Translating Science into Action: Innovative Services for the Geo- and Environmental- Sciences in the Era of Big Data

EUPORIAS partners Rachel Lowe (IC3) and Carlo Buontempo (Met Office) co-convened a session "Translating Science into Action: Innovative Services for the Geo -and Environmental- Sciences in the Era of Big Data" at the 2013 American Geophysical Union's 46th annual Fall Meeting in San Francisco, USA, 9-13 December 2013.Traditional post-processing of geo -and environmental- science data, such as climate projections, ensembles simulations, and downscaled model outputs often fail to address the needs of practitioners in various sectors. This is partially due to the lack of appropriate information and metadata and partially to the lack of standardized strategies to compare, evaluate, and then use such data appropriately. In an era of advancing technologies and analytical tools, Big Data is altering the way scientists study and analyze information. Novel tools are being developed to illuminate data quality, at multiple spatio-temporal scales, and develop decision-relevant applications. In the session, invited speakers presented innovative approaches for the quantitative evaluation of geo -and environmental- science data (e.g. observations, forecasts and projections) across multiple spatio-temporal scales and their use for applications, and shared strategies to more effectively present and disseminate evaluation results to decision makers, for an improved knowledge exchange between users and producers of climate information in climate-sensitive sectors (e.g., water, energy, health, agriculture, ecosystems). EUPORIAS partner Laurent Dubus (EDF) gave an invited talk on how monthly to seasonal forecasts could help to better manage power systems. The poster session featured papers from IC3 on the visualisation and communication of probabilistic forecast information, statistical and dynamical modelling techniques to analyse the impact of climate on mortality in Europe, dengue in Thailand, and Chikungunya in Cambodia, as well as a rainfall-runoff model for prediction of waterborne viral contamination in river catchments. A EUPORIAS project poster was also presented. Details of the meeting and scientific programme can be found here.