Mommy, Where Do Climate Service Products Come From?

Abstract:

Since the middle 20^th Century -- and earlier-- a large variety of climate services have become available to existing and potential users needing climate information to inform a decision of interest to them. Climate may play a minor to major role in such decisions. Originally, most such information was delivered in the form of products, which could range in complexity from the simplest possible form, the original or edited data themselves, to more highly developed and manipulated information in the form of summaries, typically in fixed forms. These were intended to serve a need for widely, routinely, and frequently requested basic statistical information about climate, in the form of tables, graphics and sometimes narratives. With the rise of the internet this approach has given way to applications that can generate tailored summaries on demand, with the user able to control date intervals, statistical thresholds, formats, and a variety of other issues of both substance and style. A much richer environment for the creation of such information now exists. This tradition arose largely through the combined efforts of NOAA and predecessor agencies via the National Weather Records Center, renamed the National Climate Center, renamed the National Climatic Data Center, now combined with geophysical and oceanographic counterparts into the National Centers for Environmental Information, in analogy with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. A steady partner during this history has been the membership of the American Association of State Climatologists. The first efforts were intended to address to most common questions and to assist with reduction in workload in answering multiple repeated requests for the same information. Over time users and uses have become increasingly sophisticated, specialized, and diverse. Increasing efforts are directed to a more systematic approach, involving explicit engagement of stakeholders, to learn which applications to develop or improve. The recent merger of three centers into NCEI presents opportunities in this realm.