants attended remotely throught the Internet. Based on the Grand Challenge themes identified by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) to further the science required as a foundation for climate services and climate change adaptation and mitigation policies, the symposium discussed potential gaps in the climate observing system from space and made recommendations for future research and observing programmes.
The symposium has shed light on future requirements to guide climate science toward the Grand Challenges of the WCRP. Likewise, it will guide space agencies to develop future missions that will provide additional crucial data for climate research and to plan reprocessing of historical data.
One international outcome of the symposium is the need for reinforced cooperation on planning for future Earth observation satellite systems to ensure that they respond to the research priorities identified in the WCRP Grand Challenges and that the best possible synergy is achieved between multi-satellite programmes like those of EUMETSAT and research missions.
The Climate Symposium 2014 was organised by the WCRP and EUMETSAT, with the support of the European Union, the European Space Agency, and the City of Darmstadt. Other sponsors are GFCS, GEO, JAXA, DLR, NOAA, CNES and NASA.
For those who missed the event, the full content of the symposium, including live discussions can be found here.
About EUMETSAT
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites is an intergovernmental organisation based in Darmstadt, Germany, currently with 30 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom) and one Cooperating State (Serbia).
