A Reef in Time. The Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End -

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Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)

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Introduction

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was established in 1992 to ensure that the observations and information needed to address climate-related issues are obtained and made available to all potential users. It is co-sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Council for Science (ICSU). GCOS is intended to be a long-term, user-driven operational system capable of providing the comprehensive observations required for monitoring the climate system, for detecting and attributing climate change, for assessing the impacts of climate variability and change, and for supporting research toward improved understanding, modelling and prediction of the climate system. It addresses the total climate system including physical, chemical and biological properties, and atmospheric, oceanic, hydrologic, cryospheric and terrestrial processes.

GCOS does not itself directly make observations nor generate data products. It stimulates, encourages, coordinates and otherwise facilitates the taking of the needed observations by national or international organizations in support of their own requirements as well as of common goals. It provides an operational framework for integrating, and enhancing as needed, observational systems of participating countries and organizations into a comprehensive system focussed on the requirements for climate issues. GCOS builds upon, and works in partnership with, other existing and developing observing systems such as the Global Ocean Observing System, the Global Terrestrial Observing System, and the Global Observing System and Global Atmospheric Watch of the World Meteorological Organization. See More...

All (13)

Title

A Reef in Time. The Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End ( BOOK )

Author(s) / Editor(s)

Veron,J.E.N.

Description

Like many coral specialists fifteen years ago, J. E. N. Veron, the former Chief Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), thought Australia's Great Barrier Reef was impervious to climate change. "Owned by a prosperous country and accorded the protection it deserves, it would surely not go the way of the Amazon rain forest or the parklands of Africa, but would endure forever. That is what I thought once, but I think it no longer." This book is Veron's Silent Spring for the world's coral reefs.
Veron presents the geological history of the reef, the biology of coral reef ecosystems, and a primer on what we know about climate change. He concludes that the Great Barrier Reef and, indeed, most coral reefs will be dead from mass bleaching and irreversible acidification within the coming century unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed. If we don't have the political will to confront the plight of the world's reefs, he argues, current processes already in motion will become unstoppable, bringing on a mass extinction the world has not seen for 65 million years.
Our species has cracked its own genetic code and sent representatives of its kind to the moon--we can certainly save the world's reefs if we want to. But to achieve this goal, we must devote scientific expertise and political muscle to the development of green technologies that will dramatically reduce greenhouse emissions and reverse acidification of the oceans. (taken from Harvard University Press)

Keywords

GEOLOGY;

Geography Keywords

AUSTRALIA;

GREAT BARRIER REEF

Content Language(s)

English