Carlo Buontempo

Using Climate Predictions to Better Serve Society's Needs

Societies have always faced challenges and opportunities arising from variations in climate and have often flourished or collapsed, depending on their ability to adapt to such changes. In light of these challenges, there is a growing and urgent need to improve societys resilience to climate-related hazards and better manage the risks and opportunities from climate variability and climate change. This situation was recognized by governments, scientists, and decision makers at the World Climate Conference-3 in 2009, subsequently leading to the creation of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) under the leadership of several United Nations agencies.

Multi-Scale Projections Of Weather And Climate At The Uk Met Office

Due to the availability of unprecedented computational power, national meteorological and hydrological services have had the opportunity to push the limit of predictability beyond the 2 weeks Lorenz suggested in 1963. This has been largely possible through the use of ensemble modelling. The adoption of such a technique has had a twofold effect: by averaging out the most unpredictable scales an ensemble average could directly increase forecast skill; ensembles also provide an estimate of uncertainty. This paper analyses the sources of predictability at different time scales and shows how the ensemble technique has been successfully used to inform decisions on time scales ranging from days to centuries.

100 Years of Climate Change: A Night-Time Audio Walk

100 Years of Climate Change is an artwork inspired by the insight that we might experience 100 years of climate change by taking a short walk of 100 metres. Investigation of the local impacts of the Urban Heat Island effect culminated in a night-time audio walk to open up awareness of the urban climate.

Dealing With Uncertainties in Climate Change Impacts Assessments: A Case Study on the Nile Basin

With the publication of the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c) the international scientific community has seen a major shift in priorities. A few years ago the scientific debate was focussed on the detection and attribution of climate change. The emphasis has now shifted towards assessing the impacts of the changing climate on social and economic concerns to inform adaptation and mitigation policies worldwide.

European Climate Services

The launch of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS, Hewitt et al., Nature Climate Change 2(12): 831–832, 2012) just a few years ago helped to redirect the focus of the climate community towards the users and their information needs. A number of national and international initiatives such as the Climate Service Partnership, or the Climate Science for Services Partnership between China and the UK, were designed to build upon such an international framework. The role of the European Commission appears to be very prominent in the international climate services landscape as it supported a largenumber of research and innovation programmes in the field. The chapter discusses the role climate services could play for the energy sector starting from an analysis of the interactions that already exist and building upon a few specific examples that indicate some good practice in climate service development.