The Global Cryosphere Watch Cryo Net Asia 1

The Global Cryosphere Watch Cryo. Net Asia 1 st Workshop (Beijing, China, 2 -5 December 2013) 1 st Cryo. Net South America Workshop (Santiago, Chile, 27 -29 October, 2014) Lessons Learned – or Not Barry Goodison, Vice-Chair, GCW Steering Group 1

Purpose of Asia Cryo. Net Workshop To continue efforts in implementing Cryo. Net and addressing identified gaps, with an emphasis on the measurement sites, observations, and issues in Asia. This included, but was not limited to, the “Third Pole Project” region of the Himalayas Presentations are available: http: //www. wmo. int/pages/prog/www/OSY/Meetings/GCW-CNAsia/Cryo. Net_Asia_Documentation_Plan. html Final report of workshop: http: //www. wmo. int/pages/prog/www/OSY/Meetings/GCW-CNSouth. America/Cryo. Net_Asia_Final. Report. doc

Purpose of Cryo. Net South America Workshop To identify stations/sites that could be selected for Cryo. Net in South America, discuss practices that should be applied and to foster the development of cryospheric activities in the region Review of environmental regulations related to glaciers and the periglacial environment within the different countries represented in the Workshop, a topic of particular relevance to Chile in view of the glacier law initiative currently being discussed in Congress. Presentations are available: http: //www. wmo. int/pages/prog/www/OSY/Meetings/GCW-CNSouth. America/Cryo. Net_Sout. America_Doc. Plan. html Draft Final report of workshop: http: //www. wmo. int/pages/prog/www/OSY/Meetings/GCW-CNT 2/GCWCNT 2 -PT-2. html test footer 3

Cryo. Net Asia -Background Participants: from China, Pakistan, India, Japan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, USA, Canada, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. Meeting Language: English only Feedback with respect to cryospheric observation and monitoring: § For Cryo. Net, establishment of a tiered network was ranked as the highest priority § High need for harmonization as well as standards and guidelines in cryospheric observations § Existing cryospheric networks are highly interested in cooperation with GCW § Cryo. Net should fill gaps in existing networks § For the cryospheric community, data policy and data accessibility is of highest priority Participants helped refine the Cryo. Net network strategy, levels of observation, requirements for site inclusion in the network, and measurement practices. General and site questionnaires were completed by participants.

Cryo. Net South America -Background Participants: from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Austria, Canada, France, Iceland, Switzerland, USA – strong co-operation among SA/LA countries already which strengthened discussion Meeting Languages: English and Spanish, with excellent simultaneous interpretation; questionnaire offered in Spanish; final report summary in English and Spanish (special thanks for arrangements by Chile) Feedback with respect to cryospheric observation and monitoring: § Implementation of tiered network § High need for standards and guidelines in cryospheric observations (many counts) § Serve science and practitioners § Cooperate with existing networks § Fill gaps in existing networks § Data policy and data provision General and site questionnaires were completed by participants.

Asia Workshop Presentations and Discussion § Potential GCW and Cryo. Net sites presented and discussed; updated site questionnaires submitted for further review and discussion; § High Elevation stations in Central Asia were the focus of most participants; § several Chinese stations were proposed to be part into Cryo. Net Asia; § Reviewed existing observation sites/observatories over the “Third Pole” region. Achievements and gaps in observations were identified. § Need to pursue continuous support and upgrade for observations in Third Pole region toward the GCW standard. § Defined the boundary of Asia Cryo. Net - will not limited to “Third Pole” only, but whole Asia except Arctic; Asia Cryo. Net will be in coinciding spatially with WMO Region II. BUT, the following actions have not been followed up: § Set up guidelines on how Asia Cryo. Net to be organized. § Need to complete list of focal points (station leaders) for stations/sites, § Highlight the importance of GCW to the responsible bodies in China, like CAS and CMA Responsibilities were not explicitly assigned at the meeting

SA Workshop Presentations and Discussion Should we focus on the Andes as one region, or by three climate zones – tropical, dry, and wet Andes? § No clear agreement on this question as several participants thought that this region should be considered as a whole while many others asked to distinguish inner and outer tropics areas § Discussion on regional vs national data centres - meeting opted in favor of small data centre as some centres already exist; noted by D/OBS that coordination on national level is more important and we should stay with the WMO definition for regional centres; in future GCW could offer a “data centre” (e. g. Met Norway) for data that are not stored anywhere else. § Meeting agreed that at least metadata should be made freely available; some networks are financed by third countries and these data are made available first to that entity, and as a second step made available to others. GCW can also access the data; Chile emphasized that there should be no issue with sharing Chilean data –open data policy § The need for adequate cryospheric definitions was stressed in view of their legal implications. test footer 7

SA Workshop Presentations and Discussion Should Antarctic stations/sites operated by South American countries be part of South American Cryo. Net or Antarctic Cryo. Net? § participants agreed that Antarctica should be treated separately from Cryo. Net South America since it is a completely distinct region from a geographic point of view and also because several countries outside South America are involved Is Mexico part of this region or part of North American region? § Cryo. Net is not building a rigid regional network and Mexico may be included in Cryo. Net Latin America; impacts of Mexican glaciers should be assessed in comparison with the rest of the South American cryosphere. Is South American boundary equivalent to WMO RA II countries (like Asia)? § The meeting reaffirmed that no regional networks are planned. There was extensive discussion of the stations presented for consideration as Cryo. Net stations and new questionnaires were requested It was agreed that snowpack chemistry should be included in GCW/Cryo. Net IP

Key Outcomes/Actions To build Cryo. Net Asia: § First step is to draft the site classification system and then try to assign sites submitted by participants to test its applicability. § Develop a data exchange mechanism, § Compile appropriate best practices, guidelines, and standards currently being used by different agencies, organizations § Identify and pursue funding opportunities. As Cryo. Net sites would be operated by national entities, it is important to start the dialogue with national ministries to seek commitments to operate these sites. § GCW Asia Cryo. Net will follow WMO’s resolution on data policies and data sharing § Asia Cryo. Net representative on GCW Cryo. Net

Thoughts from Xiao Cunde Cryo. Net should be set up step by step; it would be good to have a model station, guided by GCW standards, in Asia, South America, and elsewhere. § Because of the harsh condition of cryosphere region, having this kind of station § § § is not always an easy task. To save man-power and make the station more accessible, it is smart to choose a relatively easier site or longer history (good background) station at our initial stage. New and high-level technologies for data saving and transmitting should be encouraged and introduced to these stations. “If people can receive data comfortably at home/office sent by satellite and don't need to visit the cold and high-altitude sites very often to take care of the instruments and retrieve data, I believe Cryo. Net will soon become very bloom around all cryospheric regions”. WMO should seek innovative techniques, including training at a model station, while being very patient. After establishing a standard station, then we should discuss more in detail about agreements, rules/regulations, management (gobally) for Cryo. Net or GCW, and these will become much easier than what we can do today.

Moving Forward. . . § § § § Actions and Responsibilities Chewable Chunks (e. g. Snow Watch) Cryo. Net and GCW Cryosphere Network Stations, sites, AWS, virtual network Contributing, Core, Baseline, Reference, Integrated Cryosphere Terminology GCW and Cryo. Net structure GCW as a cross-cut – representation on existing WMO TC or RA expert teams that have relevance to GCW __________________ § Don’t forget ideas and outcomes of First Cryo. Net Workshop, Vienna test footer 13

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