The Climate Change and Local Government Forum is an exciting new event featuring New Zealand experts in this area. Mainly (but not exclusively) for local government professionals, it's an opportunity to hear from both climate researchers and local government practitioners facing the challenge of adapting to our changing climate.
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Assessing and validating the NZESM using modern and historic observations
The NZ Earth System Model (NZESM) is designed to simulate how our climate will change over the coming decades. It’s highly complex, modelling everything from weather systems to changes in Antarctic sea ice, ocean temperatures to stratospheric chemistry.
Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the atmosphere above them have a significant influence on the climate in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yet gaps in our understanding about Southern Ocean and Antarctic processes limit the reliability of global climate prediction.
The earth’s climate is so complex that individual components of the climate system, and their interactions, need to be well understood if future predictions are to be reliable.
The projects in this programme focus on improving our knowledge about poorly understood aspects of the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere in the deep south. The projects improve our ability to produce more accurate climate models and projections for New Zealand.
Assoc. Professor Adrian Mcdonald
Email: adrian.mcdonald@canterbury.ac.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
The focus of this programme is to assemble the first New Zealand Earth System Model (NZESM), which sits in the heart of the Deep South Challenge work.
An Earth System Model combines the physical processes of atmospheric and oceanic circulation with the chemical and biological processes that impact the earth system.
Earth system models inform international assessments of climate, such as the assessment reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Developing the NZESM means that we no longer need to base our climate projections on overseas models. This is important because due to their focus on the Northern Hemisphere climate, overseas models often poorly represent some processes in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The resulting biases can have serious consequences for the quality of projections over Aotearoa New Zealand.
The development of the New Zealand Earth System Model hasn't started from scratch. Existing models provide important building blocks that apply anywhere, and our modellers are supported by strong collaborations with overseas partners.
Notably, this work puts Aotearoa New Zealand in with the handful of other countries that run their own earth system models, and gives us the resource and expertise to contribute to global climate modelling efforts.
Keep up-to-date with our modelling programme and find more information about our planned simulations, including how and when global models will be downscaled for New Zealand, at the NZESM page, here.
Learn more about simulating New Zealand's changing climate on the NZESM home page, here.
Dr Olaf Morgenstern, NIWA
Email: olaf.morgenstern@niwa.co.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
Reducing biases in the representation of clouds and aerosols in the NZESM
Clouds have a massive effect on climate. Cloud cover reflects radiation from the sun that would otherwise be absorbed by oceans, raising their temperatures. Cloud cover can also act as a blanket, keeping warmth near the surface.
Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the atmosphere above them have a significant influence on the climate in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yet gaps in our understanding about Southern Ocean and Antarctic processes limit the reliability of global climate prediction.
The earth’s climate is so complex that individual components of the climate system, and their interactions, need to be well understood if future predictions are to be reliable.
The projects in this programme focus on improving our knowledge about poorly understood aspects of the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere in the deep south. The projects improve our ability to produce more accurate climate models and projections for New Zealand.
Assoc. Professor Adrian Mcdonald
Email: adrian.mcdonald@canterbury.ac.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
The focus of this programme is to assemble the first New Zealand Earth System Model (NZESM), which sits in the heart of the Deep South Challenge work.
An Earth System Model combines the physical processes of atmospheric and oceanic circulation with the chemical and biological processes that impact the earth system.
Earth system models inform international assessments of climate, such as the assessment reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Developing the NZESM means that we no longer need to base our climate projections on overseas models. This is important because due to their focus on the Northern Hemisphere climate, overseas models often poorly represent some processes in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The resulting biases can have serious consequences for the quality of projections over Aotearoa New Zealand.
The development of the New Zealand Earth System Model hasn't started from scratch. Existing models provide important building blocks that apply anywhere, and our modellers are supported by strong collaborations with overseas partners.
Notably, this work puts Aotearoa New Zealand in with the handful of other countries that run their own earth system models, and gives us the resource and expertise to contribute to global climate modelling efforts.
Keep up-to-date with our modelling programme and find more information about our planned simulations, including how and when global models will be downscaled for New Zealand, at the NZESM page, here.
Learn more about simulating New Zealand's changing climate on the NZESM home page, here.
Dr Olaf Morgenstern, NIWA
Email: olaf.morgenstern@niwa.co.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
Versatile 4D drones for observations of key deep south earth system processes
We have large gaps in our observational data about sea ice, clouds and snow in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, which effects the quality of our climate models.
Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the atmosphere above them have a significant influence on the climate in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yet gaps in our understanding about Southern Ocean and Antarctic processes limit the reliability of global climate prediction.
The earth’s climate is so complex that individual components of the climate system, and their interactions, need to be well understood if future predictions are to be reliable.
The projects in this programme focus on improving our knowledge about poorly understood aspects of the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere in the deep south. The projects improve our ability to produce more accurate climate models and projections for New Zealand.
