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Facilitating Access to Global Observing Systems Data and Information

Purpose of the GUAN

The GCOS Upper Air Network (GUAN) is a network of 150 stations that take regular upper air observations. These stations are a subset of the World Weather Watch Global Observing System. They have been selected to provide a good spatial distribution of stations that can collect and submit good quality upper air data for the Global Climate Observing System.

The GUAN will be implemented by:

  • establishing national commitments for the preservation of a minimum set of upper-air stations for the foreseeable future
  • building a collection of validated data from the stations in standardized formats
  • providing this information to the global climate community with no formal restrictions.

The GCOS Upper Air Network provides

  • monitoring of global, hemispheric and regional temperature, moisture and wind trends and variability in the troposphere and stratosphere,
  • analysis and evaluation of inter-seasonal to decadal variability, leading to improved understanding of large-scale climatic phenomena (e.g. ENSO, monsoons, QBO), better seasonal to decadal prediction (CLIVAR GOALS), and better knowledge and understanding of stratospheric processes and changes (Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) program),
  • support to reanalyses and real-time analyses,
  • fields to support tracing of atmospheric constituents,
  • a reference standard for assessing and adjusting other radiosonde stations which are used for regional-scale applications,
  • support for the calibration and validation of Microwave Sounding Units (MSU) and other remote-sensing instruments, and the calibration and validation of future remote-sensing instruments,
  • support for the validation of radiosonde data.

Reference

See the report "Guide to the GCOS Surface and Upper-Air Networks: GSN and GUAN", GCOS-73

User Communities

  • The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) for climate change detection and assessment.
  • The WMO and UNEP for ozone assessments.
  • National agencies for seasonal to decadal monitoring and prediction operations.
  • Research and operational ogranizations studying climate dynamics, performing reanalyses, real-time analyses, model validation and transport modelling.
  • Research and operational organizations for calibration and validation of remote sensing data.
  • National and international policy makers directly and through IPCC and research institutions.
  • ndustry (Aviation, insurance companies, agriculture, water management, energy generation and consumption, etc.