Organisation and Governance
Organisation
GCOS is directed by its Steering Committee, which provides guidance, coordination, and oversight to the programme. Three scientific panels, reporting to the Steering Committee, define the observations needed in each of the main global domains (atmosphere, oceans, and land) and make recommendations for implementing a global observing system for climate.
The GCOS Secretariat, located at the WMO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, supports the activities of the Steering Committee, the GCOS panels and the GCOS programme as a whole.
Governance
GCOS is directly by its Steering Committee which provides guidance, coordination and oversight to the programme. The three science panels report to the Steering Committee.
The GCOS Steering Committee consists of scientific and technical experts selected on the basis of their personal expertise. The Chairs of standing GCOS panels are members ex officio. The Steering Committee members are appointed by mutual consent by the Executive Heads of the GCOS sponsoring organizations:
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the International Science Council (ISC), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Steering Committee membership is geographically balanced. Major operational and research observing programmes contributing to GCOS are represented, as well as an appropriate mix of disciplines in atmospheric, oceanic, hydrological, cryospheric and biospheric sciences. The four sponsors agreed on the GCOS objectives and the GCOS Steering Committee Terms of Reference in a Memorandum of Understanding in 1998.
