Climate Projections (Inactive)

This group would form a ‘community of practice’ around common needs to better evaluate and disseminate future climate data, information, and knowledge to the public and to decision makers. Participants will engage in collaboration with evolving USGCRP activities such as the National Climate Assessment and the Climate Resilience Toolkit to ensure different perspectives inform those activities. 

Its purposes are to:
1. Better understand various communities’ needs and interests for this information
2. Communicate new capabilities that build capacity throughout the U.S. to provide climate services
3. Collect examples of and suggest appropriate & consistent types of guidance for different users of climate projections
4. Act as a resource for Federal efforts to provide nationally consistent products
5. Suggest new approaches to visualization and dissemination of projections
6. Provide input and feedback on metrics for transition of new products from research to operational status

As the maturity of climate science improves and the demand for climate projections increases, there is a rapidly growing need to bring together the widening array of groups providing climate projections with those planning for the future. Often the planning discussions focus on climate data, largely downscaled datasets of varied provenance and authority. There is no single authoritative source (such as the USG) for these datasets; research products are available via various portals, but metrics to assess their applicability to a given intended use or to understand the maturity of a research product are lacking.  The NCA3 report provided one view of authoritative projections, but the engagement and evaluation process was limited.  The recently-launched Climate Resilience Toolkit includes a nascent Climate Explorer component that will continue to evolve in the near future. Both activities should reflect the widest possible thinking on best practices in presenting and using this knowledge.  

This group can act as a ‘community of practice’ with great depth of knowledge engaging with their stakeholders about this type of climate information and so can help improve the federal process as well as jointly consider how best to suggest and implement community standards at this boundary between climate science and use of the science.

For more information about this group, contact Fred Lipschultz,