Trials, Errors, and Improvements in Coproduction of Climate Services

AbstractClimate change yields both challenges and opportunities. In both cases, costly adaptations and transformations are necessary and desirable, and these must be based on realistic and relevant climate information. However, it is often difficult for climate scientists to communicate this information to decision-makers and stakeholders, and it can be equally difficult for such actors to interpret and put the information to use. In this essay, we discuss experiences and present recommendations for scientists producing climate services. The basis is our work in several climate service projects. One of them aimed to provide local-scale climate data for municipalities in western Norway and to explore how the data were interpreted and implemented. The project was first based solely on climate science expertise, and the participants did not have sufficient competence on coproduction and knowledge about the regulatory and political landscape in which municipalities operate. Initially, we also subscribed to an outdated idea of climate services, where knowledge providers (climate scientists) “deliver” their information to knowledge users (e.g., municipal planners). Increasingly, as stressed in the literature on coproduction of knowledge, we learned that climate service should be an iterative process where actionable information is coproduced through two-way dialogue. On the basis of these and other lessons learned the hard way, we provide a set of concrete recommendations on how to embed the idea of coproduction from the preproposal stage to beyond the end of climate service projects.

Download Full-text

Towards more effective visualisations in climate services: best practices and recommendations

10.5194/ems2021-355 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marta Terrado ◽

Luz Calvo ◽

Diana Urquiza ◽

Sara Octenjak ◽

Andria Nicodemou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Distribution Functions ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Climate Data ◽

Climate Services ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Service Projects ◽

Choropleth Maps ◽

Climate Service

The visual communication of climate information is one of the cornerstones of climate services. Characteristics that make a climate service self-explanatory rely on the type of representation used, e.g. interactive or static maps, charts or infographics, and the visual channels applied for the translation of multi-dimensional data, e.g. combination of colour, size, opacity, shapes and other characteristics.Climate scientists have traditionally used predetermined types of visualisations to represent climate data, including maps (e.g. flood maps, heat maps, choropleth maps), line graphs, and probability distribution functions (PDFs). However, such a tradition neglects a plethora of stakeholders (e.g. businesses, policy makers, citizens) that are increasingly involved in climate adaptation and that are less familiar with the traditional ways of presenting these data.Effective visualisations should achieve a balance between the amount of represented data, its robustness (i.e. the representation of scientific confidence and consensus) and saliency (i.e. the relevance of the information to user needs). Choices regarding the representation of uncertainty as well as the terminology and language used in visualisations, can significantly impact the way users interpret climate data. This calls for a standardised approach for the visualisation of climate services, which can benefit from best practices applied in other disciplines, such as user experience, visualisation design, graphic design and cognitive psychology.We describe the main challenges for the visualisation of climate services identified during a visualisation workshop with representatives from 22 climate service projects involved in the Climateurope network, an EU-funded coordination and support action. In break-out group discussions, participants shared their experiences in the development of climate services visualisations and the lessons learned. Findings show that the chosen representation of uncertainty tends to be case specific and that, in general, there is a preference for interactive visualisations where information is gradually disclosed. Inter- and transdisciplinary approaches and aspects related to terminology and language, which are part of the service co-development, require further attention. The analysis of the obtained results provides a picture of the current practice of the climate services visualisation field in Europe and allows to identify recommendations for the development of the next generation of climate services.

Download Full-text

Improving China’s Resilience to Climate-Related Risks: The China Framework for Climate Services

Weather Climate and Society ◽

10.1175/wcas-d-19-0121.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 729-744

Author(s):

Yujie Wang ◽

Lianchun Song ◽

Chris Hewitt ◽

Nicola Golding ◽

Zili Huang

Keyword(s):

Climate Science ◽

Climate Information ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Climate Services ◽

Climate Risks ◽

User Communities ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Climate Service ◽

Key Aspects ◽

Engineering Projects

AbstractThe primary needs for climate services in China, in the form of climate information for decision-making, are to better prepare for and manage meteorological-related disasters, adaptation to climate change, and sustainable development. In this paper, the vision, structure, content, and governance of the China Framework for Climate Services, which is designed to respond to these primary needs, is described. This paper reflects on practice, lessons, and experience developing and delivering climate services in China for disaster risk reduction, agriculture, water, energy, urbanization, and major engineering projects. Four key aspects of successful climate services are highlighted: the transition of climate research to operational climate services; delivering relevant, tailored, and usable climate information; effective engagement between users and providers of climate services; and building interdisciplinary professional teams. Key challenges and opportunities for climate services are recognized in this paper: a growing gap between climate science and services capability and societal need, a lack of awareness in user communities of the climate service value for their activities, and the important need for closer and more meaningful interactions between users and providers of climate services. The delivery and uptake of high-quality, relevant, usable, and effective climate services will facilitate climate-smart decisions that will reduce climate risks and improve Chinese societal resilience.

