The World Meteorological Congress, which serves as the highest authority within the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), has given its approval to a new initiative called Global Greenhouse Gas Watch (GGGW) that aims to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The primary objective of the Global Greenhouse Gas Watch is to address information gaps and establish a cohesive operational framework. The framework incorporates various observation systems, both satellite-based and surface-based, along with modeling and data assimilation capabilities.
According to a press release by the WMO, the Global Greenhouse Gas Watch will consist of four key elements:
- A comprehensive and continuous global collection of observations related to carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations, including total column amounts, partial column amounts, vertical profiles, fluxes, and relevant meteorological, oceanic, and terrestrial variables. These observations will be shared internationally as quickly as possible, pending agreements and capabilities with system operators.
- Initial estimations of greenhouse gas emissions based on activity data and process-based models.
- Global Earth System models of high resolution that depict greenhouse gas cycles.
- Data assimilation systems associated with the models, which will optimally integrate observations with model calculations to generate more accurate products.
As an output the infrastructure will produce gridded net monthly fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O at the spacial resolution of 100 km with a minimum possible delay. These outputs can drive multiple applications from contribution to the global stocktake to assessment of the fluxes from individual facilities or landscapes.