Dr Cramer, Chair of the IGBP DIS Committee, reviewed recent IGBP developments regarding global data sets:
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) is currently restructuring its task force on Data and Information Systems (DIS). Activities towards the development of global data sets on the state of the Earth System, as well as its history, will be coordinated under a new leader, assisted by a full-time senior staff member, as well as a committee of representatives from each core project within the IGBP.
As a coordinating body (under the International Council of Scientific Unions, ICSU), IGBP does not directly control or fund data gathering activities per se. However, IGBP, through DIS, has provided, and intends to continue to provide, a contact surface between “producers” of data, such as TOPC and the agencies supporting it, and “users” such as the scientists carrying out specific projects aiming at understanding the earth system. This contact may take a variety of forms:
participation of IGBP members in strategic meetings of TOPC and related workshops;
revisions and elaborations of IGBP documents (if necessary, on demand by TOPC) concerning data requirements of IGBP science projects;
independent review and “IGBP Endorsement” of EO products or other data sets by IGBP scientists (to be organised through DIS);
participation of IGBP scientists in the development of global data products (previous examples include the global 1 km AVHRR data set, and the global soils data set).
TOPC agreed that the already established contacts with IGBP and WCRP should continue in the areas of mutual interest, and effort should be made to identify new areas or topics where collaboration would be mutually beneficial, such as ensuring the continuation of research networks.
