Observational Network Design for Climate

This paper differs from most of the other plenary discussions in that no one is to blame for it, except me. Although I have read the relevant white papers dealing with this subject, and have tried to synthesize their conclusions, so many difficult issues are involved in observational network design, that producing a true consensus proved difficult. In practice, it is difficult to perceive the scientific/technical future of observing systems much beyond 10 or 20 years, particularly as technology and science deliver unexpected capabilities or unforeseen events impose their own agenda. (Wars are the most obvious cause, but so are financial and Arctic ice meltdowns, etc.) Whatever the goals, it must be appreciated at the outset that climate observing systems must be designed to operate, and thus evolve, indefinitely— as the time scales embedded in the system extend far beyond any existing instrumental records.