Appendix B Letter from the Climate Research Committee to the Department of State
October 17, 1997
The Honorable John H. Gibbons
Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
Executive Office of the President
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Washington, D.C. 20502
Dear Dr. Gibbons:
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has as one of its ultimate objectives the stabilization of greenhouse-gas concentrations to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Important to this objective is a continuous quantitative record of climate. Without this record, we cannot credibly assess natural climate variability, estimate anthropogenic effects on climate, judge the efficacy of negotiated mitigation efforts, or consider appropriate mid-course policy options.
Unfortunately, a number of evaluations of the state of pertinent observation systems, by the National Research Council and others, have concluded that our ability to establish and maintain these records is deteriorating. These evaluations include Report No. 855 (1997) of the World Meteorological Organization, and the reports listed in Attachment 1. We also draw your attention to the World Climate Research Programme's message to the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It states that without action to reverse the decline in observation networks, we will be less able to characterize climate change in the next 25 years than we have been during the past 25 years.
Article 5(b) of the UN Framework states that the parties shall “…support international and intergovernmental efforts to strengthen systematic observation….” Our ability to assess changes in our planet's climate will be at risk without action to reverse the deterioration of our climate observing systems. On behalf of the Climate Research Committee, I urge you to use your good offices to ensure that the United States implements Article 5(b) and that other parties to the convention do so as well.
- all its data are shared and readily available,
- It fulfills its responsibility for quality control, metadata structure, documentation, and creation of its data products,
- It participates in electronic networks that enable access, sharing, and transfer of data; and
- It expressly incorporates the long-term view in planning and carrying out its data management responsibilities.” (p. 9)
- Learning to Predict Climate Variations Associated with El Niño and the Southern Oscillation. National Academy Press. 171 pp. 1996
“For future progress in the study of climate variations, it is essential to maintain what we already have, including the upper-air observing network, satellite altimetry, and the upper-ocean and surface-meteorological measurements made routinely in and over the ocean.” (p. 137)