DECM – Data Evaluation for Climate Models
The third-party funded project “Data Evaluation for Climate Models" (DECM, C3S_51 Lot4) is part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which is provided by the European Union's Copernicus Programme and managed by the European Commission. C3S is implemented by ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts), currently in a pre-operational phase and expected to become operational in 2018.
The purpose of C3S is to inform policy development in Europe regarding climate change, improve the planning of mitigation and adaptation strategies, and promote the development of new services for the benefit of society. As part of C3S, a Climate Data Store (CDS) will be developed that provides tools, data, products, and services to a range of different users. The project belongs to the Evaluation and Quality Control (EQC) of the various components of the CDS. The objective of this EQC function is to evaluate and foster the development of climate services. This involves assessing the technical and scientific quality of the service including the value to users.
As part of C3S, the project “Data Evaluation for Climate Models" focuses on quality assurance for multi-model climate projections on a global and regional scale. GERICS is leading the evaluation of technical and scientific requirements of different user groups – from climate experts to non-specialists in using climate data, e.g. practice-oriented users.
User needs are assessed based on two methodologies: First on a literature review and findings from previous projects and assessments. Furthermore, an online survey addressing different user groups will be conducted to identify what users expect from the CDS concerning multi-model products. Moreover, GERICS contributes to other parts of the project, including, amongst others, an assessment of availability and usability of multi-model data with a focus on the WCRP Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and the WCRP Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX).
Publications
- Evaluation of Climate Services: Enabling Users to Assess the Quality of Multi-model Climate Projections and Derived Products. In: Handbook of Climate Services Zahid, M., J. El Zohbi, E. Viktor, D. Rechid, S. Schuck-Zöller, E. Keup-Thiel, and D. Jacob, (2020)
- An interactive tool for evaluation and selection of climate model ensembles. In: Climate Services Parding, K.M.; Dobler, A.; McSweeney, C.F.; Landgren, O.A.; Benestad, R.; Erlandsen, H.B.; Mezghani, A.; Gregow, H.; Räty, O.; Viktor, E.; El Zohbi, J.; Christensen, O.B.; Loukos, H.: GCMeval (2020)