Climate Sense

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mpacts

and

mplications

limate

hange

and

ariability

least 30 years), reasonably complete, reliable, and

accessible. Unfortunately, while historical climate

observations are mostly available, their accessibility

has been hampered by a lack of skills and facilities

within nearly all countries in the Pacific Region

to adequately secure and manage the data. This

deficiency impedes the development of effective

information systems for managing climate variability

and change. For both scientific and practical reasons,

there is a compelling case for improving the capacity

of Pacific Island Meteorological Services to preserve

and manage their respective nation’s climatological

data and information, and to make them more easily

accessible.

For these reasons the Australian Bureau of

Meteorology, backed by funding from the Australian

Government, has been active over recent years in

data rescue and data management-related capacity-

building activities within the PICs. The work, which

commenced in 2005, initiated data rescue activities

in six countries (Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Vanuatu,

Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa).

The aims of this project have been: to immediately

secure data at risk of loss or damage through a combi-

nation of moist tropical air, vermin and insecure

storage; to establish and train staff in sound records

management processes; and to recommend further

actions to preserve and improve access to the data.

While preserving original records is critical it is

only the first step in making the data available for

practical applications. However well-stored paper

records may be, the data remain difficult to access and

put to good use unless they are subsequently digitized

into a computer compatible form. In 2006 a project

commenced (funded initially by the then Australian

Greenhouse Office, and subsequently by the Australian

Agency for International Development), to install

Climate Data Management System (CDMS) software

in Pacific Island countries, to encourage digitization

of data from paper records, and the migration of data

from older, outmoded computerized systems. The

CDMS system used was ClimSoft,

a software package

specifically designed to accommodate the skills and

resourcing levels of developing and least-developed

countries. The software was installed and associated

training conducted in ten PICs during 2006-07.

This work initiated under PI-CPP is set to continue

under the Pacific Climate Change Science Project,

which is part of the Australian Government funded

International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative.

The new effort aims to support adaptation to climate

change, and improve climate change monitoring

in the climatically important Pacific Region for the

benefit of the global community. The project will also

contribute to the World Meteorological Organization

initiative to extend and improve existing CDMS func-

tionality to developing and least developed countries

in all parts of the world – notably Africa, the Pacific

and the Caribbean.

Early climate data were invariably recorded in paper-based formats. In tropical regions

such records can be subjected to harsh environmental conditions if not properly

stored, which can lead to the deterioration of the media and possible loss of the data

Image: Rod Hutchinson

The utility of climate data can only be fully realized when the data are keyed into a

digital database. ClimSoft is a database ideally suited to meet the needs of small

island developing states of the South Pacific

Image: Rod Hutchinson