Remedy 1: Propagation and adoption of metrological best practices in sustained validation activities

Primary gap remedy type: 
Governance
Secondary gap remedy type: 
Technical
Research
Education/Training
Proposed remedy description: 

The remedy proposed here consists in the composition of expert consortia under the umbrella of (and potentially with funding by) overarching bodies and initiatives (WMO, EC, space agencies). These consortia should look into the following highly related aspects of the gap:

  • The development of (new) best-practice validation protocols and the corresponding documentation framework;
  • The application of these protocols and guidelines in (operational) validation platforms;
  • The advertising (including peer-reviewed papers, handbooks, training and courses) to validation teams and service providers.

     

Some efforts are already ongoing in this direction, for instance in the EC FP7 project QA4ECV (definition of a traceable validation chain and application in the Atmosphere Validation Server for a few ECVs), in ESAs CCI, and in ad-hoc initiatives such as the recent ISSI team EO validation across scales (which included GAIA-CLIM and CEOS representatives). Still, these only partially address the gap, and a much wider effort (in terms of ECVs, methods, platforms, and outreach) is required to extend, implement, and operationalise these QA4EO-compliant practices. 

Relevance: 

The integrated concept of the proposed remedy (including research, technical developments, education, and governance) ensures that the gap is broadly addressed.  For optimal acceptance by the scientific community and the major stakeholders, the composition of the expert teams is key.

Measurable outcome of success: 

Published protocols and guidelines, endorsed by the large stakeholders, and referred to in the scientific literature. Implementation of these protocols in the validation platforms supported by the space agencies, the Copernicus programme, etc. 

Expected viability for the outcome of success: 
  • Medium
  • High
Scale of work: 
  • Programmatic multi-year, multi-institution activity
Time bound to remedy: 
  • Less than 5 years
Indicative cost estimate (investment): 
  • Medium cost (< 5 million)
Potential actors: 
  • EU H2020 funding
  • Copernicus funding
  • WMO
  • ESA, EUMETSAT or other space agency