Date

Dear Colleague,

We are convening a special session at the Fall AGU 2001 Meeting in San
Francisco, 10-14 December 2001 entitled:

Session GC03: Climate Observing System Challenges
(Joint with Atmospheric Sciences [A], Biogeosciences [B], Hydrology [H],
and Ocean Sciences [OS])

Abstract Deadline by mail: 30 August 2001
Abstract Deadline for electronic submissions: 6 September 2001, 1400UTC

Special Session Abstract:

Recent NRC reports have pointed out the severe challenges facing the
U.S. research community in continuing, developing, and archiving key
global climate records, both from the surface as well as from the
vantage point of space. This session is designed to increase awareness
and discussion of these challenges. There are a wide range of technical
issues facing long-term climate observations. These include but are not
limited to: instrument absolute calibration, inter-calibration, and
instrument stability; obtaining overlapping climate records; rigorous
space/time sampling of both mean climate and extreme events, merging
space/time sampling from surface point observations to global space
observations, robust and accessible archival systems, maintenance of
climate record quality over decades, needed new observations. In
addition there are a range of organizational and resource challenges,
all of which add up to a daunting challenge to obtain and maintain a
sufficiently accurate and complete climate record over many decades.

Invited Speakers are: Mark Abbott (OSU) and Tom Karl (NOAA).
Mark and Tom led recent NRC panels that reviewed the current state and
future plans for climate observations and climate data systems. They
will present the big picture view, while contributed papers will be used
to focus on more specific issues.

Please contact any of us if you have questions about the session:

Convener:
Bruce A. Wielicki, LaRC, b.a.wielicki [at] larc.nasa.gov

Co-Conveners:
Tom Ackerman, PNL, ackerman [at] pnl.gov
Russ Davis, SIO, rdavis [at] ucsd.edu
Jack Fishman, LaRC, j.fishman [at] larc.nasa.gov
Jim Hack, NCAR, jhack [at] cgd.ucar.edu
George Hornberger,UVA, hornberger [at] virginia.edu
Chris Justice, UMD, justice [at] hermes.geog.umd.edu

Guidelines for abstract submission or information about other
meetings/sessions taking place during the AGU Fall Meeting from 10-14
December 2001 can be found at the AGU web site at:

http://www.agu.org