scholarly journals The VIADUC project: innovation in climate adaptation through service design

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-205
Author(s):  
L. Corre ◽  
P. Dandin ◽  
D. L'Hôte ◽  
F. Besson
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
End Users ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Climate Services

Abstract. From the French National Adaptation to Climate Change Plan, the "Drias, les futurs du climat" service has been developed to provide easy access to French regional climate projections. This is a major step for the implementation of French Climate Services. The usefulness of this service for the end-users and decision makers involved with adaptation planning at a local scale is investigated. As such, the VIADUC project is: to evaluate and enhance Drias, as well as to imagine future development in support of adaptation. Climate scientists work together with end-users and a service designer. The designer's role is to propose an innovative approach based on the interaction between scientists and citizens. The chosen end-users are three Natural Regional Parks located in the South West of France. The latter parks are administrative entities which gather municipalities having a common natural and cultural heritage. They are also rural areas in which specific economic activities take place, and therefore are concerned and involved in both protecting their environment and setting-up sustainable economic development. The first year of the project has been dedicated to investigation including the questioning of relevant representatives. Three key local economic sectors have been selected: i.e. forestry, pastoral farming and building activities. Working groups were composed of technicians, administrative and maintenance staff, policy makers and climate researchers. The sectors' needs for climate information have been assessed. The lessons learned led to actions which are presented hereinafter.

Climadjust: easing the Bias Adjustment process through a user-friendly web service

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan José Sáenz de la Torre ◽  
Elena Suárez ◽  
David Iglesias ◽  
Iván Sánchez ◽  
Antonio Pérez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Web Service ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
End Users ◽  
Adjustment Process ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Bias Adjustment ◽  
User Friendly

<p>Climate projections obtained from global and regional climate models usually exhibit biases: systematic deviations from observations. Adjusting these biases is typically the first step towards obtaining actionable climate information to be used in impact studies. However, this bias adjustment process is highly technical and demands a lot of resources, both infrastructures (e.g. access to high performance and cloud computing) —particularly for continental wide applications— and human (e.g. personnel specialised in climate data post-processing).</p><p>Climadjust (accessible through https://climadjust.com/) is a web service developed with the support of the Copernicus Climate Change Service  implementing user-friendly bias adjustment for climate projections from the C3S catalogue using customized methods and reference datasets. The service was developed by Predictia —a company with a strong focus on climate services development and climate modelling— in collaboration with the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). </p><p>Climadjust provides scalable cloud resources to compute bias-adjusted climate projections from the ensembles of CMIP and CORDEX datasets or customized areas of interest. In this process, the users are able to (i) upload their own dataset of observations to adjust the climate projections, or choose among reference datasets such as ERA5-Land or WFDE-5, (ii) choose among six state-of-the-art Bias Adjustment techniques implemented using the open source Climate4R package, and (iii) validate the results through the standard framework developed in the European VALUE COST Action. The output is a validated netCDF file, ready to be used by the climate modellers working in climate studies.</p><p>This climate service is targeted at the end tail of the downstream market of climate services, namely climate modellers working in sectoral climate adaptation in the agriculture, hydrology, biodiversity, insurance and forestry management fields, among others. Currently, the service counts with over 100 registered users.</p><p>To promote the user uptake of the service, the project faced several barriers, such as a lack of understanding on the need of adjusting biases by the end-users, and communication barriers between the climate science community and the end-user community. The session will present the lessons learnt during the user uptake campaigns, the user needs gathered through the user engagement activities performed within it, as well as relevant use-cases of the service, developed hand in hand with the end users.</p>

scholarly journals A coupled human-natural system to assess the operational value of weather and climate services for irrigated agriculture

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Li ◽  
Matteo Giuliani ◽  
Andrea Castelletti
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yield ◽  
Behavioral Model ◽  
End Users ◽  
Natural System ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Assessment Procedure ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Forecast Quality

Abstract. Recent advances in weather and climate services (WCSs) are showing increasing forecast skills over seasonal and longer time scales, potentially providing valuable support in informing decisions in a variety of economic sectors. Quantifying this value, however, might not be straightforward as better forecast quality does not necessarily imply better decisions by the end-users, especially when forecasts do not reach their final users, when the provider is not trusted, or when forecasts are not appropriately understood. In this study, we contribute an assessment framework to evaluate the operational value of WCSs for irrigated agriculture by complementing traditional forecast quality assessments with a Coupled Human-Natural System behavioral model which reproduces farmers’ decisions. This allows a more critical assessment of the forecast value mediated by the end-users’ perspective, including farmers’ risk attitudes and behavioral factors. Our results show that the quality of state- of-the-art WCSs is still limited in predicting the weather and the crop yield of the incoming agricultural season, with ECMWF annual products simulated by the IFS/HOPE model resulting the most skillful product. However, we also show that the accuracy of estimating crop yield and the probability of making optimal decisions are not necessarily linearly correlated, with the overall assessment procedure that is strongly impacted by the behavioral attitudes of the farmers, which can produce rank reversals in the quantification of the WCSs operational value depending on the different perceptions of risk and uncertainty.

