COMET Courses

Assessing a Portfolio of Approaches for Producing Climate Change Information to Support Adaptation Decisions

This workshop will help characterize the strengths, limitations, variability, and uncertainties of approaches for producing and using climate change information to inform US Federal water resources adaptation planning and operations. Decisions about climate change adaptation measures to enhance the resilience of the infrastructure, planning, and operation of water-related resources in the US require reliable information about the variability and uncertainty of probable climate change effects at the spatiotemporal scales where the decisions are taken. A large portfolio of possible approaches to produce and apply climate change information for water resource issues has been developed, and many of those approaches are in use now. Each method or analytical technique in this portfolio brings its set of uncertainties and particular deficiencies, some of which are large or only partly characterized and poorly quantified. However, agencies currently lack best practice guidelines for helping them assess and choose the most appropriate approaches and techniques for their particular sets of adaptation decisions.

For these reasons, Federal agencies with water resource missions must develop guidelines for producing and using climate change information appropriately to support their variously scaled adaptation decisions. These guidelines will not dictate the individual approaches to be taken. Rather, they will help agencies develop a set of best practices for assessing the strengths and limits of the various approaches to using climate information for their decision choice-points. In addition, the guidelines will be structured to be flexible enough to apply to current state-of-the-science information as well as to future climate science developments.

This course provides an in-depth look at the surface energy budget and how the use of this knowledge can improve boundary layer forecasts. It is offered as a follow-up to COMAP 2010.

The COMET Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction course (COMAP) was initiated in 1991 to give NWS Science and Operations Officers (SOOs) the tools necessary to conduct on-station scientific research and training. Taught at the graduate level, the course includes seminars by visiting scientists and training professionals. Laboratory exercises that support the lecture material are another critical component to the COMAP course. In addition to providing an in-depth review of mesoscale meteorology, the course also will guide the participant through the myriad of available professional development resources.

Travel code: 0-02-0000-06-93-00-00 H8M5J10 P2X
Registration fee: $70.00USD

As of March 2010 changes in forming a new Joint Polar Program (old NPOESS) and a refocus for the NWS SRSST have resulted in changed plans for the 2010 satellite meetings planned for May in Boulder. It has been decided that we will not hold the 7th Annual Curriculum Workshop this May and the SRSST will also not meet in Boulder as previously planned. The GOES-R Proving Ground meeting is still planned for Boulder, but the dates are now set for Tuesday and Wednesday May 18 and 19. Following the Proving Ground meeting there will be a 1-day meeting on 20 May to discuss satellite training plans, status and issues. It is envisioned that PG meeting attendees will stay for all 3-days of meetings.

The Proving Ground meeting is being organized by Jim Gurka and Steve Goodman. The meetings will be hosted by COMET and held in the COMET classroom in Foothills Lab 2 Building in Boulder.

Note: participation is by invitation only. If you have any questions please contact Wendy Abshire at (303) 497-8477.