March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 1

Richard D. Rosen, Ph.D.

Senior Advisor for Climate Research

NOAA Climate Program Office

March 24, 2011

NOAA’s plans for improving the delivery of 

climate services
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 2

DOC – NOAA Announcement

February 8, 2010

- Joint press conference with Secretary Gary Locke and Under Secretary Jane 

Lubchenco

“...NOAA’s intent to establish a new office called the NOAA Climate Service. This 

would create a single office for climate science and service bringing together the 

climate assets and capabilities that are currently dispersed in multiple units 

across the agency.”

“We are announcing the intent to reorganize existing assets to make NOAA’s

Climate Services more responsive to the needs of those who use our services. 

While additional funds will be needed to increase NOAA’s core climate 

capabilities going forward to meet growing demands, the proposed 

reorganization is independent of new resources.”

http://www.noaa.gov/climate

- Joint press conference with Secretary Gary Locke and 

Under Secretary Jane Lubchenco
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 3

Climate Service 

Vision and Strategic Framework 

• Version 9 is now available at noaa.gov/climate

• Incorporates comments from

o A formal public review 

o 10 Webinar Briefings

o National Academy of Public Administration

o NOAA’s Science Advisory Board, Climate Working Group

o Numerous presentations at meetings with stakeholders
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 4

Climate Service 

Vision and Mission

Vision

By providing science and services, the Climate Service envisions an informed society 

capable of anticipating and responding to climate and its impacts.

Mission

Improve understanding and prediction of changes in climate and promote a climateresilient society by:

• Monitoring climate trends, conducting research, and developing models to strengthen our 

knowledge of the changing climate and its impacts on our physical, economic, and societal 

systems

• Providing authoritative and timely information products and services about climate change, 

climate variability, and impacts

• Informing decision making and management at the local, state, regional, national, and 

international levels

The Climate Service delivers products and services in collaboration with public, 

private, and academic partners to maximize social, economic, and environmental 

benefits. 
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 5

Climate Service 

Strategic Objectives

• Improved scientific understanding of the changing climate 

system and its impacts

• Assessments of current and future states of the climate 

system that identify potential impacts and inform science, 

service, and stewardship decisions

• Mitigation and adaptation choices supported by sustained, 

reliable, and timely climate services

• A climate-literate public that understands its vulnerabilities 

to a changing climate and makes informed decisions
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 6

Climate Service Core Capabilities 

Address Societal Challenges
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 7

FY 2012 President’s Budget
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 8

Proposed Climate Service

FY 2012 President’s Budget

3/18/11
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 9

Regional Climate Services Partnership: 

A Conceptual Pearl
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 10

Regional Climate Service Directors

Doug Kluck

Kansas City, Missouri

DeWayne Cecil

Salt Lake City, Utah

Ellen Mecray

Bohemia, New York

David Brown

Fort Worth, Texas John Marra

Honolulu, Hawaii

James Partain

Anchorage, Alaska
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 11

North American Monsoon Experiment

2004 Field Campaign
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 12

• Developing a Regional Drought Early 

Warming System (DEWS)

• Extend Upper Colorado pilot to California 

with its highly-managed water system
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 13

Data in the Border Region: Examples

•NOAA uses a variety of in situ and remotely 

sensed datasets along the border that support 

climate change monitoring

• Examples include river gauges in the Rio 

Grande Basin (below) and the modernized 

Historical Climate Network (right)

• Sustaining NOAA’s observational 

networks is crucial to future climate 

change detection
March 24, 2011 THE CLIMATE SERVICE 14

For More Information...

www.noaa.gov/climate

• Vision and Strategic Framework, FY12 “Blue Book” highlights, Q&As, events, 

links to resources

www.climate.gov

• NOAA’s Climate Portal: Climate Watch Magazine, Data & Services, 

Understanding Climate, Education

www.srcc.lsu.edu

www.wrcc.dri.edu

• NOAA’s Regional Climate Centers (6 in total)

o Applied Climate Information System (ACIS), real-time and historical climate 

information

www.climas.arizona.edu

• Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS)

o Supported by NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) 

program

o Source of information about observed climate changes, the Southwest Climate 

Change Network, data sources