Appendix C Cooperative Observer Systems In Other Countries
The Canadian cooperative network had 2,750 active stations in 1994. Canada is currently preparing a network rationalization plan that is expected to be completed in 1998 (a draft of the plan is summarized in Appendix D). One of the options being considered is the use of automatic sensors. Unlike the cooperative observer network in the United States, the Canadian system uses gridded estimates to fill gaps in data. Canada also has established national standards for data collection by any network; thus, all data that meets these standards can be considered "official" data.
Other countrides with cooperative networks include Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, China, And Russia. Australia has about 2,500 volunteer observers who measure daily rainfall and 1,500 automated stations linked directly to the Bureau of Meteorology. Mexico had thousands of stations, but when payments for observations were stopped in the early 1990s, about 60 percent of the observers dropped out of the network. China has about 2,500 paid observers who make three observations per day.
Europe has a long history of cooperative networks. Germany has an extensive network that publishes quality controlled data on a monthly basis. Russia began taking measurements in the 1930s and had developed a network of 13,500 stations by the 1980s. The number has now fallen to about 10,000.
The Hydrology Section of the World Meteorological Organization maintains information about stations that measure precipitation in every country. At the 1997 conference on the World Climate Research Programme in Geneva, Switzerland, members of the International Climate Research and Policy Communities agreed that the decline in conventional observation networks measuring key components of the climate system in some regions is a serious threat to climate research and to the detection and attribution of the causes of climate change.
Reference
Environment Canada. 1996. Climate Network Rationalization. Ottowa: Atmospheric Environment Service.
