cc: , date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 11:27:40 +1000 from: subject: RE: UK climate stabilisation research: agenda-setting exercise to: Hello Nick, Yes, subject to any crisis here with the new book I am writing. I should be able to give brief comments, and hope to be able to devote some greater amount of time to the proposal. Important to get it as good/relevant as possible. You and others may be interested in my book for the Australian Greenhouse Office the website site for which is below. While it focuses on Australia, there are some introductory reviews of global interest, and it is well indexed. I am tending to put a lot of emphasis in my thinking nowadays on the TAR's fifth reason for concern, large-scale abrupt of irreversible impacts. These may be particularly important for Europe and the UK in particular, although policy-wise potential impacts on the US may be vital to identify if the US administration is to come on board. Are people looking at the potential or actual links between the EGH effect, ozone depletion, the NH annular mode, the NAO, and weather/climate in Europe/UK? The annular mode in the SH is critical for southern Australia. Best regards to those I know at UEA. Barrie Pittock. Dr. A. Barrie Pittock Post-Retirement Fellow, Climate Impact Group CSIRO Atmospheric Research, PMB 1, Aspendale 3195, Australia Tel: +613 9239 4527, Fax: +61 3 9239 4688, email: WWW: http://www.dar.csiro.au/res/cm/impact.htm Climate Change: An Australian Guide to the Science and Potential Impacts, ed. Barrie Pittock, 2003 (1.4Mb): http://greenhouse.gov.au/science/guide/pubs/science-guide.pdf Note: The old is no longer supported. Currently I am working on a couple of books and other writing re science issues. Please refer any matters re the Climate Impact Group to Dr. Penny Whetton, Group Leader, at , tel.: +61 3 9239 4535. Normally I am in the lab Tuesdays and Thursdays. "Far better an approximate answer to the right question which is often vague, than an exact answer to the wrong question which can always be made precise." J. W. Tukey -----Original Message----- From: Nick Brooks [mailto:nick.brooks@uea.ac.uk] Sent: Friday, 30 April 2004 4:17 AM To: Bill Hare; Jones, Roger (AR, Aspendale); Bo Kjellen; PARRYML@aol.com; Pittock, Barrie (AR, Aspendale); gary yohe; Christian Azar; Jon Barnett; Shreekant Gupta; Jake Jacoby; Neil Leary; Bert Metz; Richard Moss; Rajendra Pachauri; Steven Schneider; Susan Solomon; Richard Tol; Harvey Weiss Cc: Mike Hulme; Alex Haxeltine Subject: UK climate stabilisation research: agenda-setting exercise Dear colleague We are contacting you to request some (small) input to a scoping study funded by the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and coordinated by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The aim of the study is to set the agenda for UK government-supported research into stabilisation of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations "at a level that will prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system", as stipulated in Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The purpose of this email is to ask if you would be prepared to read and comment on a proposal for a programme of research consisting of ten 2-page project outlines and a few pages of explanatory text describing the research context. The projects described in the 2-page proposals could constitute a single, integrated research programme, or could be funded separately as "stand-alone" undertakings. They have been designed to be flexible in this respect as the aim of the scoping study is to generate agenda-setting research ideas for which funding will need to be sought. While the Tyndall Centre has coordinated this study, in collaboration with DEFRA, the Hadley Centre and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the aim is to set the agenda for stabilisation research in the UK at large (and beyond), rather than develop a programme of research for any of the individual centres involved in the scoping study. The 2-page project proposals cover topics such as climate forecasting, abrupt climate change, technological pathways, economic modelling, impacts and damges, and adaptation. They have been designed to address the gaps in our knowledge that must by filled if we are to develop meaningful strategies to address climate change. The proposals have been approved by DEFRA, so we are not looking to radically alter their nature. Rather, we are seeking to solicit input from you as to: 1) how these projects might be elaborated (e.g. are there any specific avenues of enquiry that you feel would be particularly fruitful) 2) how they might be implemented (e.g. which institutions have the appropriate expertise, how might the projects be structured, which methodologies might be exploited etc) 3) how the proposed work might build on and/or interact with other international initiatives that you are aware of or involved in More general comments are of course welcome. If you are prepared to participate in this exercise we will send you an electronic version of the scoping study output, including the 2-page outlines, on or soon after 15 May. We would want a fairly quick response - by 25 May. We appreciate that you are likely to have many other commitments, and that this is a fairly short-notice request. However, we feel that this is an important exercise, addressing an issue of major importance, and we would very much appreciate your input. We would be very grateful if you would let us know by 10 May at the latest whether or not you are able and willing to participate in this exercise. Yours sincerely Nick Brooks and Mike Hulme -- Dr Nick Brooks Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ Tel: +44 1603 593904 Fax: +44 1603 593901 Email: nick.brooks@uea.ac.uk http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~e118/welcome.htm (personal site) http://www.tyndall.ac.uk (Tyndall Centre site) http://www.uea.ac.uk/sahara (Saharan Studies Programme) --