Climate Services Print E-mail

Coordinated climate information and services are needed to assist decision making across public and private sectors. Local planners will want information on likely changes in season length and temperature for both their own farms and those of their local and distant competitors; coastal zone managers will want information on likely changes in sea level, storms, and estuarine temperatures; water resource managers and energy producers will want information on likely changes in snowpack and runoff and the change of floods and drought; community health planners will want information on changes in location of freezing conditions and the frequency of extreme precipitation and heat waves; industry will want information on changes in extremes that might affect their businesses and shipping; those preparing environmental impact statements will need information on how changes in a given location affect environmental outcomes; those doing economic analyses will want information across the region, and much more.

While much work has been done to develop implementation strategies and program structures, and to evaluate the need for improved climate services, especially in individual agencies, the Administration believes that interagency coordination is essential for delivering comprehensive Federal climate services.  Therefore, OSTP has established, under the National Science and Technology Council, the Roundtable on Climate Information and Services, a high-level group that will develop a common definition of climate services, examine national assets, and provide a roadmap of how the federal government can provide services in a coordinated way.  The USGCRP will work with the Roundtable to provide information, data, and expertise to support these efforts.