| atmospheric · oceanic · terrestrial |
|
 | Atmospheric14 of 17 ECVs have a significant contribution from satellite EO | |
Atmospheric - Surface |
| ECV | Global Products requiring Satellite Observations | Fundamental Climate Data Records required for Product Generation (from past, current, and future missions) | Product Numbers (IP-10 Reference Actions) |
|
Air temperature
Surface air temperature has profound and widespread impacts on human lives and activities, affecting health, agriculture, energy demand and much more. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Precipitation 
Precipitation, either liquid or solid, is perhaps the single most important climate variable directly affecting mankind. click for more | Estimates of liquid and solid precipitation, derived from specific instruments and provided by composite products | Passive microwave radiances
Geostationary VIS/NIR/IR radiances | A.2: Estimates of liquid and solid precipitation, derived from specific instruments and provided by composite products |
|
Pressure
Surface pressure is a fundamental meteorological variable for which observations are required for initialising forecasts and for use in reanalysis systems. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Surface radiation budget
Radiation at the Earth’s surface is a fundamental component of the surface energy budget that is crucial to many aspects of the working of the climate system, including its energy and hydrological cycles. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Water vapour
The humidity of air near the surface of the Earth affects the comfort and health of humans, livestock and wildlife, the swarming behaviour of insects and the occurrence of plant disease. click for more | Passive microwave radiances
UV/VIS imager radiances
IR and microwave radiances
Limb soundings | Passive microwave radiances
UV/VIS imager radiances
IR and microwave radiances
Limb soundings | A.5.1: Total column water vapour
A.5.2: Tropospheric and lower-stratospheric profiles of water vapour
A.5.3: Upper tropospheric humidity |
|
Wind speed and direction
Surface wind has substantial influence on the exchanges of momentum, heat, moisture and trace species between the atmosphere and the underlying ocean and land. click for more | Surface wind retrievals | Passive microwave radiances and radar backscatter | A.1: Surface Wind Retrievals |
|
|
| atmospheric · oceanic · terrestrial · top |
Atmospheric - Upper-air |
| ECV | Global Products requiring Satellite Observations | Fundamental Climate Data Records required for Product Generation (from past, current, and future missions) | Product Numbers (IP-10 Reference Actions) |
|
Cloud Properties
The variable properties of clouds determine their profound effects on radiation and precipitation. click for more | Cloud amount, top pressure and temperature, optical depth, water path and effective particle radius | VIS/IR imager radiances
IR and microwave radiances
Lidar | A.6.1: Cloud amount (CA)
A.6.2: Cloud top pressure (CTP)
A.6.3: Cloud top temperature (CTT)
A.6.4: Cloud optical depth (COD)
A.6.5: Cloud water path (liquid and ice) (CWP)
A.6.6: Cloud effective particle radius (liquid and ice) (CRE) |
|
Earth radiation budget
The primary observations related to the Earth’s radiation budget are of solar irradiance, the external driver of the climate system, and of the almost compensating reflected solar and emitted longwave radiation that leaves the atmosphere. click for more | Earth radiation budget (top-of- atmosphere and surface)
Total and spectrally-resolved solar irradiance | Broadband radiances
Spectrally-resolved solar irradiances
Geostationary multispectral imager radiances | A.7.1: Earth radiation budget (top-of-atmosphere and surface)
A.7.2: Total and spectrally resolved solar irradiance |
|
Temperature
Temperature is one of the fundamental state variables for which observation is essential for understanding and predicting the behaviour of the atmosphere. click for more | Upper-air temperature retrievals Temperature of deep atmospheric layers | Passive microwave and IR radiances
GNSS radio occultation bending angles | A.3.1: Upper-air temperature retrievals
A.3.2: Temperature of deep atmospheric layers |
|
Water Vapour
Temperature is one of the fundamental state variables for which observation is essential for understanding and predicting the behaviour of the atmosphere. click for more | Passive microwave radiances
UV/VIS imager radiances
IR and microwave radiances
Limb soundings | Passive microwave radiances
UV/VIS imager radiances
IR and microwave radiances
Limb soundings | A.5.1: Total column water vapour
A.5.2: Tropospheric and lower-stratospheric profiles of water vapour
A.5.3: Upper tropospheric humidity |
|
Wind speed and direction
The horizontal components of the atmospheric motion field are, like temperature, fundamental state variables of the system of equations that are commonly solved in the models of atmospheric behaviour used to make forecasts and climate projections. click for more | Upper-air wind retrievals | VIS/IR imager radiances
Doppler wind lidar | A.4: Upper-air wind retrievals |
|
|
| atmospheric · oceanic · terrestrial · top |
Atmospheric - Composition |
