Essential Variables (EVs) provide a common framework for characterising key components of the Earth system, but their potential extends beyond observation and monitoring. This session explores how EV frameworks can connect heterogeneous observing systems, from Research Infrastructures (RIs) such as ICOS and ACTRIS, to satellite data and models, and support the transformation of essential observations into actionable climate information.
European Environmental Research Infrastructures (ENVRI) are a key part of this integration layer. Beyond providing observations, RIs contribute long-term stewardship, calibration and quality assurance, standards, provenance, data and access services, computational environments and increasingly integrated information services. Together with satellites and models, these capabilities provide operational foundations for connecting observations across domains and scales.
We focus on interfaces where integration remains difficult:
• EV frameworks and harmonisation: ECVs, EOVs, EBVs; definitions, metadata, provenance and harmonisation across domains, RIs and satellite data.
• Interoperability and integration: FAIR and semantic interoperability, machine-actionable data, persistent identifiers, and integration of RI, satellite, model and other environmental observations.
• Scale and uncertainty: Integration across spatial and temporal scales; uncertainty, consistency, traceability and fitness-for-purpose.
• Infrastructures enabling integration: Stewardship, quality assurance, access services, data spaces, digital twins, cloud/HPC environments, knowledge graphs and other technical and organisational architectures.
• Translation into climate services and decision support: From Analysis-Ready Data to Action-Ready Information; co-creation with users and communities; and applications in adaptation, mitigation, risk management and policy.
The session will examine the pathway from EV frameworks and European observing infrastructures to regional and local climate information, climate services and decision support. We welcome contributions demonstrating how RIs, satellite data and models can work together as an integrated infrastructure, and how this can translate observations into meaningful information for climate adaptation, mitigation, environmental management and policy support.