Research and development services and related consultancy services

Tender description

ECMWF as the Entrusted Entity for the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) issued a number of services related to collection and processing of in situ observations in support of climate services development. The overall objective for this set of services is to improve access to available in situ instrumental data records and data streams from observing networks, as needed for monitoring climate change and to support climate science. The C3S has the ambition to provide open and free access to all observations relevant to climate services development via a unified Climate Data Store. Development of observational content for the Climate Data Store relies on the scientific framework provided by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Goals to be addressed by the services tendered include: improvement of the historic instrumental record by means of data rescue, quality control and homogenisation of in situ observations; harmonisation of access to data from major archives of climate observations as well as specialised networks of observing sites; development of merged collections of in situ observations suitable for climate reanalysis; development of high-resolution ECV products for Europe. This Contract Award Notice lists the suppliers for Lots 1-3 of ITT C3S_311a. The Contractor for Lot 1 will deliver a coherent set of services to support coordination and harmonisation of in situ data rescue activities around the world. The objective is to facilitate and support ongoing efforts to digitise documented historic instrumental data records and to make these records more easily accessible for further processing and analysis. The Contractor for this Lot shall: — Work with existing international data rescue support initiatives such as the Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) and the International Data Rescue Portal (I-DARE); — Develop and maintain a global inventory of known data rescue activities; — Support imaging and digitization activities for selected high-priority data records; — Provide data-rescue registry services including: — Access to up-to-date information about completed, active and planned data rescue activities world-wide; — Access to standardised and searchable metadata on these activities; — Tools for identifying opportunities, gaps and priorities in data rescue; — Facilities to support collaboration on data rescue projects; — Facilities for submitting digitised data sets to international climate data archives; — Promote community tools for imaging, digitizing and quality control; — Promote best practices, data standards and metadata requirements. The Contractor for Lot 2 will deliver services providing reliable access to data from managed archives of historic, quality-controlled, in situ climate observations. The objective is to rationalise, harmonise and improve access to the large variety of climate data archives existing at various locations around the world. The Contractor for this Lot shall: — Adress near-surface observations over land and ocean; — Aim for maximum access to the entire instrumental data record available for the domains addressed; — Coordinate with existing climate data providers in Europe or elsewhere; — Broker access to quality-assured in situ observations with maximum spatial (global) and temporal (multi-decadal) coverage; — Manage differences and changes in data supply, sources, quality, formats etc.; — Harmonise data formats and metadata conventions; — Provide a uniform data service to users via the C3S Climate Data Store; — Develop a governance structure and operating rules together with the data custodians, to allow for continued operation of data services after the end of contract. The Contractor for Lot 3 will deliver services to provide reliable access to data from baseline and reference networks of observation sites. The objective is to rationalise, harmonise and improve access to measurements provided by the large variety of existing networks, to facilitate climate monitoring, estimation of ECVs and uncertainty assessments. The Contractor for this Lot shall: — Prioritise access to observations of ECVs that are not well observed from space; — Prioritise access to data that can be used and redistributed without restriction; — Address multiple atmospheric ECVs; — Provide timely access to observations from GCOS-relevant network components and systems supporting one or more ECVs; — Harmonise data formats and metadata conventions; — Make use of the coordination function carried out by the European Environment Agency; — Take account of the requirements of other Copernicus services for in situ network data; — Develop a governance structure and operating rules together with the network operators, to allow for continued operation of data services after the end of contract.