The new director of the GEO Secretariat in Geneva, Barbara Ryan, visited EOC in Oberpfaffenhofen on 28 January 2013. Ms. Ryan described current projects and focal points of the international “Group on Earth Observation”. She was accompanied by Mr. Yubao Qiu, who is responsible for monitoring polar regions for the GEO Secretariat. Together with EOC earth observation specialists, Ms Ryan discussed in a workshop possible additional contributions which could be made by EOC to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). GEOSS is an initiative under the aegis of GEO with the purpose of coordinating the earth observation and in situ systems of its 90 member countries and 67 participating organizations and making their data and information products available in nine areas of socioeconomic relevance:
Disaster relief
Health research
Energy management
Climate research
Water management
Weather forecasting
Protection and management of ecosystems
Preservation of biological diversity
Sustainable agriculture and desertification prevention
