You are here

ENHANCED AVAILABILITY OF CLIMATE MODEL OUTPUT

Description:

Federal investment in the development of climate and earth system models for scientific analysis is dominated by programmatic support from the Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Science Foundation (NSF). Model output resulting from climate change projections is a valuable resource and the DOE has played a crucial role in providing the research and stakeholder communities with datasets containing ensemble runs produced by climate modeling centers that are combined with data sets used for validation and uncertainty analysis. More specifically, the DOE-supported Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) (http:--www-pcmdi.llnl.gov-ipcc-about_ipcc.php) makes available multi-model output derived from all major climate modeling centers worldwide, to researchers for non-commercial purposes only; however, other users, particularly non-researchers who wish to use the data for commercial purposes, have only limited access to multi-model data sets, i.e., given restrictions imposed by some modeling centers for commercialization. As the temporal and spatial resolution of models increases, and as improved downscaling techniques become available from both the public and private sectors, vastly more amounts of climate model output will be generated, some of which allows commercial use and others with more restricted access.
US Flag An Official Website of the United States Government