ENEON intends to increase the connection between the existing EO networks and the Science & Technology (S&T) communities involved in defining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as well as the S&T communities engaged in the assessments, forecasting, and projecting of future developments. ENEON is the instrument that will bring together European networks involved in research and innovation relevant to GEOSS, with a particular focus on the in‐situ segment. ENEON also addresses emerging European networks and sensor development projects to provide future provisions which may not yet be part of GEOSS or Copernicus Services.
The former GEO task GD-06 “GEOSS in situ Earth Observation Resources” (previously named “GEOSS Non-Space Based Earth Observations”) established the need for coordination between in-situ domains (including citizens’ observatories) to tackle multidisciplinary questions with implications in Global Change and beyond. The task was part of the GEO Work Programme 2016.
Within the task some conclusions were achieved.
With the new GEO work plan, it was proposed the Foundational Task "GEOSS in-situ Earth observation resources" that favoured more domain specific activities. ENEON was in the foundation of this new task from the beginning as an evolution of the work done in the previous GD-06.
The EO observing networks is a huge landscape made from long and established institutional funding, non-continuous EU funded projects, etc, so the conditions for each network are very different from one to another. Within the task, 63 main in-situ networks were analysed.
ENEON, brought more complexity to the analysis by adding smaller and less consolidated networks, as well as non-exclusively in-situ networks: http://www.eneon.net/graph/index.htm.
Graph of the European EO networks elaborated under the ConnectinGEO H2020 project: www.eneon.net/graph
After some work, the task was dismantled and split into more thematic tasks and into the GEOSS Data and Information Resources Task, where in the case of the in-situ data: “Focus on coordination and access to data and provide various coordination opportunities in order to sustain and strengthen existing and planned ones, advocate new systems, and encourage integration and linkages to meet user requirements which will be closely linked with the GEO Knowledge Hub”.
At the 12th meeting of the GEO Programme Board, the Secretariat presented a proposal for a revised and simplified structure of Foundational Tasks (FTs) as part of the development of the 2020-2022 GEO Work Programme. The GEOSS Data and Information Resources Task is derived from three existing Foundational Tasks, those related to in situ EO resources, satellite EO resources, and data sharing. The first of these has come to be viewed as a key priority for GEO, but the previous approach has not proven to be successful. Stronger Secretariat leadership to this Task is necessary for additional progress, though with the continued engagement from across the GEO community. The satellite resources Task has been well-managed under CEOS leadership, which is expected to continue, though the rationale for a separate Task for this function is not obvious. On data sharing, while the Data Sharing Working Group continues to be active, the level of effort in this area does not justify a separate Foundational Task at this point. On the other hand, emerging needs in the areas of cloud computing support and knowledge management, which are receiving considerable attention across the GEO Work Programme, would benefit from greater coordination and support from the Secretariat.
The task puts particular focus on coordination and access to data and will provide various coordination opportunities in order to sustain and strengthen existing and planned ones, to advocate for new systems, and to encourage integration and linkages to meet user requirements which will be strongly linked with the GEO User Needs and Gaps Foundational Task and build on other on-going requirements processes outside of GEO.