IGCP 565 Project Workshop

IGCP 565 Workshop 1: Science of geodetic monitoring of the hydrological cycle

Abstract:

Overview of the Global Energy and Water Experiment (GEWEX)
Rich Lawford

Through its research on the global energy and water cycle, the Global Energy and Water cycle EXperiment (GEWEX)—one of the core projects of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)—has been making significant contributions to climate science through the development and application of Earth Observation products. Support from the major space agencies around the world have contributed to GEWEX advances. In particular, GEWEX has advanced the use of satellite data for climate applications, contributed to the development of meteorological and hydrologic services through the more effective use of Earth Observations and has facilitated the understanding of the various components of water and energy budgets.

This presentation provides an overview of the above contributions and outlines GEWEX plans until 2012. In particular, the contributions of GEWEX supported by NASA, NOAA and DOE in areas of hydrological science, climate studies, monsoon research, land surface studies, regional climate modeling and cloud and aerosol studies will be described. As the presentation will demonstrate, GEWEX continues to play a central role in the use of Earth observations to address scientific problems and applications related to the water and energy cycle issues.