Better data coming for weather watchers

The region’s climate modellers will be able to make better decisions, implement strategies and adapt to climate variability and climate change, thanks to access to finer scale information provided by the regional climate model (REMO).And on Monday,  the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), Barbados, and the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), Germany, started a week-long regional climate modelling workshop. Dr Dimitry Sein of MPI-M and his team are in the island to facilitate the training, which will aid the region’s climate adaptation strategy by providing specialised training on REMO, which was developed by the MPI-M.Adrian Trotman, acting principal of the CIMH, said REMO was a high resolution model which was suited to the Caribbean’s small islands because it provided information consistent with the small sizes of most Caribbean states. Trotman added that in the earlier stages the models used were global models but these large scales were too big for islands and small nations as they gave no higher resolution for small territories. “On those scales, one pixel is larger than Barbados,” he said.  The initiative to train within the region on the REMO model came out of efforts by CIMH principal David Farrell in establishing relationships with MPI-M. “Doing work with an institute of that reputation and with the level of human resources would only be positive for CIMH and the region,” Trotman said.In acknowledging that climate affects everything under the sun, Trotman mentioned the climate extremes experienced: the recent drought, during which some reservoirs were shut down, and the flooding being experienced within the Caribbean, namely Trinidad, this hurricane season.  “We want to get a better handle on these issues so economic, supportive and social sectors can make informed decisions to improve society in the region. We want to be able to provide even more meaningful information to make decisions based on climate variability and changes,” said Trotman. CIMH and MPI-M are currently conducting atmospheric monitoring at Deebles Point, St Philip, aimedat improving climate and weather modelling in the tropics. (LK/PR)