Visualisation in climate services: status and recommendations

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

<p>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. </p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p>

scholarly journals Assessing the Quality of Knowledge for Adaptation–Experiences From Co-designing Climate Services in Sweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin André ◽  
Linn Järnberg ◽  
Åsa Gerger Swartling ◽  
Peter Berg ◽  
David Segersson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Services

Adaptation to climate change is becoming more urgent, but the wealth of knowledge that informs adaptation planning and decision-making is not used to its full potential. Top-down approaches to knowledge production are identified as one important reason for the gap between science and practice and are criticized for not meeting the needs of intended users. In response to this challenge, there is a growing interest in the creation of user-oriented and actionable climate services to support adaptation. At the same time, recent research suggests that greater efforts are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge co-production processes and the best criteria by which to gauge the quality of knowledge outcomes, while also considering different stakeholder perspectives. This paper explores these issues through a critical assessment of the quality of knowledge for adaptation generated from a climate services co-design process in two case studies in Sweden. The study draws on experiences from a 5-year research collaboration in which natural and social science researchers, together with local stakeholders, co-designed climate services to support climate adaptation planning and decision-making. The well-established knowledge quality criteria of credibility, legitimacy, saliency, usability, and usefulness remain relevant, but are not sufficient to capture factors relating to whether and how the knowledge actually is applied by climate change adaptation planners and decision-makers. We observe that case-specific circumstances beyond the scope of the co-design process, including the decision-making context as well as non-tangible outcomes, also play crucial roles that should be accounted for in the knowledge assessment processes.

scholarly journals Сlimate Change in the Arctic: Adaptation to New Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 177-200
Author(s):  
E. N. Nikitina
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Climate Services

Global climate change in the Arctic has been unfolding more rapidly than in other parts of the world, and its impacts affect vulnerable northern ecosystems, health and well-being of the Northerners, economic sectors and infrastructure in the polar regions of the eight Arctic states. Consequences of climate change for human society are analysed in synergy with ongoing transformations in social, economic and institutional systems in the Arctic region. Their cumulative effect exposes a variety of challenges for sustainable development of the northern communities, regions and countries; it reveals a number of uncertainties in the future pathways within the transformative context, as well as a combination of risks and opportunities for societies; it requires human responses and adaptations to consequences of the Arctic change. Adaptation to climate change in combination with greenhouse gases emission reduction turns into an important component of climate policies and measures of the Arctic states. This article presents innovative results of analysis of the major trends and features in formation of adaptive governance in the Arctic. It emerges to be based on a polycentric design, and particularly, on coordination of response actions at various levels, on interactions and networks of a variety of the Arctic stakeholders, on taking into account local environmental and socio-economic contexts, on combination of multidisciplinary approaches and packaging of governance mechanisms and instruments. The study analyses the major developments and innovations in adaptation approaches, policies, and practices of the Arctic regions in N. America (Canada) and Europe (Norway). Its foci is on assessment of priorities, strategies and planning, institutions, economic instruments, climate services, application of structural measures for disaster risk reduction. It explores possibilities of regional exchange of best practices in the Arctic, and core barriers for success in implementation of adaptation policy options. The role of the Paris agreement in formation and structuring of adaptation policies and measure of the northern regions of the Arctic states is analysed.

scholarly journals DRIAS: a step toward Climate Services in France

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lémond ◽  
Ph. Dandin ◽  
S. Planton ◽  
R. Vautard ◽  
C. Pagé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Societal Needs ◽  
Access To Data

Abstract. DRIAS (Providing access to Data on French Regionalized climate scenarios and Impacts on the environment and Adaptation of Societies) is a 2-yr project (2010–2012). It is funded by the GICC (Management and Impact of Climate Change) program of the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transportation, and Housing (MEDDTL). DRIAS is to provide easy access to French regional climate data and products in order to facilitate mitigation and adaptation studies. The DRIAS project focuses on existing French regional climate projections obtained from national modelling groups such as: IPSL, CERFACS, and CNRM. It is more than a data server, it also delivers all kinds of climate information from numerical data to tailored climate products. Moreover, guidance is to be provided to end-users in order to promote best practices and know-how. Whilst the project is coordinated by the Department of Climatology at Météo-France, a multidisciplinary group of users and stakeholders at large concerned by climate change issues is also involved with the project. The ultimate goal will be to identify societal needs, validate the decision making processes, and thus facilitate exchanges between producers and practitioners. Key results from the DRIAS project will contribute to the implementation of French Climate Services.

