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International Summit Aims to Improve Earth Observation
Germany along with the other European Union states is joining an international effort to better coordinate earth observation and to improve sharing of data between nations and programs. The initiative was formulated at the 2003 G-8 Summit in Evian and was launched at the Earth Observation Summit hosted by the US State Department on July 31. Germany is one of the leaders of the EU’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, begun in 1998. Ways of observing the earth, atmosphere and environment include satellites, airborne instruments, land-based and ocean-based observation sites. Earth observation incorporates everything from weather and climate; atmosphere, including ozone; pollution; erosion; marine life, and more. "We want to understand the Earth as a system," said Iris Gleicke, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Construction and Housing and head of the German delegation to the summit. The Ministry oversees the German Meteorogical Service and the German Aerospace Center, and Gleicke’s delegation included representatives from both. "It is a matter of coordinating the initiatives and ensuring that there is common access to data. No one [country] can do this alone. We need an open architecture of information." Government representatives from over 30 countries are attending the one-day summit, which will be followed immediately by the first meeting of the international Group on Earth Observation, which will develop a 10-year plan. In addition to guidelines for this plan, the summit will address identifying new observations and existing systems to minimize gaps in data; building on existing work to produce reliable data on atmosphere, land, fresh water, oceans and ecosystems; and improving the world-wide reporting and archiving of these data; among other topics. Germany’s Contributions Germany has also long been involved in international cooperation. Germany is a member of the Darmstadt-based EUMETSAT, Europe's Meteorological Satellite Organization, which contributes to a global meteorological satellite observing system coordinated with other space-faring nations. And in another example, Germany is home to two observation stations, operated by the German Weather Service, as part of the United Nation’s Global Atmospheric Watch. Links
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