News

Courtesy of BIPM

Metrology for climate action workshop report aligns closely with strategic research agenda of the EMN for Climate and Ocean Observation

The European Metrology Network for Climate and Ocean Observation welcomes recommendations of the BIPM – WMO Metrology for Climate Action report.

The workshop report summarises inputs, discussions, and recommendations formulated by the 2022 Metrology for Climate Action Workshop, hosted by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with EURAMET as official partner of the event.

Providing a global perspective, the 88-page report largely aligns with and complements the EMN’s Strategic Research Agenda, which was developed in 2021 and early 2022 in response to the EMN’s review of the metrological research needed to meet its vision of ‘embedding metrology into the practice of climate and ocean observations’.

The EMN contributed considerably to the workshop discussions and shared findings from developing its SRA and Stakeholder Needs Report with the global community.

The recommendations

The workshop made 126 recommendations in all.

These recommendations can be grouped under the two themes of the workshop and the specific topics within each:

Theme 1 addressed ‘Metrology in support of the physical science basis of climate change and climate observations’

• Atmospheric chemistry and physics
• Ocean and water chemistry and physics (including hydrology)
• Earth Energy Balance
• Biosphere monitoring
• Cryosphere Monitoring

Theme 2 of the workshop addressed ‘Metrology as an integral component of operational systems to estimate greenhouse gas emissions based on accurate measurements and analyses’

• Accuracy requirements for atmospheric composition measurements across economic sectors, and temporal and spatial scales
• State of play in integrated approaches for advanced greenhouse gas (GHG) emission estimates and the way forward to operational services
• Novel GHG concentration and flux methods and sensors
• Strengthening the linkage of remote sensing GHG concentration measurements to emission fluxes

In response to the first recommendation in the report, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (that oversees BIPM activities) established the CIPM STG-CENV task group ‘to provide a global focal point for metrology activities related to climate change and environment’. The task group is now organising a follow-up event in Paris, from 16 to 18 September 2024, that will evaluate scientific progress in response to the recommendations and consider if other actions might be initiated.

Emma Woolliams, chair of the European Metrology Network for Climate and Ocean Observation, said

‘The BIPM/WMO event enabled the EMN to test its understanding of the needs and opportunities for metrology in the climate and ocean observation communities with a broader and more international audience. We were reassured to see the strong alignment and international support of the research directions of our members, and excited to learn about new opportunities and areas for collaboration.’

Collaborations between EMN-COO and BIPM

The European Metrology Network for Climate and Ocean Observation supported the BIPM and WMO in the preparation and delivery of a highly engaged, productive, and actionable workshop in 2022. EMN contributions included support of the organisation, facilitation, and participation in workshop events — and ensured strong participation from among communities with previous long-term histories of collaboration. After the workshop the EMN significantly contributed to the drafting process of the subsequent recommendations report. 

Advance registrations were received from 1078 experts and stakeholders active in climate science, observations, modelling, GHG mitigation, and measurement science — and over two hundred pre-recorded presentations and posters were showcased.

Emma Woolliams, as chair of the EMN-COO was co-chair of Theme 1 of the workshop, and scientists from EMN member bodies acted as chair or rapporteur of four of the five Theme 1 topics and one Theme 2 topic. EMN members actively participated in all workshop topics, with presentations, in the discussion groups, and the expert teams who drafted the recommendations.

The EMN-COO’s stakeholder needs review report and the strategic research agenda provided valuable input, while stakeholder connections created by the EMN-COO brought in communities that had not previously interacted with the metrological community.

Opportunities for European metrology institutes to lead collaborative research efforts

The EMN-COO has brought these issues into discussions among member institutes about current and future research priorities and used the recommendations, along with its own complementary strategic research agenda, to propose collaborative research projects to the European Partnership on Metrology.

Many of the recommendations of the BIPM/WMO workshop encourage collaborations of mathematicians, statisticians, data scientists, analytical chemists, and physicists working in metrology institutes with the wider observational sciences communities. The EMN-COO has established strong partnerships with its sister EMNs: Mathmet and PolMo, and proposed research projects that bring these communities together.

Ongoing EMN initiatives

Maintaining the momentum generated by the workshop, and leveraging its Strategic Research Agenda, the EMN recently hosted events and discussions that helped members develop research ideas, with potential to propose to the European Partnership on Metrology.

The EMN continues its support of these global activities, as part of its commitment to be the ‘European contribution to a global effort to bring metrology into climate and ocean observation’. EMN members are supporting the follow-on meeting organised by the CIPM STG-CENV task group, on 16-18 September 2024.

The Call for abstracts for that event (deadline 31 May 2024) asks for papers or posters describing collaborative activities between the Observation and Metrology communities, or new initiatives within or related to the BIPM-WMO 2022 workshop themes.

Edgar Flores Jardines from BIPM added further background, 

‘The CIPM STG-CENV Stakeholder Meeting will provide a unique opportunity for presenting, networking, and discussing collaborative activities on measurement science with those implementing observation systems around the world in support of Climate Action. It will also provide the opportunity for the world’s metrology community to raise awareness of their activities with representatives of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in preparation for COP29 meeting later this year.’

Links 

• Recommendations of the BIPM-WMO 2022 workshop report.
• CIPM STG-CENV task group stakeholder meeting ‘Call for abstracts’ 

The EMN for Climate and Ocean Observation is supported by the joint network project 18NET04. EMPIR projects are co-funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR Participating States

This news story is republished in September 2024 with additional content. The original version of this news story was published in May 2024.

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