Download Full-text

The overwhelming jungle of climate information and the role of climate services.

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18610 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Carlo Buontempo

Keyword(s):

Climate Adaptation ◽

Climate Science ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Climate Data ◽

Climate Services ◽

National Programmes ◽

Relevant Variables ◽

Engineering Standards ◽

Climate Service ◽

Different Sources

<div>Climate adaptation often requires high resolution information about the expected changes in the statistical distribution of user-relevant variables. Thanks to targeted national programmes, research projects and international climate service initiatives&#160; this kind of information is not only becoming more easily available but it is also making its way into building codes, engineering standards as well as the risk assessments for financial products.&#160; If such an increase in the use of climate data can be seen as a positive step towards the construction of a climate resilient society, it is also true that the inconsistencies that exist between the information derived from different sources of information, have the potential to reduce the user uptake, increase the costs of adaptation and even undermine the credibility of both climate services and the underpinning climate science.</div><div>This paper offers a personal reflection on the emerging user requirements in this field. The presenation also aims at suggesting&#160; some prelimimary ideas in support of the development of appropriate methodologies for extracting robust evidence from different sources in a scalable way.</div>

Download Full-text

Designing a Climate Service for Planning Climate Actions in Vulnerable Countries

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12010121 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 121

Author(s):

Christiana Photiadou ◽

Berit Arheimer ◽

Thomas Bosshard ◽

René Capell ◽

Maria Elenius ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Science ◽

Climate Impact ◽

Climate Modelling ◽

Climate Information ◽

Climate Services ◽

Web Based ◽

Climate Service ◽

Climate Analysis ◽

International Experts ◽

Active Interaction

The next generation of climate services needs not only tailoring to specific user needs but to provide, in addition, access to key information in a usable way that satisfies the needs of different users’ profiles; especially web-based services. Here, we present the outcomes from developing such a new interactive prototype. The service provides data for robust climate analysis to underpin decision-making when planning measures to compensate for climate impact. The goal is to facilitate the communication on climate information between climate modelling communities and adaptation or mitigation initiatives from vulnerable countries that are applying for funds from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). A participatory process was ensured during four workshops in four pilot countries, with an audience of national and international experts. During this process it was made clear that in all countries there is a strong need for knowledge in climate science, while in most countries there was also an increasing need of capacity in hydrological modelling and water management. The active interaction during the workshops was found necessary to facilitate the dialogue between service developers and users. Understanding the users, transparency on potentials and limitations of climate services together with capacity development in climate science and methods were required components in the development of the service.

Download Full-text

Visualisation in climate services: status and recommendations

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-7750 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marta Terrado ◽

Diana Urquiza ◽

Sara Octenjak ◽

Andria Nicodemou ◽

Dragana Bojovic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Adaptation ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Current Status ◽

Multidimensional Data ◽

Climate Data ◽

Climate Services ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Visual Encoding ◽

Choropleth Maps ◽

Climate Service

The visual communication of climate information is one of the cornerstones of climate services. Characteristics that make a climate service self-explanatory rely on the visual modes it employs, e.g. maps, graphs or infographics, and the visual channels applied for the translation of multidimensional data, e.g. combination of colours, shapes or slopes.&#160;Climate scientists have traditionally used predetermined types of visualisations to present climate data, including flood maps, heat maps or choropleth maps. However, such a tradition neglects a plethora of stakeholders (e.g. businesses, policy makers, citizens) that are increasingly involved in climate adaptation and that are less familiar with the traditional ways of presenting these data. In this sense, there is a need to advance towards climate services visualisations that can guide climate change adaptation decisions by helping users to interpret and use the information as simply and quickly as possible.Effective visualisations should achieve a balance between the amount of represented data, its robustness (i.e. the representation of scientific confidence and consensus) and saliency (i.e. the relevance of the information to user needs). Therefore, choices regarding the representation of probabilities (e.g. using terciles or information on extreme events), the representation of uncertainty (e.g. showing the ensemble range or filtering by a skill threshold), the type of visual encoding (e.g. selection of the colour palette, use of shapes and sizes) as well as the terminology and language used, are some aspects that can significantly impact the way users interpret climate data.We describe the main challenges for the visualisation of climate services identified during a visualisation workshop with representatives from 22 climate services projects involved in the Climateurope network, an EU-funded coordination and support action. In break-out group discussions, participants shared their experiences in the development of effective climate services visualisations and the lessons learned. Findings show that the chosen representation of uncertainty and probabilities tends to be case specific and that there is a preference for interactive visualisations where information is gradually disclosed. Minimising the use of technical concepts in visualisations was highlighted as an objective that requires further attention. The analysis of the obtained results provides a picture of the current status of the climate services visualisation field in Europe and gives recommendations for the development of the next generation of climate services.

