A Climate Services Vision First Steps Toward the Future (2001) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 Evolution of Climate Services in the United States
2 Evolution of Climate Services in the United States
Pages 23-31
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 23... ...
The weather service began with a system that was based largely on observations and, as capabilities increased and demands for service were more clearly articulated, expanded to a predictive service. Climate services have an analogous evolution, with an observation-based historical emphasis followed by a growing emphasis on abilities to forecast seasonal to decadal changes.
|
From page 24... ...
(see Box 2-1~. Such successes provide important lessons for extracting "best practices" for efforts to move toward more effective climate services in the United States.
|
From page 25... ...
EVOLUTION OF CLIMATE SERVICES IN THE UNITED STATES 25 In response to the increasing need for climate information, Congress passed the National Climate Program Act of 1978. The purpose of the act was
|
From page 26... ...
For example, government decision makers often seek such information to get a rating on recent extremes, such as a recent two-day rainstorm that produced flooding in southern Wisconsin. Regional centers identify a key problem in providing climate services that is, climate services are made up of a mixture of elements or components without effective national integration.
|
From page 27... ...
. Recognizing that a major service now provided by the CPC is the seasonal to interannual forecasts issued for the United States, the NWS recently created a Climate Services Division within its headquarters to provide oversight and direction of the CPC.
|
From page 28... ...
maintains a joint Agricultural Weather Facility that relates crop production to weather and climate events; this facility is staffed jointly by the USDA and the NWS (USGCRP 2000~. The nation has also provided substantial support to increase the ability to model climate variability and climate change through a commitment to fund national centers, including the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
|
From page 29... ...
A POSSIBLE FUTURE For the last 60 years the United States has developed and supported a national weather service that today uses vast amounts of meteorological data, assimilates these data into models of the atmosphere, and produces and disseminates about 24,000 weather forecasts each day (Hooke and Pielke 2000~. At the beginning of the twenty-f~rst century, two changes are occurring.
|
From page 30... ...
It is a logical and needed next step. The climate services under discussion in this report would use observations of the physical, chemical, biological, and geological state of the solid earth and its surface cover, the ocean, and the atmosphere extending from the earth's surface to outer space.
|
From page 31... ...
It should produce products and achieve the benefits of access to global data and global participation.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.