| ECV | Global Products requiring Satellite Observations | Fundamental Climate Data Records required for Product Generation (from past, current, and future missions) | Product Numbers (IP-10 Reference Actions) |
|
Aerosol
Atmospheric aerosols are minor constituents of the atmosphere by mass, but a critical component in terms of impacts on climate, and especially climate change. click for more | Aerosol optical depth
Aerosol single scattering albedo
Aerosol layer height
Aerosol extinction profiles from the troposphere to at least 35km | UV/VIS/NIR/SWIR and TIR radiances
UV/VIS/IR limb sounding (scatter, emission, occultation)
Lidar profiling | A.10.1: Aerosol optical depth
A.10.2: Aerosol single scattering albedo
A.10.3: Aerosol layer height
A.10.4: Aerosol extinction profiles from the troposphere to at least 35km |
|
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas, but one whose abundance has been increased substantially above its pre-industrial value of some 280 ppm by human activities, primarily because of emissions from combustion of fossil fuels, deforestation and other land-use change. click for more | Retrievals of greenhouse gases, such as CO2 and CH4, of sufficient quality to estimate regional sources and sinks | NIR/IR radiances | A.8.1: Retrievals of CO2 and CH4 of sufficient quality to estimate regional sources and sinks |
|
Methane
Methane (CH4) is the second most significant of the greenhouse gases that have increased in concentration in the atmosphere directly due to human activities, from the viewpoint of the radiative forcing of climate change. click for more | Retrievals of greenhouse gases, such as CO2 and CH4, of sufficient quality to estimate regional sources and sinks | NIR/IR radiances | A.8.1: Retrievals of CO2 and CH4 of sufficient quality to estimate regional sources and sinks |
|
Other long‐lived greenhouse gases
The ECV “Other long-lived greenhouse gases” refers to a set of gases additional to carbon dioxide and methane that are classified as having atmospheric lifetimes of at least a few years. click for more | Retrievals of greenhouse gases, such as CO2 and CH4, of sufficient quality to estimate regional sources and sinks | NIR/IR radiances | A.8.1: Retrievals of CO2 and CH4 of sufficient quality to estimate regional sources and sinks |
|
Ozone
Ozone (O3) is a short-lived greenhouse gas whose changes since the pre-industrial era due to emissions of precursor species contribute to a tropospheric radiative forcing that is larger than that of N20 but less than that of methane. click for more | Total column ozone
Tropospheric ozone
Ozone profiles from upper troposphere to mesosphere | UV/VIS and IR/microwave radiances, from nadir and limb sounding | A.9.1: Total column ozone
A.9.2: Tropospheric ozone
A.9.3: Ozone profiles from upper troposphere to mesosphere |
|
Precursor species
The importance of observing relatively short-lived gaseous “precursor species” that affect the distributions of ozone and aerosols through chemical interactions was stated in IP-10. click for more | Retrievals of precursors for aerosols and ozone such as NO2, SO2, HCHO and CO | UV/VIS/NIR/SWIR and TIR radiances UV/VIS/IR limb sounding (scatter, emission, occultation)
Lidar profiling | A.11.1: Retrievals of precursors for Aerosols and Ozone such as NO2, SO2, HCHO and CO |
|
| atmospheric · oceanic · terrestrial · top |
|
|
 | Oceanic6 of 18 ECVs have a significant contribution from satellite EO | |
Oceanic - Surface |
| ECV | Global Products requiring Satellite Observations | Fundamental Climate Data Records required for Product Generation (from past, current, and future missions) | Product Numbers (IP-10 Reference Actions) |
|
Carbon dioxide partial pressure
The surface ocean partial pressure of carbon dioxide, pCO2, is a critical parameter of the oceanic inorganic carbon system (a) because it largely determines the magnitude and direction of the exchange of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and (b) because it is a valuable indicator for changes in the upper ocean carbon cycle. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Ocean acidity
The scientific and policy needs for coordinated, worldwide information-gathering on ocean acidification and its ecological impacts are now widely recognized. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Ocean colour
Ocean colour is measured as the ocean colour radiance (OCR). click for more | Ocean colour radiometry – water leaving radiance
Oceanic chlorophyll-a concentration, derived from ocean colour radiometry | Multispectral VIS imager radiances | O.6.1: Ocean colour radiometry – water leaving radiance
O.6.2: Oceanic chlorophyll-a concentration derived from ocean colour radiometry |
|
Phytoplankton
Climate variability significantly impacts plankton in the ocean, both the microflora (phytoplankton) and the microfauna (zooplankton), over both short (seasonal to interannual) and long (decadal) time scales. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Sea ice
