Climate Exchange

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Climate science and services to

support decision-making

Seok Joon Cho, Administrator, Korea Meteorological Administration

s increasingly frequent abnormal weather events due to

climate change have larger socioeconomic impact, climate

change and environmental issues have become one of the

most critical global issues for both developed and developing

countries. Climate issues require a new approach to solutions in

various areas directly linked to our lives including food, health,

energy and water resources. Climate science is expected to assume

more responsibility for better services through advanced predic-

tion technology and more practical climate science and services.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) has strived to

actively respond to climate change and to come up with practical

and effective climate policy while contributing to achieving the

Government’s major national vision of ‘Low carbon, Green growth’.

Internationally, KMA has been committed to producing and supply-

ing scientific information to reduce the impact of climate change and

variability on developing countries around the world.

Detailed climate change scenarios for adaptation

KMA has succeeded in developing global climate change scenarios

based on representative concentration pathways (RCPs) with a view

to enhancing prediction capability. In December 2011, a

detailed climate change scenario (1 km) of South Korea

was developed based on RCP 8.5 with consideration

of specific topographic and climate characteristics for

climate adaptation policy. This scenario was constructed

by applying the PRISM based Downscaling Estimation

statistical model to climate scenarios for the Korean

Peninsula, produced through regional climate models.

The data, including global climate change scenarios

(400 km) and scenarios for the Korean Peninsula (27 km)

and Climate Extremes Index, are available on the Climate

Change Information Center website.

Raising awareness

To promote the use of climate change scenarios in

climate adaptation, KMA is running a panel for climate

change scenario users where producers and users of

scenarios gather together for better communication. This

group focuses on policy support for the Government’s

adaptation policy with public servants from 16 local

governments as well as nine ministries, including the

griculture

Source:

Climate change scenarios for South Korea (1 km)