Remedy 1: Systematic quantification of the impacts of different co-location criteria

Primary gap remedy type: 
Research
Secondary gap remedy type: 
Governance
Proposed remedy description: 

Dedicated studies are required which explore in detail the advantages and disadvantages of several co-location methods and criteria.  Dedicated working groups or activities could/should be set up within the framework of the ground-based observing networks, as already initiated for meteorological variables at a GRUAN-GSICS-GNSSRO WIGOS workshop on Upper-Air Observing System Integration and Application, hosted by WMO in  Geneva  in May 2014. Dissemination among, and acceptance by, the key stakeholders may be challenging and can probably best be achieved in the context of overarching frameworks such as the CEOS Working Group on Calibration & Validation (WGCV). The financial cost should be very low. Also, the space agencies and service providers could/should insist on sufficient attention for (and analysis of) the adopted co-location criteria in the validation protocols followed by their validation teams. 

Relevance: 

These studies and the proposed associated governance support target this gap directly. They will provide stakeholders with a traceable, authoritative reference on which to base their validation requirements and protocols regarding co-location criteria. It will also facilitate meta-analysis of different validation studies without the need to take into account differences in results due to differences in the impact of co-location mismatch on the results. 

Measurable outcome of success: 

Peer-reviewed publications or widely distributed technical notes on the subject, from an authorative body; Explicit inclusion of requirements on the co-location methodology and criteria in validation protocols. 

Expected viability for the outcome of success: 
  • High
Scale of work: 
  • Single institution
  • Consortium
Time bound to remedy: 
  • Less than 3 years
Indicative cost estimate (investment): 
  • Low cost (< 1 million)
Indicative cost estimate (exploitation): 
  • No
Potential actors: 
  • EU H2020 funding
  • Copernicus funding
  • National funding agencies
  • National Meteorological Services
  • WMO
  • ESA, EUMETSAT or other space agency
  • Academia, individual research institutes