Tools and Resources for Planning Ahead

Climate science tools and portals

Pacific Climate Futures

Pacific Climate Futures is a web-tool developed in collaboration with Pacific Island countries that provides free and easy access to climate projections data. These data can be used for risk assessment and adaptation planning.

The tool groups projections from individual models into a small set of internally consistent climate futures, such as ’warmer and wetter‘ or ’hotter and drier’. Each climate future is given a likelihood so the user can readily identify the most likely future, as well as less likely futures that might represent a ‘best case’ or ‘worst case’. Users can select a small set of climate models that represent key climate futures, then download data from these models into an Excel spreadsheet. Observed climate data can be imported into the spreadsheet and combined with model data to create synthetic future in climate data for use climate impact assessments.

Access to the basic and intermediate levels of this tool is available to the public, while advanced level access is subject to training and accreditation. The tool can be found at www.pacificclimatefutures.net.

The Pacific Climate Change Data Portal

The Pacific Climate Change Data Portal allows users to visualise historical monthly temperature and rainfall data and to explore trends from more than 100 individual observation sites across the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste. As the largest web-based data source for the Pacific region, this tool allows users to plot time-series graphs, linear trends, multi-year running averages and long-term averages. It includes trends in daily rainfall and temperature extremes.

This tool is available to users approved by relevant national governments and can be found at www.bom.gov.au/climate/pccsp/.

CliDE: Climate Data for the Environment

CliDE is a PC-based, desktop climate database management system installed in National Meteorological Services in 15 countries to support day-to-day operations, including the archiving and basic analysis of historical and recent meteorological data. CliDE provides a reliable and functional platform for countries to rescue and secure hard copy and electronic data, the former of which in some countries date back more than 100 years. Accurate climate records are critical for building an understanding of how the climate is changing and for verifying climate projections, monitoring and comparing droughts and other extreme events.

CLiDE is used by the National Meteorological Services of each of the PACCSAP Program’s partner countries. More information can be found at www.bom.gov.au/climate/pacific/about-clide.shtml.

The Southern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone Data Portal

The Southern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone Data Portal improves knowledge of past tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste by plotting tracks of cyclones in the South Pacific from the 1969/70 season through to the 2009/10 season, allowing users to see the characteristics and paths of past tropical cyclone events.

Meteorologists and stakeholders can use this tool to analyse the tracks of historical tropical cyclones and relate them to the impacts on lives and infrastructure recorded on the ground.

This tool is available to the public and can be found at www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/tracks/.

Seasonal Prediction of Sea Level Anomalies in the Western Pacific

The Seasonal Prediction of Sea Level Anomalies in the Western Pacific tool is focused on the development and verification of seasonal forecasts for sea level for Pacific partner countries. These forecasts are generated using the POAMA dynamical model and are aimed at developing a better understanding of seasonal sea level prediction, and prototype forecast products for the Western Pacific.

This tool is accessible to interested users who apply to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to use the tool. Meteorological agencies from PACCSAP partner countries in the Pacific are the primary users of this tool. It is available at www.bom.gov.au/climate/pacific/aboutsea-level-outlooks.shtml.

Seasonal Prediction of Extreme Ocean Temperatures and Coral Bleaching

The Seasonal Prediction of Extreme Ocean Temperature and Coral Bleaching tool provides POAMA-based dynamical seasonal forecasts of ocean temperature and coral bleaching risk. This information is critical to partner countries in planning coastal development and safeguarding agricultural, marine and water resources.

Pacific Climate Change Portal

The Pacific Climate Change Portal (PCCP) has been developed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in collaboration with its partners. The portal aims to ensure that climate change-related information and tools developed by regional and national institutions in the Pacific Island region are readily accessible to stakeholders in a coordinated and user-friendly manner. The major target groups for the portal are national stakeholders within Pacific Island countries and territories, regional stakeholders including Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP) agencies, and development partners. The PCCP will also provide a metadata catalogue and associated access guidelines for all project-based climate science data collections generated by PCCSP and PACCSAP through the Australian Government-funded Pacific iClim project, which is being delivered jointly by Griffith University and SPREP.

The PCCP is available at www.pacificclimatechange.net.

Additional resources for understanding climate variability and change in the Pacific

The Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) program developed a range of resources to help Pacific island nations understand climate variability and change in the region, and use science-based information to build resilience. They include:

Climate Variability, Extremes and Change in the Western Tropical Pacific: New Science and Updated Country Reports, a comprehensive technical report documenting the latest scientific understanding of large-scale climate processes, observations, extremes and projections in the western tropical Pacific.
Country brochures, providing a summary of information from the technical report for 14 Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste.
Climate in the Pacific: A regional summary of new science and management tools, a non-technical report for policy developers, planners and associated decision-makers.
Fact sheets on climate variability, climate extremes, large-scale climate features, ocean acidification and sea-level rise.
The Pacific Adventures of the Climate Crab, an animation that aims to increase awareness of the science and impacts of climate variability in the Pacific.

These and other resources are available from the Pacific Climate Change Science website at www.pacificclimatechangescience.org.

In addition, a range of resources – including climate change science training materials – are available through local NMHSs.

Pacific Guidance and Case Studies