Sept. 28, 2000


Columbia University Awarded $42 Million By U.S. Government To Help Minimize Impact Of Climate Variations

By Suzanne Trimel

Antonio Dimoura

The International Research Institute for Climate Prediction at Columbia University, also known as the IRI, announced the award of $42 million in U.S. government funding to support its climate research and applications worldwide to help minimize the devastating impact of major climate fluctuations like El Ni&ntidle;o and drought on public health, agriculture, the environment, and energy and water resources. The grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) represents the consolidation of the IRI's unprecedented effort since its founding in late 1996 to develop state-of-the-art long-range climate forecast technology and its practical applications by policymakers around the globe in coping with major seasonal climate fluctuations.

Columbia University officials say the five-year grant from NOAA's Office of Global Programs is especially important because the IRI works to apply science directly to solve real world problems.

Announcement of the grant was made by Dr. Antonio Divino Moura, IRI Director, at the institute headquarters at Columbia's earth sciences campus, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y.

"An important part of the vision for the IRI is its recognition that the benefits of climate predictions are tied to their application and not simply their production," said Moura. "Climate prediction is not enough. Ultimately, the measure of success of the IRI is the degree to which we accelerate the ability of societies worldwide to cope with climate fluctuations. But this can only be achieved through the development of innovative application methods and techniques."

The institute is unique among institutions devoted to climate research in that it directly applies research by partner institutions worldwide on the predictability of climate variations toward solving the critical social and economic implications of climate changes, mainly in the Third World. Around the globe, drastic climate fluctuations resulting in drought, floods, severe winters and storms result not only in devastating human and financial losses but impact government security and disaster aid worldwide, especially in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The IRI is part of Columbia University's Earth Institute, a wide-ranging environmental research initiative under the guidance of Executive Vice Provost Michael Crow. Among its other components are the renowned Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Biosphere II in Arizona, and the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, a collaborative research effort between Columbia and other top conservation and environment institutions, such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

"Over the last decades scientists have dramatically advanced our forecasting capabilities," said Crow. "There still exists, however, a tremendous gap between climate predictions and their use to help society respond to many disastrous changes. It is our goal to see the IRI bridge the gap between science and help for human beings."

Michael Hall, Director of the Office of Global Programs of NOAA, said: "This institution is an important result of two decades of intensive research by scientists all over the world into climate variability and its effect on humans. The IRI is itself an experiment - a unique new type of institution to bridge promising science with societal concerns in an efficient and internationally equitable way."

In partnership with NOAA, which provided a $19 million start-up grant from the federal government, the IRI has grown in four years from a staff of 8 researchers to more than 60, headquartered in the new Monell building, completed last fall at the Lamont-Doherty campus.

With training a key part of its mission, the institute to date has provided training in climate forecasting and modeling to 140 scientists and researchers from 37 countries and distributed advanced climate forecasting research software worldwide. Its web-based climate information system, which provides state-of-the-art climate impact information for regions worldwide, receives about 15,000 hits per day.

IRI's major projects include:

  • Development of climate monitoring and prediction capabilities to help the Peruvian government and fishing industry cope with changing ocean temperatures from El Ni&ntidle;o on Pacific fishing, which in the past has been devastated by the phenomenon. IRI's work paved the way for the implementation of an $11 million World Bank program in this area.
  • The development of targeted regional forecast capability and the assessment of the needs of institutions and farmers for forecasts to provide early warning on droughts and potential famines in the Greater Horn of Africa, working with the Drought Monitoring Center in Nairobi and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
  • Water management planning for drought periods for the State of Ceara in northeastern Brazil where the IRI is working with policymakers on solutions that include the optimized use of dams, water treatment for drinking and the building of canals to bring drinking water to the capital city of 2 million during drought periods.
  • Research on an early-warning system for heightened human susceptibility to dengue fever in tropical climates, based on the predictability of mosquito infestation based on climate change.

To accomplish its so-called "end-to-end," projects in Asia, South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa, the institute employs a research staff in both the physical and the social sciences. In addition to climatologists, these include oceanographers, hydrologists, agronomists, economists, sociologists, public health specialists and anthropologists.

The institute has developed cooperative agreements with, among others, the National Science Council and Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan; the Frontier Research System for Global Change (Japan), the National Centers for Environmental Predictions, UNESCO, the Center for Weather Prediction and Climate Studies (Brazil), and the state of Ceara, Brazil. In addition to NOAA funds, the IRI has received program support from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Inter-American Development Bank.

As Director-General of the National Meteorological Service of Brazil in 1985, Dr. Moura's work in modernizing Brazil's forecasting capabilities led to the creation of the Center for Weather Prediction and Climate Studies, the first of its kind in South America. A consensus emerged in the international climate research community in 1989 that experimental forecast information could only be valuable if an international institution was in place to advance research, make forecast research products routinely available worldwide and provide a central location for feedback on results. To fulfill this need, NOAA invited Moura in 1991 to serve as chief scientist of NOAA's Office of Global Programs to work with a team of international scientists to develop a pilot program for the creation of the IRI.

The launch of the IRI in 1996 created an institution devoted to translating climate research into solving the many societal problems related to drought, flooding, and vector-born disease epidemics.