Organisation
EUMETSAT is the permanent secretariat of the CGMS and responsible for securing the annual plenary session, following up of plenary actions, guiding CGMS during the inter-sessional periods between plenary sessions, guiding the CGMS working groups, and general management and administration.
Working groups
There are five CGMS Working Groups: WG I on satellite systems and operations; WG II on satellite data and products; WG III on operational continuity and contingency planning; WG IV on support for end users; and SWCG on space weather coordination.
Working Group I:
Satellite systems and operations
Working Group II:
Satellite data and products
Working Group III:
Operational continuity and contingency planning
Working Group IV:
Data access and end user support
SWCG:
Space weather coordination group
International science working groups
In addition, there are a International Science Working Groups interacting with the CGMS: The International TOVS Working Group – ITWG; the International Precipitation Working Group – IPWG; the International Winds Working Group – IWWG; the International Radio Occultation Working Group – IROWG; the International Clouds Working Group (ICWG); and the International Earth Surface Working Group – IESWG. The last five originate from CGMS WG II and plenary sessions. There is also the CEOS-CGMS joint working group on Climate.
A CGMS rapporteur serves as a link between the CGMS and the science working group in question. The rapporteur needs to be from a CGMS member agency, engaged both in the CGMS and the science working group activities.
CEOS-CGMS Joint Working Group on Climate
ITWG: International TOVS Working Group
IPWG: International Precipitation Working Group
IROWG: International Radio Occultation Working Group
IESWG: International Earth Surface Working Group
ICWG: International Clouds Working Group
IWWG: International Winds Working Group
Other relevant bodies, teams or groups
In addition, CGMS plenary sessions also result in actions for the creation of Task Forces or Task Teams (on e.g. Meta Data, socio economic benefits, etc.) which are of a less permanent nature. Between sessions of the annual CGMS Plenary, the Secretariat is also in charge of facilitating the communication between CGMS Members and of ensuring that actions agreed during CGMS Plenary sessions are fulfilled.
Finally, the CGMS Secretariat represents CGMS Members in a number of International bodies such as the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and its related Earth Observation International Coordination Working Group (EO-ICWG), Group on Earth Observation (GEO), and the Space Frequency Coordination Group (SFCG).
