Based on the meeting presentations and discussions the following recommendations are made:
1. A Global Terrestrial Network for Hydrology (GTN-H) should be established to meet the need for characterising hydrologic processes and to meet other needs for global hydrological observations. GTN-H should be formed as the hydrological complement of existing global terrestrial networks. GTN-H terms of reference should be established and should include the objective of meeting the needs of several programs for global and regional hydrological observations.
2. Potential GTN-H sponsors and participants identified at this meeting should be approached to obtain their endorsement and contributions.
3. A Hydrological Observation Panel for Climate (HOPC) should be established, with its major responsibility being to guide the development and implementation of GTN-H and to ensure its effectiveness.
4. HOPC should act in close cooperation with its sponsoring agencies, global observing systems (GCOS, GTOS, GOOS, WWW), institutions participating on behalf of the global observing systems, and global research programs (especially IGBP and WCRP); and the HOPC terms of reference should be developed accordingly.
5. HOPC and GTN-H should develop a plan for meeting the data and product requirements by the various application communities. This plan should take advantage of the initial product generation activities, capabilities and interests of the participants (section 7.6). Early tangible and beneficial results should be an important goal in preparing this plan.
6. Near-future opportunities for the development of GTN-H should be vigorously pursued, including collaboration within CEOP.
7. The implementation of the recommendations should be undertaken by the sponsors of this meeting, i.e. GCOS, HWR/WMO and GTOS, with the interim assistance of TOPC.