Sea ice is most often thought of as a sensitive indicator to changes in the energy absorbed by the ice. click for more | Sea-ice concentration/extent/edge, supported by sea-ice thickness and sea-ice drift | Passive and active microwave and visible imager radiances, supported by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) altimetry | O.5: Sea-ice concentration/extent/edge, supported by Sea-ice thickness and sea-ice drift |
|
Sea level
Changes in local sea level are important to coastal communities. click for more | Sea level global mean and regional variability | Altimetry | O.3: Sea level global mean and regional variability |
|
Sea state
Waves are generated by ocean surface vector stress and evolve from wind waves to swell when the stress has insufficient magnitude to support the waves. click for more | Wave height, supported by other measures of sea state (wave direction, wavelength, time period) | Altimetry | O.4: Wave height, supported by other measures of sea state (wave direction, wavelength, and time period) |
|
Sea-surface salinity (SSS)
Salinity is the fraction of water that is comprised of salt and other impurities. click for more | Datasets for research on identification of changes in sea-surface salinity | Microwave radiances | O.2: Datasets for research on identification of changes in sea-surface salinity |
|
Sea-surface temperature (SST)
The large-scale spatial patterns of sea-surface temperature (SST) are related to large-scale weather patterns. click for more | Integrated sea-surface temperature analyses based on satellite and in situ data records | Single and multi-view IR and microwave imager radiances | O.1: Integrated sea-surface temperature analyses based on satellite and in situ data records |
|
Surface current
Surface currents span a wide range of space and time scales, from basin-wide motions to mesoscale eddies with scales greater than 100 km, fast narrow currents of the order of 100 km wide, sub- mesoscale features down to the kilometre scale, and finally down to turbulence scales of less than one metre. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
|
| atmospheric · oceanic · terrestrial · top |
Oceanic - Sub-surface |
| ECV | Global Products requiring Satellite Observations | Fundamental Climate Data Records required for Product Generation (from past, current, and future missions) | Product Numbers (IP-10 Reference Actions) |
|
Carbon dioxide partial pressure
The oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon is a key element of the planetary carbon budget. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Current
Oceanic measurements of sub-surface ocean velocity provide the data needed for estimates of ocean transports of mass, heat, freshwater and other properties on basin to global scales. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Nutrients
It became clear over the last decade that it is necessary to develop accurate observations of trends in dissolved nutrients in both upper- and deep-ocean waters. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Ocean acidity
The scientific and policy needs for coordinated, worldwide information-gathering on ocean acidification and its ecological impacts are now widely recognized. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Oxygen
Oxygen is essential for all higher life. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Salinity
Oceanic observations of sub-surface salinity are required for estimating ocean transports of freshwater and other properties on basin to global scales. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Temperature
Sub-surface temperature is a fundamental variable required to monitor variability and change in the physical environment of the ocean, energy flows, climate patterns and sea level, and is essential to the understanding of changes in many other variables in the realms of marine biogeochemistry and biology. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Tracers
Ocean tracers are essential for identifying anthropogenic carbon uptake, storage, and transport in the ocean, as well as for understanding multi-year ocean ventilation, long-term mixing and ocean circulation and thereby for providing essential validation information for climate-change models. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
| atmospheric · oceanic · terrestrial · top |
|
|
 | Terrestrial11 of 16 ECVs have a significant contribution from satellite EO | |
|
| ECV | Global Products requiring Satellite Observations | Fundamental Climate Data Records required for Product Generation (from past, current, and future missions) | Product Numbers (IP-10 Reference Actions) |
|
Above-ground biomass
Vegetation biomass is a crucial ecological variable for understanding the evolution and potential future changes of the climate system. click for more | Regional and global above-ground forest biomass | Long-wavelength radar and lidar | T.9: Regional and global above-ground forest biomass |
|
Albedo
The albedo of a land surface is the non-dimensional ratio of the radiation flux reflected by a (typically horizontal) surface in all directions and the incoming irradiance, which is the radiation flux from the upper hemisphere. click for more | Reflectance anisotropy (BRDF), black- sky and white-sky albedo | Multispectral and multiangular imager radiances | T.5: Reflectance anisotropy (BRDF), black-sky and spectral white-sky albedo |
