Climate Exchange

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Drias, the futures of climate:

a service for the benefit of adaptation

Philippe Dandin, Laurent Franchistéguy, Maryvonne Kerdoncuff, Jean-Pascal Atchama,

Guillaume Baillon, Béatrice Cassaigne, Philippe Dos, Patrice Jardin,

Didier Lacambre, Mékafi Tamar, Météo-France, Direction de la Climatologie;

Michel Déqué, Serge Planton, Julien Lémond, Yannick Peings,

CNRS-Météo-France/GAME – Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques;

Christian Pagé, CERFACS; Laurent Li, Thomas Noël, Robert Vautard, Jean Jouzel,

Hervé Le Treut, Marc Jamous, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ/IPSL

he climate is changing, and France is facing a rapid change

too. Many effects of global climate change are visible

while others remain unclear. In any case, research must

be boosted and applications eased. Various communities are

tackling the challenge and working hard to improve the diagno-

sis of past evolution, reduce the uncertainties of projections and

assess the impacts, taking advantage of the scenarios provided by

climate modelling groups. In parallel, adaptation is underway.

The French Ministry for Sustainable Development has elaborated

a strategy for adaptation and, more recently, a national plan has

been proposed covering a wide range of actions, starting with the

monitoring and research of the Earth system and going to the local

actors who have to cope with adaptation.

The adaptation concept has been introduced in a new French law

with regional implementation starting in 2011. The law makes it

compulsory to consider climate change issues in the managing process

of any administrative entity with more than 50,000 inhabitants.

Climate services are still in their definition stages. They should

result from crossing products and services enabling individuals

and groups to assess their vulnerability and take appropriate adap-

tive and preventive measures. In this approach, ‘Drias, les futurs

du climat’

aims to basically evaluate all information available from

national climate modelling laboratories, process it, and make it

accessible for complementary and additional studies. Drias serves a

wide range of interests and appears to be a critical milestone for the

French climate adaptation strategy.

The Drias service and the ‘reference scenarios’ initiative, a set

of assessment reports for France, came from such considerations.

Drias stands for ‘Deliver Regional climate scenarios for Impacts

and Adaptation of our environment and Society’. The project was

built with the basic idea that a facility was now needed for climate

information delivery. The resulting portal offers easy access to

data and products, including a quick-look discovery, as well as

the associated expertise to facilitate impact and adaptation studies:

• Several greenhouse gas emission scenarios, using different

regional climate models and downscaling methods, because it

is critical that users work with the idea that climate projections

have to be addressed in a probabilistic mode

• Standard formats, easy access, quick looks and

simple products for a wide range of users, baring

in mind that many communities do not share the

technical skills of climate modellers

• Expertise and guidance, especially addressing the

various sources of uncertainty, and promoting

best practices and know-how – one of the first

requirements of users, as shown in every user

needs survey.

Drias integrates existing and widely distributes compo-

nents from partners. It brings together their knowledge,

tools and expericences. It facilitates the transfer and

delivery of relevant information to stakeholders,

promotes good practices and raises awareness regard-

ing uncertainties attached to climate change. For these

reasons, it is critical that the service receives continuous

guidance from the research community.

The Drias web portal comprises three main areas:

Delivery, Support, and Discovery. The Discovery area

contains general information for a wide range of people,

allowing them to grasp climate scenarios and visualize

outputs. It also positions Drias to fulfil the INSPIRE

European directive. In the Support area, a range of

documents is offered to help users make the best use

of available climate information (glossary, description

of methods and climate models, frequently asked ques-

tions). The user finds information on scenarios, on

climate change and on past experiences, with links to

existing educational and information sites. This part of

the site is more specific about products to be delivered,

explaining how they were created and guiding users’

choices. A hotline mechanism involving experts is also

implemented at this level. The Delivery area enables

users to order, in digitized format, data and products

they have identified in the Discovery area.

The partners have brought their assets to the initia-

tive. They also heavily took advantage of Météo-France’s

production engines. The result is an efficient and user-

apacity

evelopment