The GHOST system is steered by a Terrestrial Observation Panel, which is a committee of distinguished scientists drawn from a range of disciplines and parts of the world. The panel is a joint activity of the Global Terrestrial Observing System and the Global Climate Observing System, which share the responsibility for appointing its members and implementing its recommendations. GTOS and GCOS have different key stakeholders and governance structure, but are linked by both being components of the Global Observing System. The sample network will not 'belong' to GHOST. It will belong to the national governments, and research organizations which support it. In the case of the tier 1 experiments, GHOST will mainly provide a mechanism for long-term archiving of data, and the continuation of some key variables beyond the life of the campaigns.