Download Full-text

Translational Science for Climate Services: Mapping and Understanding Users’ Climate Service Needs in CSSP China

Journal of Meteorological Research ◽

10.1007/s13351-021-0077-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 64-76

Author(s):

Sarah Opitz-Stapleton ◽

Roger Street ◽

Qian Ye ◽

Jiarui Han ◽

Chris D. Hewitt

Keyword(s):

Climate Science ◽

Service Needs ◽

User Engagement ◽

Translational Science ◽

Regular User ◽

Climate Services ◽

Weather Information ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Climate Service ◽

User Groups

AbstractThe Climate Science for Service Partnership China (CSSP China) is a joint program between China and the United Kingdom to build the basis for climate services to support the weather and climate resilient economic development and welfare in China. Work Package 5 (WP5) provides the translational science on identification of: different users and providers, and their mandates; factors contributing to communication gaps and capacities between various users and providers; and mechanisms to work through such issues to develop and/or evolve a range of climate services. Key findings to emerge include that users from different sectors have varying capacities, requirements, and needs for information in their decision contexts, with a current strong preference for weather information. Separating climate and weather services when engaging users is often not constructive. Furthermore, there is a need to move to a service delivery model that is more user-driven and science informed; having sound climate science is not enough to develop services that are credible, salient, reliable, or timely for diverse user groups. Greater investment in building the capacity of the research community supporting and providing climate services to conduct translational sciences and develop regular user engagement processes is much needed. Such a move would help support the China Meteorological Administration’s (CMA) ongoing efforts to improve climate services. It would also assist in potentially linking a broader group of “super” users who currently act as providers and purveyors of climate services because they find the existing offerings are not relevant to their needs or cannot access CMA’s services.

Download Full-text

ENACTS: Transforming Climate Services Across Africa

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-39 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tufa Dinku

Keyword(s):

Effective Means ◽

National Level ◽

Columbia University ◽

Climate Information ◽

Climate Data ◽

Climate Services ◽

Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽

Institutional Infrastructure ◽

International Research Institute ◽

Information Products

Despite recent and mostly global efforts to promote climate services in developing countries, Africa still faces significant limitations in its institutional infrastructure and capacity to develop, access, and use decision-relevant climate data and information products at multiple levels of governance. The Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative, led by Columbia University&#8217;s International Research Institute for Climate and Society, strives to overcome these challenges by targeting the way climate-sensitive decisions are made at the local, regional, and national levels. The ENACTS approach is executed by working directly with the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) to build capacity for improving the availability, access, and use of quality climate data and information products at relevant spatial and temporal scales. The ENACTS approach has shown to be an effective means to transform decision-making surrounding vulnerabilities and risks at both national and local scales in over a dozen countries at the national level as well as at regional level East and West Africa. In the ENACTS approach, challenges to the availability of climate data are alleviated by combining quality-controlled station observations with global proxies to generate spatially and temporally complete climate datasets. Access to climate information is enhanced by developing an online mapping service that provides a user-friendly interface for analyzing and visualizing climate information products. Use of the generated climate data and the derived information products are promoted through raising awareness in relevant communities, training users, and co-production processes.

Download Full-text

Making Society Climate Resilient: International Progress under the Global Framework for Climate Services

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society ◽

10.1175/bams-d-18-0211.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 101 (2) ◽

pp. E237-E252 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

C. D. Hewitt ◽

E. Allis ◽

S. J. Mason ◽

M. Muth ◽

R. Pulwarty ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Time Scales ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Climate Information ◽

Climate Services ◽

Socioeconomic Impacts ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Past ◽

