GEO Community Activity on EVs (GEO-EV)

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Planned activities | Outputs | Meetings

The concept of Essential Variables (EVs) is increasingly used in Earth observation communities to identify those variables that have a high impact, high feasibility and relative low cost of implementation. The community of GCOS was the first to develop a full set of Essential Climate Variables (ECV). Other examples of communities applying the same concept are oceans (EOVBluePlanet), biosphere (EBV-GEOBON), water cycle (GEOGLOWS), etc. ConnectinGEO illustrated that EVs can be a useful approach to several indicators to monitor SDGs. ERA-PLANET GEO-Essential proposes a need to review and extend the current EV framework and a priority assignment in designing, deploying and maintaining EV in connection with the responsible observation networks. At the same time, EVs should be promoted among all SBAs in GEO. The GEO-EVs Community Activity aims to be a panel of experts to discuss about the current status of the EVs, exchange knowledge, experiences and methodologies in EVs definition, analyse the usefulness of some of them in creating SDG indicators and the gaps to be solved in communities in the near future. This Community Activity does not have the intention to interfere in the on-going communities already working on the definition of the EVs, but to become a common point to share expertise and to have a single voice inside GEO regarding EVs.

Planned activities


Outputs

GEO community activity report: Mainstreaming EVs across GEO

Link: https://unepgrid.ch/storage/app/media/Publications/GEOEV_2023_v6.pdf
Feb. 28 2023

Description

The objective of this report is to encourage each GEO community to share, improve or start their developments on EVs and to adopt a coherent common framework. Experts from every GEO Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) describe the level of development of EVs in their field. The relationship with transversal policy needs is analyzed from different angles. Data and research gaps are discussed and ways forward are suggested. A common set of criterias to define EVs is put forward. A recommendation is made for a better alignment of EVs with the GEO Data Sharing Principles as well as the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). In this respect, solutions to make EVs more visible on the GEO platform are proposed. The target readership of this report is therefore all members of GEO and the Earth Observation (EO) community more generally.


Special Issue on International Journal of Digital Earth
Towards integrated Essential Variables for Environmental Sustainability

Volume 13, Issue 2 (2020)


Graph on European EO networks incorporating the relation among SDGs indicators and EVs

Elaborated under ERA-PLANET GEOEssential H2020 project: http://www.eneon.org/graph-ev-sdg/index.htm


Meetings

GEO WEEK 2023
Coordination​ meeting on the future activities of the GEO Community on EVs (GEO-EV)

When: 11 October 2023, 12:30-18:30 CEST
Where: At the venue cafeteria. Floor 0. Cape Town, South Africa
Coordinator: Ivette Serral (CREAF)

Open event

Agenda:

  • Review of the new GEO Work Programm 2023-2025.
    • How the Community Activity fits in the new structure? Changes to be done.
    • Interactions with GEO other activities: GEO ECO Action Group?, GEO in-situ?
  • Current activities:
    • Continuation and update of the review report: GEO community activity report : Mainstreaming EVs across GEO. New topics? New communities?
    • Contribution to the GEO Knowledge Hub :
      • A dedicated space with all the generated information
      • ENEON graph to be added as a tool?
      • OGC Definition Server as a tool?
    • Incorporation of the Essential Variables into the OGC Rainbow Definition Server. Status.
      • Differences between the concept of EVs products and EVs per se
      • Metadata description using persistent identifiers
      • EVs encoding into in-situ data descriptions, such as the AD4GD Meaning Service
    • Others?
  • Next steps
  • Logistics
    • New interested members to be added to the Activity
    • Communication channels: teams, slack, others?
  • AOB

ODOK and the GEO Symposium 2023
Coordination​ meeting on EVs between GEO-MOUNTAINS, GEO-EV and ArcticGEOSS

When: 14 June 2023, 10:30-12:00 CEST
Where: At the venue coffee break
Coordinator: Ivette Serral (CREAF)

Participants: Ivette Serral & Joan Masó (CREAF), Jan Rene Larse (AMAP), Carolina Adler, James Thornton & Gregory Giuliani (CDE), Elisa Palazzi (University of Torino)

  • Agenda:
    • Joint interest in defining key variables and observables, that have a perspective beyond the standard essential variables.
    • Share experiences on how we each develop and define key variables and observables.
  • Next steps
    • Coordinate an event during the next GEO Week.
      • Carolina will have a conversation with the GEO Secretariat if there would be a slot/room for this.
    • Carolina and Jan Rene will talk with WMO this week and will mention this initiative

GEO Virtual Symposium 2021
Generalizing the concept of the Essential Variables​

Wednesday 23 June 2021, 18:30-19:30 CEST

The EV concept, which started from the climate domain, has naturally spread to other topics and is now partially implemented across GEO activities mostly in the Earth system side and less so to monitor socio-economical activities. Future work is needed to converge towards a common definition and implementation of EVs across GEO topics. EVs can help monitoring the entire socio-ecological system of the Earth, providing the necessary basis for interdisciplinary approaches such as the ecological footprint, planetary boundaries, disaster risk reduction, and nexus frameworks. We have the potential to bring all the necessary information at the fingertips of decision-makers at all scales and we should increase our efforts to gain time in the search for mitigation and adaptation solutions. The aim of this session is to build on the discussion from last year’s symposium and explore where progresses can be made in the field of Agriculture, Water Geology, Health and SDGs.
More information


GEO Virtual Symposium 2020
Monitoring Essential Variables

Friday 19 June 2020, 13:00-14:30 CEST

The concept of Essential Variables (EVs) has been increasingly used in Earth observation communities to identify those variables that correspond to high impact on the Earth system and should be a priority for monitoring. This session is aimed to take a horizontal perspective on the good practices and lessons learned on how the various sets of EVs are developed, accepted and used by their respective communities.
More information


GEO Week 2018, Tokio
Can we have a GEO Initiative on a common approach to Essential Variables?

Monday 29 October 2018, 08:30-10:00 CEST

The concept of Essential Variables (EVs) is increasingly used in Earth observation communities to identify those variables that have a high impact, high feasibility and relative low cost of implementation. The community of GCOS was the first to develop a full set of Essential Climate Variables (ECV). Other examples of communities applying the same concept are oceans (EOV), biosphere (EBV), water cycle, etc. ConnectinGEO illustrated that EVs can be a useful approach to several indicators for monitor SDGs. ERA-PLANET GEO-Essential proposes a need to review and extend the current EV framework and a priority assignment in designing, deploying and maintaining EV in connection with the responsible observation networks. At the same time, EVs should be promoted among all SBAs in GEO. In this event we will invite a panel of experts to discuss about the current status of the EVs, the usefulness of some of them in creating SDG indicators and the gaps to be solved in communities in the near future. Finally, we will define a roadmap to create a new community initiative about EVs in the future GEO work program.
More information