Atmospheric and Climate Science Directorate

Tools and Methodologies

Part of the Adaptation and Impacts Research (AIR) Group's mandate is to provide information on the viability of adaptive responses to the impacts of atmospheric change, including global warming. To deliver this information to Canadians and the international community, the AIR Group develops various tools and methodologies that allow other researchers and the public to understand what range of adaptation options exist to them in future climates.

Climate change scenarios are one such tool being developed by the group. These scenarios are largely based upon output from General Circulation Models (GCM). They present a range of future climate conditions for different global warming conditions. These scenarios are sometimes displayed as maps, showing relative changes to climate variables, such as temperature and precipitation. The AIR Group and other researchers use these scenarios to investigate the impacts that climatic changes will have on our natural resources and economy. Such scenarios will soon become available through the Internet. The AIR Group is also developing a software package that will enable researchers and policy makers to obtain preliminary insights into the range of impacts in certain sectors, such as agriculture and energy.

The AIR Group also designs and applies integrated approaches to identify desirable adaptation measures or options that are correspond with sustainable development. The group is developing another software package to facilitate the study of adaptation to a changing environment and answer research questions for specific case studies.

This integrated assessment (IA) approach focuses on methodology development for multi-criteria adaptation policy evaluation that is coupled with multi-stakeholder consultation in different regions. Various methods and tools from multi-criteria decision and risk assessments are being used effectively to link climate change impact assessment with regional sustainability.

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