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Germany’s report on global observing systems for climate 
- Informal report to provide input into GCOS’ report at SBSTA- 30 - 
Content 
1 COMMON ISSUES 5 
1.1 German contributions to capacity building 6 
1.2 Atmospheric observations 6 
1.2.1 The Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) 6 
1.2.2 The CBS Lead Centre for GCOS Data - Europe 6 
1.2.3 The World Radiation Monitoring Centre (WRMC) 7 
1.2.4 The Network for the Detection of Mesopause Change 7 
1.3 Oceanographic observations 7 
1.4 Terrestrial observations 8 
1.4.1 The Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) 8 
1.5 Space-based observations 8 
1.5.1 Participation to relevant European Satellite Programmes 8 
1.5.2 EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility (SAF) on Climate Monitoring (CM-SAF): 10 
1.5.3 Contributions of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) 10 
1.5.3.1 Data systems at DLR 10 
1.5.3.2 World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere 11 
1.5.3.3 Retrieval algorithm development 11 
1.6 Participation in CEOS Implementation Plan for Climate actions 11 
2 ATMOSPHERIC ESSENTIAL CLIMATE VARIABLES 12 
2.1 General information 12 
2.2 Contributions to the GCOS Networks from international relevant stations 12 
2.2.1 Contributions to the GCOS Surface Network (GSN) 12 
2.2.2 Contributions to the GCOS Upper Air Network (GUAN) 13 
2.2.3 Contributions to Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) 14 
2.3 Other networks for monitoring weather and atmospheric composition 15 
2.3.1 DWD - National observing network 15 
2.3.2 DWD - cooperation with other organizations 16 
2.3.3 AWI - cooperation with other organizations 17 
2.3.4 UBA - cooperation with other organizations 17 
2.4 National meteorological observations 17 
2.4.1 Surface-Based Atmospheric ECV’s 18 
2.4.2 Upper-Air Atmospheric ECV’s 20 
2.4.3 Atmospheric Composition 21 
2.5 Satellite observations 23 
2.6 Responses to the actions recommended in the GCOS implementation plan 25 
3 OCEANIC ESSENTIAL CLIMATE VARIABLES 28 
3.1 Description of national contribution to oceanographic ECV 28