New Directions ◽

Operational Activities ◽

Available Information

Abstract There is growing awareness among governments, businesses, and the general public of risks arising from changes to our climate on time scales from months through to decades. Some climatic changes could be unprecedented in their harmful socioeconomic impacts, while others with adequate forewarning and planning could offer benefits. There is therefore a pressing need for decision-makers, including policy-makers, to have access to and to use high-quality, accessible, relevant, and credible climate information about the past, present, and future to help make better-informed decisions and policies. We refer to the provision and use of such information as climate services. Established programs of research and operational activities are improving observations and climate monitoring, our understanding of climate processes, climate variability and change, and predictions and projections of the future climate. Delivering climate information (including data and knowledge) in a way that is usable and useful for decision-makers has had less attention, and society has yet to optimally benefit from the available information. While weather services routinely help weather-sensitive decision-making, similar services for decisions on longer time scales are less well established. Many organizations are now actively developing climate services, and a growing number of decision-makers are keen to benefit from such services. This article describes progress made over the past decade developing, delivering, and using climate services, in particular from the worldwide effort galvanizing around the Global Framework for Climate Services under the coordination of UN agencies. The article highlights challenges in making further progress and proposes potential new directions to address such challenges.

Download Full-text

Climatology in support of climate risk management

Progress in Physical Geography Earth and Environment ◽

10.1177/0309133315578941 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 39 (4) ◽

pp. 536-553 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Glenn McGregor

Keyword(s):

Risk Management ◽

Climate Science ◽

Climate Risk ◽

Science Literature ◽

Climate Information ◽

Climate Data ◽

Climate Risks ◽

Wide Range ◽

Climate Risk Management ◽

Climate Events

Climate risk management has emerged over the last decade as a distinct area of activity within the wider field of climatology. Its focus is on integrating climate and non-climate information in order to enhance the decision-making process in a wide range of climate-sensitive sectors of society, the economy and the environment. Given the burgeoning pure and applied climate science literature that addresses a range of climate risks, the purpose of this progress report is to provide an overview of recent developments in the field of climatology that may contribute to the risk assessment component of climate risk management. Data rescue and climate database construction, hurricanes and droughts as examples of extreme climate events and seasonal climate forecasting are focused on in this report and are privileged over other topics because of either their fundamental importance for establishing event probability or scale of societal impact. The review of the literature finds that historical data rescue, climate reconstruction and the compilation of climate data bases has assisted immensely in understanding past climate events and increasing the information base for managing climate risk. Advances in the scientific understanding of the causes and the characterization of hurricanes and droughts stand to benefit the management of these two extreme events while work focused on unravelling the nature of ocean–atmosphere interactions and associated climate anomalies at the seasonal timescale has provided the basis for the possible seasonal forecasting of a range of climate events. The report also acknowledges that despite the potential of climate information to assist with managing climate risk, its uptake by decision makers should not be automatically assumed by the climatological community.

Download Full-text

Designing a Climate Service for Planning Climate Actions in Vulnerable Countries

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11031 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Frida Gyllensvärd ◽

Christiana Photiadou ◽

Berit Arheimer ◽

Thomas Bosshard ◽

René Capell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Development Process ◽

Climate Science ◽

Climate Impact ◽

Direct Access ◽

Climate Modelling ◽

Climate Information ◽

Climate Services ◽

Active Involvement ◽

Capacity Level ◽

Climate Analysis

The next generation of climate services needs not only tailoring to specific user needs but also to provide access to key information in a usable way that satisfies the needs of different users&#8217; profiles. This holds especially for web-based services. Here, we present the outcomes from developing such a new interactive prototype, known as Climate Information (https://climateinformation.org/). The service provides data for robust climate analysis to underpin decision-making when planning measures to compensate for climate impact. Readily available climate indicators will help defining future problems, assess climatic stressors, and analyse current and future risks. This makes a climate case, which is the basis for developing interventions and propose investments. The main goal of the platform is to facilitate the communication on climate information between climate modelling communities and adaptation or mitigation initiatives from vulnerable countries that are applying for funds from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).A participatory process was ensured during four workshops in four pilot countries, organised by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), with the active involvement of national and international experts. During this process it was made clear, that there is a strong need for knowledge in climate science in all countries, while in most countries there was also an increasing need of capacity in hydrological modelling and water management.The active interaction during the workshops was found necessary to facilitate the dialogue between service developers and users. The co-development process is not always institutionalised in many vulnerable countries and the capacity level restricts national entities to only act via international intermediaries. The level of knowledge and capacity in climate and hydrological science in the pilot countries varied significantly, which was an important obstacle when establishing a direct access modality to support different organisations. The diversity of user groups made it difficult to identify a &#8220;one-size-fits-all&#8221; for the web platform. Instead, a set of interactive tools was developed. Our interactions with the users, which covers a part of a co-development process, facilitated the dialogue between service developers and users. Understanding the users, transparency on potentials and limitations of climate services, and capacity development in climate science and methods were required components in the development of the service.

Download Full-text