|
Fire disturbance
Fires have impact on several identified radiative forcing agents. click for more | Maps of burnt area, supplemented by active-fire maps and fire-radiative power | VIS/NIR/SWIR/TIR moderate- resolution multispectral imager radiances | T.10: Maps of burnt area, supplemented by active-fire maps and fire-radiative power |
|
Fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR)
Solar radiation in the spectral range from 400 to 700nm, known as Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), provides the energy required by terrestrial vegetation to produce organic materials from mineral components. click for more | Maps of the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation | VIS/NIR multispectral imager radiances | T.7: Maps of the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) |
|
Glaciers and ice caps
This ECV was termed “Glaciers and ice caps” in IP-10, but here the term “Glacier” is used more generally, to include ice caps. click for more | 2D vector outlines of glaciers and ice caps (delineating glacier area), supplemented by digital elevation models for drainage divides and topographic parameters | High-resolution VIS/NIR/SWIR optical imager radiances, supplemented by microwave InSAR and along-track optical stereo imaging | T.3.1: 2D vector outlines of glaciers and ice caps (delineating glacier area), supplemented by digital elevation models for drainage divides and topographic parameters
T.3.2: Elevation change of glaciers and ice caps, from geodetic methods, in regions where outlines are available |
|
Groundwater
It is estimated that groundwater accounts for around 30% of the world’s total freshwater resources, including those locked in snow and ice, and is by far the largest available reservoir of liquid freshwater. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Ice sheets
Our understanding of the timescale of ice sheet response to climate change has changed dramatically over the last decade. click for more | Ice-sheet elevation changes, supplemented by fields of ice velocity and ice-mass change | Radar and laser altimetry, supplemented by SAR, gravity | T.4: Ice-sheet elevation changes, supplemented by fields of ice velocity and ice mass change |
|
Lakes
Information on changes in lake level and area (which are surrogates for changes in lake volume) is required on a monthly basis for climate assessment purposes. click for more | Lake levels and areas of lakes in the Global Terrestrial Network for Lakes (GTN-L) | VIS/NIR imager radiances, and radar imager radiances
Altimetry | T.1.1: Areas of lakes in the Global Terrestrial Network for Lakes (GTN-L)
T.1.2: Lake level of all lakes in the Global Terrestrial Network for Lakes (GTN-L) |
|
Land cover
Land cover influences climate by modifying water and energy exchanges with the atmosphere and by changing greenhouse gas and aerosol sources and sinks. click for more | Moderate-resolution maps of land- cover type
High-resolution maps of land-cover type, for the detection of land-cover change | Moderate-resolution multispectral VIS/NIR imager radiances
High-resolution multispectral VIS/NIR imager radiances, supplemented by radar | T.6.1: Moderate-resolution maps of land-cover type
T.6.2: High-resolution maps of land-cover type, for the detection of land-cover change |
|
Leaf area index (LAI)
The Leaf Area Index (LAI) of a plant canopy or ecosystem, defined as one half the total green leaf area per unit horizontal ground surface area, measures the area of leaf material present in the specified environment. click for more | Maps of Leaf Area Index | VIS/NIR multispectral imager radiances | T.8: Maps of Leaf Area Index |
|
Permafrost
The properties of frozen ground react sensitively to climate and environmental change in high- latitude and high-altitude regions. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
River discharge
River discharge measurements have essential direct applications for water management and related services, including flood protection. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Snow cover
Terrestrial snow properties are highly sensitive to changes in temperature and precipitation regimes and are recognised to provide a fundamental indicator of climate variability and change. click for more | Snow areal extent, supplemented by snow water equivalent | Moderate-resolution VIS/NIR/IR and passive microwave imager radiances | T.2: Snow areal extent, supplemented by snow water equivalent |
|
Soil carbon
Carbon in soils occurs in organic and inorganic forms. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Soil moisture
Soil moisture is an important variable in land-atmosphere feedbacks at both weather and climate time scales. click for more | Research towards global near-surface soil-moisture map (up to 10cm soil depth) | Active and passive microwave | T.11: Global near-surface soil moisture maps (up to 5cm soil depth) |
|
Water use
Data on water extractions and available renewable freshwater provide key information on the availability of freshwater and the amount of water stress in a country. click for more | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
| atmospheric · oceanic · terrestrial · top |
|