Spatial and temporal climate change analysis using CORDEX regional climate models over Bangladesh

About the training

We are organizing a five-day training for relevant professionals in Bangladesh on the spatial and temporal analysis of climate change using CORDEX regional climate models over Bangladesh. Supported by the UK Aid-funded Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) programme, this training will introduce climate change science and focus on bias calculation and selection of a few representative models for a defined area of interest. We are collaborating with the following for the training: the Met Office; the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)/COordinated Regional Climate Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX); the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI); the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD); and the Centre for Climate Change Research (CCCR) at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) – Pune.

Objectives

This training aims to build knowledge and skills of professionals in Bangladesh in analysing climate change projections using CORDEX regional climate model simulations.

Expected outcomes

The training will help participants better understand climate model projections using 17 regional climate simulations, selecting representative models which best replicate historical climate cycles and assessing spatial and temporal variability of present and future climate change over a defined area of interest.

In addition to gaining an overall understanding of climate modelling and downscaling, the participants will be able to:

• Prepare CORDEX datasets in areas of interest and compare them with reference datasets
• Visualize spatial and temporal variations in climate change projections
• Interpret uncertainty in model results

Participation

In its current iteration, this training is being offered to the BMD and relevant research organizations in Bangladesh. The training is planned to be held in person, subject to the COVID-19 situation. Alternatively, the training may have to be organized virtually.

Participation list

Resource persons

ICIMOD: Saurav Pradhananga, Kabi Raj Khatiwada, Mandira Singh Shrestha

Met Office: Joseph Daron

CORDEX: Iréne Lake

CCCR, IITM – Pune: J Sanjay

BUET: Md Saiful Islam

Presentations and training data

• Training data (Prepared by Saurav Pradhananga, 2.9GB)
• All presentations
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 4
• Day 5

Background

In October 2020, ICIMOD and the Met Office, which is the UK’s national meteorological agency, partnered with the WCRP/CORDEX, SMHI, and IITM – Pune to organize a training on Regional climate change projections: Climate change analysis using CORDEX regional climate models over South Asia. Organized under the UK Aid-supported ARRCC programme, the training was part of the ARRCC’s institutional capacity-building approach to strengthen the knowledge and capabilities of staff working at key national and regional institutions, delivering climate services to provide information needs for informed climate change responses in South Asia.

As a follow-on activity to the 2020 training, country-focused trainings are being organized for professionals from different national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHSs) in ARRCC focal countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan – under ICIMOD’s Climate Services Initiative. In 2021, we held two trainings on using CORDEX regional climate models to carry out spatial and temporal analysis of climate change over South Asia for the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology of Nepal in June and for Bangladesh University for Engineering and Technology (BUET) and other academic institutions in December.

This training planned for March 2022 will introduce climate change science and will focus on bias calculation and selection of few representative models for a defined area of interest for the BMD. The training will delve deeper into how R-based tools can be used to analyse and visualize climate change projections spatially at different time scales over the whole of Bangladesh.

Institutional capacity-building approach

The knowledge and capabilities of staff working at key national and regional institutions delivering climate services need to be strengthened to provide information needs for informed climate change responses in South Asia. The ARRCC programme has adopted an institutional capacity-building approach on regional climate projections to help meet this need. The approach targets NMHSs and other organizations in ARRCC focal countries working to provide climate services to government/non-government organizations, communities, and industrial sectors vulnerable to climate change impacts.

A series of training activities will take place between 2020 and 2022 to build the capacities of individuals at targeted institutions in analysing climate projections and producing information products for use in different sectoral applications. Trainings will be jointly developed and delivered by ICIMOD and the Met Office, with support from other relevant organizations, including the WCRP/CORDEX, SMHI, and IITM – Pune, where appropriate.

Agenda

Timings are in Bangladesh Standard Time (UTC+06:00).