The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is co-sponsored by three UN bodies, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and by the non-governmental organisation, the International Council for Science (ICSU). The GCOS Joint Planning Office is based with the WMO Secretariat.

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 builds upon, and works in partnership with, other existing and developing observing systems such as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), and the Global Observing System (GOS) and Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) of the World Meteorological Organization.

In the UK climate research and observations are devolved activities, and are funded by various government departments in order to meet their individual responsibilities. Cross-agency coordination on Global Environmental Change Research and Observations is provided through the UK Global Environmental Change Committee (GECC) chaired by the Chief Scientist of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and reporting to the Government's Chief Scientific Advisors Committee (CSAC). Observing activities, including those related to GCOS, are coordinated through the GECC's Observations subgroup, which is chaired by the Met Office.

• Gap analysis for United Kingdom Climate Observations in Support of the Global Climate
  Observation System (GCOS) - report prepared for the GECC-Observations subgroup, September 2006 (PDF 3.0 Mb)

• UK Fourth National Communication, June 2006 (PDF, 1.4 Mb), see chapter 7 on Research and Systematic Observations
• UK Report on Systematic Observations for UNFCCC, October 2001 as part of the UK Third National Communication (PDF, 1.6 Mb)

Meteorological and atmospheric observations

• 11 GCOS Surface Network (GSN) stations (6 in UK, 5 overseas)
• 6 GCOS Upper Air (GUAN) stations (2 in UK, 4 overseas)
• GUAN Data Centre
• 2 Baseline Surface Radiation (BSRN) stations (in UK)
• Observations from the UK Voluntary Observing fleet (~350 ships)
• Global Collecting Centre (GCC) for marine climatological data
• Drifting buoys contributing to the global drifter array

in addition ozone measurements from 2 stations (1 in UK, 1 overseas) are also contributed to GCOS

Oceanographic observations

• 11 Sea-level (tide gauge) stations (3 in UK, 8 overseas) (operated as part of the National Tidal & Sea Level Facility)
• Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level
• UK Argo floats contributing to the global Argo array
• Reference mooring at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain site (contributing to OceanSites)
• Repeat hydrography
• Ocean carbon measurements (Atlantic Meridional Transect)
• Biogeochemical and ecosystem measurements (Continuous Plankton Recorder survey)
  

Terrestrial observations

• Environmental Change Network
• 6 GTN-R (river run-off stations) (part of the National River Flow Archive)