Climate observation is constantly developing driven by evolving user requirements and technological advances. Internationally this is reflected in the periodic updating of the GCOS Implementation Plan. In Switzerland, MeteoSwiss recently published a new GCOS Switzerland Strategy for the period 2017 - 2026.
GCOS Switzerland serves as the national framework in which all National Partner Institutions in climate monitoring engage to provide state-of-the-art observations required for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in Switzerland, and to contribute to this endeavour globally, through a high-quality contribution to the international GCOS programme.
The GCOS Switzerland Strategy 2017 - 2026 consists of four main strategic pillars:
In implementing the strategy, strong emphasis is put on securing the continuity of the most important long measurement series and operation of international centres.
In addition, the strategy also stresses, for example, the importance of promoting the integration of state-of-the-art measurement techniques, an integrative monitoring approach across Earth system cycles and enhanced communication efforts.
In summary, the GCOS Switzerland Strategy 2017-2026 serves as the foundation for the elaboration of actions to be implemented by the entirety of the Swiss GCOS community.