Page updated
20 June 2006

Workshop Home

Final Report

List of Participants.

Abstracts.  Includes links to most posters and to many presentations

Posters

Presentations

Agenda.  Includes links to most presentations

Newsroom

Background

Program and Events

Biographical Information

Sponsors

General Information

Please see Appendix I for a Glossary of Acronyms Used in this document.

Workshop Report:
Session 3
Climate Information for Adaptive Management

The workshop reconvened on Day 2 with Session 3.  In this session, the objectives were to:

• Describe efforts to facilitate application of climate and global change observations in decision making
• Report on Session 2 breakouts
• Examine role of research in supporting adaptive management
• Define goals for Session 4

Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator, was the first speaker in this session.  He discussed the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the critical role it plays in climate change research.  His presentation [PDF] can be found online

Admiral Lautenbacher was followed by Senator Ted Stevens, Chairman, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Senator Stevens [presentation: HTML | Audio (MP3)] referred to the work of Dr. Akasofu, who acknowledges that it is clear that climate is changing, but believes it is unclear why. The Senator stated he has been told there are many alternative explanations for the recent warming, such as an increase in solar output. He said we need to better understand the causes of climate change, including the causes of changes in hurricane activity. The Senator noted that the United States needs to prepare for climate changes on the basis of sound science. Senator Stevens and his co-chair have created two bipartisan subcommittees to advance understanding of climate change.

Joel Scheraga then chaired the reports back from Session 2 breakouts.  Following the reports, there were two presentations to set the stage for Session 4.  Mary Altalo presented her talk, “Don’t Ask Me What I Want, Ask Me What I Do: The Key to Valid Requirements Documentation” [PDF] in which she addressed the need for working with users, and Roger Pulwarty discussed “Climate Science and Adaptive Management: What are we learning while we’re doing?”  in which he discussed recent experiments and pilot projects related to adaptive management.