The TOPC is a group of scientists with expertise in climate change issues. The TOPC supports the work of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) which jointly carry out activities aimed at improving the understanding of climate change processes in terrestrial systems and potential impacts on mankind.

The TOPC focuses on the identification of terrestrial observation requirements, assisting the establishment of observing networks for climate, providing guidance on observation standards and norms, facilitating access to climate data and information and its assimilation, and promoting climate studies and assessments.

The chair of the TOPC is a subsidiary member of the steering committee's for GTOS and GCOS and reports the results of the TOPC deliberations and work directly to those bodies.

Recognizing the need for specific and technical input concerning terrestrial observations for climate purposes, GTOS and GCOS have jointly established TOPC .

TOPC strategy for 2007-2011

The following strategy has been developed for the period 2007 to 2011.

Although climate change is now firmly established, there remains considerable uncertainty about the rate of change and its regional variability. Precise quantification of the rate of change remains important to determine whether feedback or amplification mechanisms are operating within the climate system. Unfortunately, the climate observing system in the terrestrial domain still remains the least well-developed component, whilst at the same time there is increasing significance being placed on terrestrial data for both climate understanding as well as impact and mitigation assessment.

Foundations exist for both the in situ observation networks and the space-based observing components of the terrestrial domain. Space Agencies and other organizations are generating new products, the Global Terrestrial Networks (GTNs) are being established and growing in effectiveness, and their associated international data centres are beginning to be populated with data.

TOPC has played an important role in establishing standards for the terrestrial climate variables within its overall mandate of improving the understanding of the terrestrial components of the climate system, the causes of change to this system and consequences in terms of impact and adaptation. Changes in the context of both the status of ECV’s and the need for new ones required for impact and mitigation studies require some re-establishment of the focus of TOPC. These concern:

1. The establishment of a set of new terrestrial ECVs such as groundwater (recharge), soil moisture, biomass, fire needed to determine transient change, impact and mitigation,

2. To identify key ECV’s that play a role in feedbacks within the climate system (snow, glaciers, lake level) and reassess whether current standards are accurate enough,

3. Increased attention on coordination and long term maintenance of in situ networks to establish both independent bottom up data sets of ECV’s and data sets required for calibration and validation of Earth Observation data,

4. Investigate how a number of current research networks (Fluxnet, LTER’s) can be effectively transformed into GCOS/GTOS terrestrial networks,

5. Development of data integration and assimilation techniques for the terrestrial domain,

6. Ensure that the five current Global Terrestrial Networks (hydrology, glaciers, permafrost, rivers, lakes) are fully implemented,

7. Maintain strong link with SBSTA and UNFCCC and relevant international research programmes (WCRP, IGBP) in defining key requirements for observation of terrestrial ECV’s,

8. Contribute to the Third adequacy report,

9. Link with international opportunities to promote the need for continued observations such as the International Polar Year 2007-2008 and the The International Year of Planet Earth 2007 - 2009,

10. Maintain engagement of CEOS to ensure they deliver observations they promised in CEOS report,

11. Maintain engagement with efforts to establish international (continental) terrestrial observation networks,

12. Stimulate the development of data integration and assimilation techniques for the terrestrial domain through links with IGBP and GEWEX,

13. Encourage the use of terrestrial ECV’s in model validation,

14. Liaise with GTOS wherever appropriate, e.g. in the establishment of guidelines and standards for the observation of terrestrial ECVs,

15. Liaise with GCOS and GTOS science panels (e.g. AOPC, TCO and GOFC-GOLD) on issues of common interest.