Assoc. Professor Adrian Mcdonald
Email: adrian.mcdonald@canterbury.ac.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
Targeted observation and process-informed modelling of Antarctic sea ice (TOPOMASI)
Antarctic sea ice plays a major role in the global climate system. Its presence maintains cold conditions that help sustain Antarctica’s ice sheets, and it affects the rate of global warming by changing heat uptake in the Southern Ocean. Antarctic sea ice has a significant influence on both the ocean and atmospheric components of the climate system, and sea ice extent is closely linked with weather systems over New Zealand.
Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the atmosphere above them have a significant influence on the climate in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yet gaps in our understanding about Southern Ocean and Antarctic processes limit the reliability of global climate prediction.
The earth’s climate is so complex that individual components of the climate system, and their interactions, need to be well understood if future predictions are to be reliable.
The projects in this programme focus on improving our knowledge about poorly understood aspects of the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere in the deep south. The projects improve our ability to produce more accurate climate models and projections for New Zealand.
Assoc. Professor Adrian Mcdonald
Email: adrian.mcdonald@canterbury.ac.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
The focus of this programme is to assemble the first New Zealand Earth System Model (NZESM), which sits in the heart of the Deep South Challenge work.
An Earth System Model combines the physical processes of atmospheric and oceanic circulation with the chemical and biological processes that impact the earth system.
Earth system models inform international assessments of climate, such as the assessment reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Developing the NZESM means that we no longer need to base our climate projections on overseas models. This is important because due to their focus on the Northern Hemisphere climate, overseas models often poorly represent some processes in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The resulting biases can have serious consequences for the quality of projections over Aotearoa New Zealand.
The development of the New Zealand Earth System Model hasn't started from scratch. Existing models provide important building blocks that apply anywhere, and our modellers are supported by strong collaborations with overseas partners.
Notably, this work puts Aotearoa New Zealand in with the handful of other countries that run their own earth system models, and gives us the resource and expertise to contribute to global climate modelling efforts.
Keep up-to-date with our modelling programme and find more information about our planned simulations, including how and when global models will be downscaled for New Zealand, at the NZESM page, here.
Learn more about simulating New Zealand's changing climate on the NZESM home page, here.
Dr Olaf Morgenstern, NIWA
Email: olaf.morgenstern@niwa.co.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
Melt water produced by ice shelves around Antarctica influences ocean currents, temperature and salinity around the Southern Ocean and globally. The Ross Ice Shelf to the south of New Zealand is among the largest Antarctic ice shelves. Currently, our capacity to model its outflow and impact on our climate system is limited.
Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the atmosphere above them have a significant influence on the climate in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yet gaps in our understanding about Southern Ocean and Antarctic processes limit the reliability of global climate prediction.
The earth’s climate is so complex that individual components of the climate system, and their interactions, need to be well understood if future predictions are to be reliable.
The projects in this programme focus on improving our knowledge about poorly understood aspects of the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere in the deep south. The projects improve our ability to produce more accurate climate models and projections for New Zealand.
Assoc. Professor Adrian Mcdonald
Email: adrian.mcdonald@canterbury.ac.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
Seasonality of Southern Ocean dynamics from Antarctic radiocarbon observations
It’s common knowledge that burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change. It’s less well-known that only about half of it stays there. Plants, soil and oceans all act as “carbon sinks” absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the atmosphere above them have a significant influence on the climate in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yet gaps in our understanding about Southern Ocean and Antarctic processes limit the reliability of global climate prediction.
The earth’s climate is so complex that individual components of the climate system, and their interactions, need to be well understood if future predictions are to be reliable.
The projects in this programme focus on improving our knowledge about poorly understood aspects of the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere in the deep south. The projects improve our ability to produce more accurate climate models and projections for New Zealand.
Assoc. Professor Adrian Mcdonald
Email: adrian.mcdonald@canterbury.ac.nz
With Dave Frame, Belinda Storey and David Fleming
Climate change is already making day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive, both for ordinary New Zealanders and for our local and central governments. New Zealanders are increasingly interested in climate adaptation strategies. Conversations about the cost of early adaptation versus the risk of delayed action are growing in volume.
Remember our September symposium at Te Wharewaka ō Pōneke? Well, results are in from the surveys of participants we carried out to find out how well our aims for the symposium had been met.
2018 may well be the year New Zealand gets serious about adapting to our changing climate. Last year, and the start of this one, gave all of us plenty of opportunities to experience a future in which creeping sea level rise and extreme weather – from drought to flood to surprise storm surges – make day-to-day life more precarious and more expensive.
Assessing the Southern Ocean in a warming world and its influence on New Zealand’s climate
The ocean stores and transports heat and can release that heat into the atmosphere. Changes in ocean heat dominate the global energy budget, accounting for 93 percent of global energy change since the 1970s.