Focus Area on Surface Radiation/Albedo Product Validation
GCOS
The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is an international organization charged with defining the observational requirements for Earth Climate Variables (ECVs). GCOS goal requirements for Albedo were set as follows (GCOS-245):
| Variable/Parameter | Horizontal Resolution | Temporal Resolution | Latency | Required Measurement Uncertainty | Stability* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albedo | 10 m | 1 day | 1 day | 3% for values ≤ 0.05; 0.0015 (abs value) for values < 0.05 | <1%/decade |
SCOPE-CM
The Sustained, Coordinated Processing of Environmental Satellite data for Climate Monitoring (SCOPE-CM) Network was established in November 2008 with the approval of the first Implementation Plan. It is a network of agencies and operators of environmental satellite systems and interfaces with WMO, WCRP, GCOS, CGMS, CEOS and GEO. It offers its support to coordinate and facilitate international activities to generate Climate Data Records (CDR) from multi-agency satellite data. Within SCOPE-CM, the contributing organisations coordinate their scientific and technical development activities and cooperate on the basis of shared and distributed responsibilities for the generation of global products.
Within SCOPE-CM two projects focus on retrieval of surface albedo:
GTOS Albedo document
Schaaf, C.B., J. Cihlar, A. Belward, E. Dutton, and M. Verstraete. 2009. Albedo and Reflectance Anisotropy, ECV-T8: GTOS Assessment of the status of the development of standards for the Terrestrial Essential Climate Variables, ed., R. Sessa, FAO, Rome.
