Meeting of the GCW Steering Group, CryoNet, Portal, and Website Teams

7-11 December 2015, Boulder, Colorado, USA

A joint meeting of the CryoNet Team and Portal and Website Teams was held at the University of Colorado, December 7-9 in Boulder Colorado. It was hosted by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The GCW Steering Committee (GSG) met December 10-11, hosted by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). The meetings established key steps for the next 1-2 years. The CryoNet Team will focus on finalizing the process for station and site selection and completing pre-operational testing. Revisions and updates to the GCW Manual and network design documents are to be ready for consideration at the WMO Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) meeting in late 2015. New candidate stations/sites are still being received for consideration as part of the network. Co-operation with partner organizations, such as UNESCO IHP, is recognized as crucial. The Best Practices and Terminology Teams established plans for the next year. New teams on sea ice, permafrost and glaciers were proposed and gap analyses are to be conducted to refine what and how GCW can best contribute. An open science session allowed local scientists and GCW participants to discuss broader cryosphere issues and identify issues that need further attention.

The GSG meeting reviewed the significant progress of all Working Groups and their Teams and supported the updated GCW structure. The significant progress of the Snow Watch Team on many issues, including real-time data exchange of snow depth and the SnowPEx intercomparison of satellite products (supported by ESA) was notable. Many GSG members had the opportunity to meet with the other teams earlier in the week. Team membership was reviewed and suggested changes for the GSG will be submitted to EC-PHORS for its consideration. Proposed meetings and budgets have been provided to the Secretariat for action. The GSG was pleased to learn about progress for the GCW Project Office(r).