Wednesday 19 August 2020, 11.30–12.30 (AEST)
Overview
While weather and climate forecasts on daily to seasonal timescales have been available for many years, forecasts on the annual to decadal timescale have only more recently become available through the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) Annual-to-Decadal Climate Prediction Centre. Climate information and forecasts on the multi-year to decadal timescales could benefit many Australian sectors and industries, including agriculture, horticulture, energy and emergency and water management. Climate information on these timescales can assist with long-term operational planning, allowing for better risk identification and decision making.
The CSIRO, via the Decadal Climate Forecasting Project (DCFP), are delivering forecasts on the multi-year to decadal timescale, providing Australia’s contribution to the WMO’s Centre. A key goal of the DCFP is to advance the utility of climate forecasts by closely integrating forecast skill evaluation and use with specific applications. This task relies on stakeholder collaboration, particularly to bridge potential gaps between the types of climate information of importance to operational decisions and the climate information that can be skilfully forecast.
In 2019/20, the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub worked with researchers from the DCFP on a Tasmania-focused case study (TasLab Engage) to collect valuable Tasmanian stakeholder information that will contribute to the development of multi-year to decadal forecasts for Australia. The case study highlighted the clear need for one-on-one engagement between forecast generators and users in order to understand the complexities and climate information needs of individual industries.
In this webinar, Dr Carly Tozer discusses the outcomes of the TasLab Engage case study, including the stakeholder engagement process, key findings and new understandings about the decisions stakeholders make on annual to multi-year timescales that can be influenced by climate outcomes.
Watch the webinar recording
About the presenter
Dr Carly Tozer is a research scientist within CSIRO’s Decadal Climate Forecasting Project based in Hobart, Tasmania. Her research focuses on characterising the ocean-atmospheric processes influencing Australia’s weather and climate, particularly extremes. Coming from an engineering background and with consulting experience, Carly gets great satisfaction from the application and uptake of her research by stakeholders. She enjoys engaging with end-users to better determine requirements and to measure the impact and benefits of her research.
Content for this webinar was sourced from outputs from the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub Case Study 5.3: TasLab Engage.