Worcester College, Oxford. Photo by Simon Ho
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Attendees at the 2010 Workshop in Colorado
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Contact: Marty Hoerling
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NOAA & International Partners Hold Extreme Meteorological Events Workshop
September 10, 2012
Researchers from the ESRL's Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) will participate in a workshop that will focus on Attribution of Climate and Weather Extremes: Assessing, Anticipating and Communicating Climate Risks, 12-14 September in Oxford, United Kingdom. The aim of this workshop is to review and take forward the latest developments in attribution science and develop a dialogue between the scientific community and key stakeholders with an interest in attribution results, including representatives from the insurance industry, central and local government, the legal profession and the media. Attribution products are envisioned to be an important component of the development of climate services to meet a range of stakeholder needs for adapting to climate change.
This meeting follows on from previous meetings of the Attribution of Climate-related Events (ACE) group, including one held in Colorado in August of 2010. The Oxford workshop is timed to benefit from recent developments, include a new attribution supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society's "State of the Climate" to be published for the first time in July, 2012, and the adoption by the CLIVAR Climate of the 20th Century (C20C) project of a coordinated attribution activity. It will provide an opportunity to discuss lessons learned from the attribution supplement and plan contributions to any follow-up assessment for 2013.
PSL attendees include Drs. Randy Dole, Marty Hoerling, Judith Perlwitz and Robert Webb. Dole is co-chair of the organizing committee and will give a talk on "Framing event attribution to advance climate science and services". Hoerling is on the steering committee and will give presentations on "Conditioning Event Occurrence" and "Future Development of ACE Activities". Perlwitz is contributing to one of the theme sessions, and will discuss the North Atlantic Oscillation and blocking. Webb is chairing a session and will give a talk on "Making sense of event attribution – the decision-making and communication context".
Accurate assessments that can explain whether high-impact weather and climate-related events are due to human activities or natural factors are necessary for developing climate products and services that meet stakeholder needs for climate adaptation.