The Italy-US Cooperation on Climate Sciencs

1. The Italy-US Cooperation on Climate Sciencs

2. The challenge of climate changeStrongly science-based problem.A special responsibility for scientists to provide honest, accurate, sound scienceGlobal scope and complex interactions

3. A scientific consideration of climate (I) Crucial experiments like the famous experiment of Michelson e Morley are not possible in climate science How is it possible a scientific investigation of climate ?

4. A scientific consideration of climate (II) We can male experiments if we represent the climate system via a set of mathematical relations: the equation of climate. The equation of climate are very difficult, but they can be solved by numerical methods. We can then treat very complex mathematical equations, paying the price of a enormous number of elementary operations.

5. The next generation of numerical models will be like new, more powerful, telescopes or particle accelerators and they will allow us to look further into the working of the Earth climate more accurately, extensively and reliably.

6. Euro Mediterranean Center for Climate Change

7. The Mission • Improve our understanding of the nature and mechanisms of climate variability, its causes and its impacts, with a special emphasis on the Mediterranean Area and its interactions with the global climate. Major research themes will include tropical-extratropical teleconnections, decadal and interdecadal cliate variability and the issues linked to the general circulation. • Develop high quality products that will be made available to the scientific community, with an adequate user support, documentation and training. Research will support the improvement of the CMCC products and guarantee a continous high quality level. • Establish a significant computational facility to support italian climate numerical simulation research and contribute to capacity building in the Mediterranean region • Produce numerical models, simulations, applications and assessments. CMCC will also perform high level training in the areas of climate dynamics and its impacts.

8. The Structure of the CMCC Climate Research Numerical Methods Software Development Numerical Simulations Agricultural Impacts:Forests Impacts:Energy and Economy Agricultural Impacts:Crops Impacts:Mediterranean Sea Impacts:Health Impacts:The Coastal Zone

9. Mean JAN Precipitation Global 30km Resolution

10. Components of the current research program • Dynamic and simulation of climate change at decadal scale. • Regional assessment of carbon sequestration and testcases • Assessment of climate policy and post-Kyoto regimes • Areosols role in climate change • Reduction of NOx emissions in biogas burning.

11. Research Directions • Near-term climate scenarios (up to 2030) • High spatial resolution, uncertainties quantification • Ice ages challenge • Simulation of the ice age cycle • (MOU with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO) • Assessment and valuation of climate policy and post-Kyoto regimes • (MOU with the Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton Univerity)

12. CIRCE Climate Change and Impact ResearCh: the Mediterranean Environment An FP6 Project of the European Union Chair: Antonio Navarra and Laurence Tubiana

13. The project will investigate how global and Mediterranean climates interact, how the radiative properties of the atmosphere and the radiative fluxes vary, the interaction between cloudiness and aerosol, the modifications in the water cycle. The economic and social consequences of climate change shall be evaluated by analyzing direct impacts on migration, tourism and energy markets together with indirect impacts on the economic system. CIRCE will moreover investigate the consequences on agriculture, forests and ecosystems, human health and air quality. The variability of extreme events in the future scenario and their impacts will be assessed. 65 Research Institution participate in the project. The integrated results discussed by the project CIRCE will be presented in the first Regional Assessment of Climate Change in the Mediterranean area.

14. Ph.D Programs in Climate Change Science • CMCC has sponsored the creation of two new Ph.D programs in climate science. • CMCC and University of Venice • Climate Dynamics (Division of Numerical Experimentations and Scenarios, CMCC-Bologna) • Climate Impacts and Policy (Division on Climate Change Impacts and Policy, CMCC-Venice • CMCC and Universita’ del Salento, CMCC-Lecce • International Focus, English as a working language, competitive admission based on qualifications and GRE • 12 Slots available in 2007-2008, 6 Fellowship available

15. Sustaining and directing the research effort Funding for Earth Systems research is stationary or decreasing. University programs, with their reliance on individually funded research, are too small to engage in a global programmatic approach. Research spending from those institutions that do have scale – e.g. defense budgets and private sector entities – is significantly lower than it used to be. We are not increasing our investments in research right at the time when we need to generate new intellectual capital that can help us manage both the planet and our economic activities in the 21st Century.

16. A new international research paradigm We need to identify the new questions. What are the big scientific and technological questions that will make a real difference to policy and investment decisions in the coming decade, and that can drive the research agenda of the next generation of researchers and scientists? We need to mobilize new sources of funding. We need to be able to articulate the scale of funding needed. What is the scale of that funding? How does it compare to other efforts to accomplish other advancements in knowledge and technology? We need new global institutional solutions to deliver the support this research deserves. What forms of global public-private partnerships do we need to ensure the private sector invests for the long term? What institutional arrangement should we set in place?