Global Carbon Monitoring

Recognizing the growing need for improved Earth observations, over 130 governments and leading international organizations are collaborating through the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to establish a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) by the year 2015. They are contributing their respective Earth monitoring systems to GEOSS and interlinking these systems so that they work together better. They are developing common technical standards to make it possible to pool information, and they are promoting the free sharing and dissemination of Earth observations and data. This expanding coalition of countries and organizations has already transformed the ability of governments to manage natural resources and promote the safety and well-being of their citizens. Recognizing the growing need for improved Earth observations, over 130 governments and leading international organizations are collaborating through the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to establish a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) by the year 2015. They are contributing their respective Earth monitoring systems to GEOSS and interlinking these systems so that they work together better. They are developing common technical standards to make it possible to pool information, and they are promoting the free sharing and dissemination of Earth observations and data. This expanding coalition of countries and organizations has already transformed the ability of governments to manage natural resources and promote the safety and well-being of their citizens. The GEO through its Members and Participating Organizations, has begun work to implement a global carbon observation and analysis system addressing the three components of the carbon cycle (atmosphere, land and ocean) to provide high-quality information on carbon dioxide and methane concentrations and emission variations. By combining observations, reanalysis and product development we will be able to develop tools for carbon tracking and carbon storage evaluation including improved global networks of atmospheric CO2 observations, air-surface exchange flux networks as well as surface ocean CO2 and related marine biochemistry observations.