The University of Vermont will host the 14th Annual Climate Prediction Applications Science Workshop March 22 to 24 at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington.
The international conference, launched in 2002 by the National Weather Service’s Climate Services Division, will bring together a diverse group of climate researchers, climate product developers, and climate information users to share developments in research and applications of climate predictions. The goal of the workshop is to put new information and tools in the hands of end-users with the goal of improving decision making at all policy levels.
High profile keynote speakers
The conference will feature two highly regarded climate experts as keynote speakers.
David Grimes, president of the World Meteorological Organization -- a specialized agency of the United Nations that co-established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body for the assessment of climate change -- will deliver a talk titled “The Global Weather, Climate, and Water Enterprise: Helping to Build Resilient Communities.” Grimes is also head of environment and climate change at Environment Canada’s Meteorological Service.
Filipe Lucio, director of the Global Framework for Climate Services section of the World Meteorological Organization, will give a second keynote, titled “The Challenge of Decision Making in a Changing Climate.”
Other keynote and featured speakers are Deborah Markowitz, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and Dan Kahan, a professor of both law and psychology at Yale University.
The workshop will have 10 sessions spread over three days, each with several presentations. Session topics range “Climate and Health” to “Managing Water Resources and Flooding” to “Localizing Climate Information.”
Interactive format with agenda Vermonters helped shape
According to Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, professor of geography at UVM and one of the event’s lead organizers, the workshop will place strong emphasis on creating a dialogue between presenters and participants.
Interactive workshops during each of the three days will provide an opportunity for interaction between developers and end-users on the new climate tools that will be presented.
“Everyone will be in the same room, so participants can give developers direct feedback on what they like and what they think could be improved,” she said.
The event will be of special interest to Vermonters, Dupigny-Giroux said. Last spring, she brought together 75 staff from Vermont’s Regional Planning Commissions and from several state and federal agencies to solicit input on their daily climate and climate change needs.
“The CPASW agenda was designed in part to address the needs that arose out of that meeting,” Dupigny-Giroux said.
In addition to UVM, conference organizers are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Northeast Regional Climate Center, the DOI Northeast Climate Science Center, and USDA.
The registration fee for the conference is $235 and $40 for students, and will close on March 16.