As part of the ESA Climate Change Initiative a long-term project “ice_sheets_cci” started January 1, 2012, joining 11 existing and 2 new projects generating Essential Climate Variables (ECV’s) for the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). The Ice_Sheets_cci project is finished now, and has been followed up by two new projects tracking the Greenland and the Antartica ice sheets.
The “AIS_cci / GIS_cci” goal is to generate a consistent, long-term and timely set of key climate parameters for the Antarctic and the Greenland ice sheet, to maximize the impact of European satellite data on climate research, from missions such as ERS, Envisat and the future Sentinel satellites.
The “AIS_cci” project and “GIS_cci” project will involve a broad interaction of the relevant cryosphere and climate communities, first through user consultations and specifications, and through an open “Round-Robin” experiment for identifying best and most robust methods for computing the Gravimetric Mass Balance (GMB).
Round Robin experiments are performed for all projects of the ESA Climate Change Initiative. The main goal of the Round Robin experiments is the comparison of various algorithms for the generation of ECV products, based on objective parameters including accuracy compared to reference data (e.g. GPS measurements), coverage, and processing effort. Based on their results, the best performing algorithms will be identified and finally implemented for production of Essential Climate Variables.
Participant contributions will be analysed anonymously, although the organisation the participant belongs to will be listed. The contribution of Round Robin participants will be key to selecting an algorithm for an operational remote-sensing based ice sheet monitoring system, serving glaciological and climate research communities.
We estimate less than two working days for the completion of the GMB Round Robin Experiment.
Participant login (for downloading datasets and uploading results).