El Niño 2015 Conference  
Shared Experiences: 20 Years of Climate Services and Framing the Next Steps in the Research and Development for Climate Resilience

          

Tuesday, November 17 – Wednesday, November 18, 2015
8:00 am – 6:30 pm EDT

Monell Building
Columbia University at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Campus
61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964-8000

Conference Report | Conference Report (PDF) |

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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Opening Remarks. Jerry Lengoasa, Deputy Secretary-General, WMO (Read by Maxx Dilley)

PANEL: 20 Years since the International Forum on Forecasting El Niño and Launching IRI (Moderated by Jim Buizer, University of Arizona)

• Michael Crow, President Arizona State University (via video)
• Mark Cane, Columbia University
• Mickey Glantz, University of Colorado
• Mike Hall, Retired NOAA.

Implications of a large El Niño event on global economy and development. Jeff Sachs, Director, Earth Institute – Columbia University

Update on 2015 El Niño event. Michelle L’Heureux, NOAA-Climate Prediction Center

Associated extreme climate impacts and their certainty. Adam Sobel, Columbia University

ENSO modeling and prediction: Evolution and Outstanding Challenges. Lisa Goddard, CLIVAR-WCRP; IRI, Columbia University

Overview structure of available ENSO information & coordination – from a WMO perspective. Maxx Dilley, WMO

PANEL: Overview structure of available ENSO information and coordination. Moderated by David Corcoran, formerly NYTimes Science Times

• Zinta Zommers, UNEP
• Richard Choularton, WFP
• Sezin Tokar, USAID/OFDA
• Stewart McCulloch, WorldVision International.

PANEL: Case Studies on current event information, plans as well as current and anticipated impacts. (Moderated by Simon Mason, IRI)

• Latin America: Rodney Martinez, Centro Internacional para la Investigación del Fenómeno de El Niño, Ecuador
• Peru: Ken Takahashi, Instituto Geofísico del Peru
• Caribbean: David Farrell, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology & Hydrology, Barbados

• Greater Horn of Africa: Guleid Artan, IGAD Climate Prediction & Applications Centre, Kenya
• India: Sulochana Gadgil, India Meteorological Department
• Philippines: Tony Lucero, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration

PANEL/Plenary Discussion: Messaging on El Niño – How do we inform the public (who informs what public), and what do they hear? How has this evolved over the last 10-20 years? (Moderated by David Herring, NOAA)

• Journalists in developing countries. Patrick Luganda, Network Climate Journalists in the Greater Horn of Africa
• Societal perceptions of forecasts and risk. Mickey Glantz, University of Colorado
• Communicating climate information. Eric Roston, Bloomberg News

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

El Niño and Global Change. Marc Levy, CIESIN, Columbia University

PANEL: Sectoral impacts of El Niño – What have we learned since 1997-98. (Moderated by Roger Pulwarty, NOAA)

• Health: Madeleine Thomson, IRI
• Water: Upmanu Lall, Columbia Water Center, Columbia University
• Disasters: Carina Bachofen, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
• Energy: Alberto Troccoli, U. East Anglia

PANEL: El Niño 2015 Response Strategy – what is or should be in place. (Moderated by Heidi Cullen, Climate Central)

• Seasonal fire early warning system: Rizaldi Boer, CCROM-SEAP
• Regional actions and support network: Jen Stephens, UNDP
• Food Security: Amir Abdulla, World Food Programme
• Insurance: Megan Linkin, SwissRe

PANEL: What is needed to evolve science towards increased societal benefit? (Moderated by Francesco Fiondella, IRI, Columbia University)

• Climate: Simon Mason, IRI
• Process of developing climate services: Jim Buizer, University of Arizona
• Development Banks: Kanta Kumari, World Bank
• Social Sciences: Ed Carr, Clark University
• Agriculture: Andy Jarvis, CIAT

WCRP/CLIVAR efforts to understand El Niño in a changing climate. Eric Guilyardi, IPSL-France

The Intersection of El Niño and Climate Change – El Niño’s contribution to 2015 global temperature. Kevin Trenberth, NCAR

El Niño, ecosystems for & carbon. Miguel Angel Pinedo-Vasquez, EICES, Columbia University; CIFOR

PANEL: Young Scientists: exploring new ideas to connect research, the operational communities and the users: “reinventing climate services”
(Moderated by J. Michael Hall, Retired Director of NOAA’s Office of Global Programs)

• Teddy Allen (IRI)
• Ángel Muñoz (IRI)
• Aisha Muhammad (IRI)
• Roop Singh (IFRC Climate Centre)

Concluding summary. Maxx Dilley, WMO.

Wrap Up, Final Remarks. Kathy Jacobs and Lisa Goddard

Post-Summit discussion of the Organizing Committee: Synthesize key messages and agree on report structure.

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