- News from the International Research Institute for Climate and Society

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Homecoming

Newly minted climate scientist Ousmane Ndiaye brings the forecasting expertise he developed at IRI and Columbia University back to his native Senegal.
Read our story and watch a short video interview.

Improving Climate Prediction in Africa

Africa lags the developed world in weather stations, but still produces a surprising amount of data. In a newly published paper in Nature, IRI’s Madeleine Thomson, Stephen Connor, Stephen Zebiak and others argue that an alternative funding mechanism to allow the free-sharing of data would help Africans better fight disease. Climate data is a “resource for development,” they write, “a classic public good that increases in valued the more times the data are used.” Researchers will share ideas for unlocking Africa’s climate data at an upcoming conference in Ethiopia, “Climate and Health in Africa: Ten Years On” organized by IRI, April 4-6. Read more.

IRI Forecast shown in Uruguayan Parliament

Uruguayan Minister of Agriculture Tabare Aguerre recently briefed his parliament on drought conditions in the country using IRI's net assessment forecast as a guide. The IRI has worked in Uruguay since 2004 and is currently collaborating with the agriculture ministry on a National Agricultural Information System. For coverage of Mr. Aguerre's presentation, click here. The IRI forecast appears approximately one minute into the video. Visit here to learn more about our work in Latin America.

Upcoming events and seminars...
April 8th: Columbia Water Center Seminar: Water for a Crowded World - Lessons from the Northeast Corridor. Speaker: Charlie Vorosmarty, Professor, Civil Engineering; Director, Environmental Crossroads Initiative, City College of New York. view

April 8th: IRI Seminar: Changes of Summary Rainfall Variability over the Pan-American Regions in recent decades and their connections to change of the North Atlantic Subtropical High. Speaker: Rong Fu, University of Texas at Austin. view

April 21st: IRI Seminar at Lamont Campus: Climate, Forecast and Impacts Briefing. Our monthly meeting during which we unveil the latest global and regional forecasts, as well as discuss climate-related events around the world. view

IRI in the News...
Africa's weather data should be free (GlobalPost). view

Your Guide to Global Warming and Coffee (The Atlantic). view

Heat Damages Colombia Coffee, Raising Prices (The New York Times). view

Hello America - Punjab's Foggy Weather (Voice of America). view

In the science press...
Science-based Insurance. Molly E. Brown, Daniel E. Osgood and Miguel A. Carriquiry, 2011. Nature Geoscience.

Africa needs climate data to fight disease. M.C. Thomson, S. J. Connor, S. E. Zebiak, M. Jancloes, and A. Mihretie, 2011. Nature.

A Significant Component of Unforced Multidecadal Variability in the Recent Acceleration of Global Warming. T. DelSole, M. K. Tippett, and J. Shukla, 2011. Journal of Climate.

Peruse all of the IRI's scientific publications and reports in our database.

Current seasonal rainfall forecast...

See all of our forecasts...

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society was established as a cooperative agreement between
the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Program Office and Columbia University.
It is part of The Earth Institute at Columbia University.