TasLab Engage Project Update

 

 

The Decadal Climate Forecasting Project’s Dr Carly Tozer is managing the TasLab Engage Project, which is working to establish the value of 1 – 10 year climate forecasts, which the DCFP will deliver. The project team includes members of the DCFP, University of Tasmania and National Environmental Science Program.

TasLab Engage is a project funded by the National Environmental Science Program’s Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub. The aim of TasLab Engage is to develop an understanding of how climate information is currently used by stakeholder groups within a number of sectors across Tasmania, including water, agriculture and emergency response. We are interested to know what types of climate extremes are potentially relevant, what kind of climate information is desired, and how potential uncertainties in this information are accounted for in our stakeholder’s operations.

The DCFP’s 1 – 10 year forecasts will bridge the gap between seasonal forecasts and climate change projections. Decadal forecasting is a relatively new area globally, and there is currently limited understanding of the types of decisions stakeholders might make on these timescales and how decadal predictions might be incorporated into operations.

By better understanding the climate information needs of different stakeholder groups, it will assist us in better communicating decadal predictive information and the associated uncertainties in decision-relevant terms.

To date we have undertaken interviews with four stakeholder groups in Tasmania and are currently reporting on our findings.