OBJECTIVES

The overarching goal of the GEWEX global data analysis projects is to obtain observations of the elements of the global energy and water cycle with sufficient detail and accuracy to diagnose the causes of recent climate variations in terms of the energy and water exchanges among the main climate components (atmosphere, ocean, land, cryosphere, biosphere). A number of global, long-term data products have now been produced, primarily concerning clouds, precipitation, top-of-atmosphere and surface radiative fluxes and aerosols. These products were originally designed for study of relevant processes, not for monitoring long-term climate change, so there are noticeable, but small, flaws in the now 20+ year records that interfere with studies of interannual variations. Moreover, these projects having been organized separately, they produce data products separately. Thus, there is a need to revise these products to be ever-more homogeneous over their whole time record and more physically consistent to allow for the desired analysis of the variations of the global energy and water cycle. To establish a foundation for better analyses and to coordinate the production of these data products more closely, the Working Group on Data Management and Analysis (WGDMA) was organized from the participants of the GEWEX projects to (1) conduct systematic assessments of the current products, (2) refine and improve the analyses with particular attention to making the long-term record more homogeneous and making the products physically consistent, and (3) conduct a complete re-processing of all the GEWEX data products. WGDMA also plans to organize additional data processing activities as needed to complete the description of the energy and water cycle.