Climate change vulnerability and impacts assessment in a Mediterranean region for adaptation purposes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Marras ◽  
Valentina Bacciu ◽  
Valentina Mereu ◽  
Antonio Trabucco ◽  
Sara Masia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Adaptation Capacity

<p>Mediterranean region is recognized as an hot spot for negative effects due to climate change. The region is already experiencing an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (i.e. drought conditions, fire, floods, and heat waves) and climate projections indicate a general exacerbation of such phenomena.</p><p>This work, performed in the framework of the Sardinia Region Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change and in collaboration with the LIFE Project Master-ADAPT, analyzed the impacts and the vulnerability to climate change in the Sardinia region (Italy) for three sectors: agricultural-forestry sector, the inland water systems, and the hydrogeological component.</p><p>The analysis used the innovative approach of developing "Impact Chains” per each sector and analyzed risk. A selection of indicators has been used (at municipality level) as proxy to assess climate hazard (for past and future conditions) and the exposure, sensitivity and adaptation capacity of the Region. This analysis represents the knowledge base required by local administrations for developing adaptation policies to climate change.</p><p>Results allowed to better understand climate vulnerability for the territory, and to guide the process of identifying adaptation objectives and options to face climate risk for each sector. Adaptation to climate change is a priority and local administrations need to work towards climate adaptation objectives and policies in order to strengthen climate resilience, reduce negative impacts due to climate change, and enable more effective management opportunities.</p>

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

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

<p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p>

scholarly journals A coupled human–natural system to assess the operational value of weather and climate services for agriculture

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 4693-4709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Li ◽  
Matteo Giuliani ◽  
Andrea Castelletti
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yield ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
End Users ◽  
Natural System ◽  
Assessment Procedure ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Forecast Quality

Abstract. Recent advances in weather and climate (W&C) services are showing increasing forecast skills over seasonal and longer timescales, potentially providing valuable support in informing decisions in a variety of economic sectors. Quantifying this value, however, might not be straightforward as better forecast quality does not necessarily imply better decisions by the end users, especially when forecasts do not reach their final users, when providers are not trusted, or when forecasts are not appropriately understood. In this study, we contribute an assessment framework to evaluate the operational value of W&C services for informing agricultural practices by complementing traditional forecast quality assessments with a coupled human–natural system behavioural model which reproduces farmers' decisions. This allows a more critical assessment of the forecast value mediated by the end users' perspective, including farmers' risk attitudes and behavioural factors. The application to an agricultural area in northern Italy shows that the quality of state-of-the-art W&C services is still limited in predicting the weather and the crop yield of the incoming agricultural season, with ECMWF annual products simulated by the IFS/HOPE model resulting in the most skillful product in the study area. However, we also show that the accuracy of estimating crop yield and the probability of making optimal decisions are not necessarily linearly correlated, with the overall assessment procedure being strongly impacted by the behavioural attitudes of farmers, which can produce rank reversals in the quantification of the W&C services operational value depending on the different perceptions of risk and uncertainty.

The Methow Beaver Project: the Challenges of an Ecosystem Services Experiment

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Philip Brick ◽  
Kent Woodruff
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Castor Canadensis ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Natural Resource Policy ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Climate Conditions

This case explores the Methow Beaver Project (MBP), an ambitious experiment to restore beaver (Castor canadensis) to a high mountain watershed in Washington State, USA. The Pacific Northwest is already experiencing weather regimes consistent with longer term climate projections, which predict longer and drier summers and stronger and wetter winter storms. Ironically, this combination makes imperative more water storage in one of the most heavily dammed regions in the nation. Although the positive role that beaver can play in watershed enhancement has been well known for decades, no project has previously attempted to re-introduce beaver on a watershed scale with a rigorous monitoring protocol designed to document improved water storage and temperature conditions needed for human uses and aquatic species. While the MBP has demonstrated that beaver can be re-introduced on a watershed scale, it has been much more difficult to scientifically demonstrate positive changes in water retention and stream temperature, given hydrologic complexity, unprecedented fire and floods, and the fact that beaver are highly mobile. This case study can help environmental studies students and natural resource policy professionals think about the broader challenges of diffuse, ecosystem services approaches to climate adaptation. Beaver-produced watershed improvements will remain difficult to quantify and verify, and thus will likely remain less attractive to water planners than conventional storage dams. But as climate conditions put additional pressure on such infrastructure, it is worth considering how beaver might be employed to augment watershed storage capacity, even if this capacity is likely to remain at least in part inscrutable.

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