1. science

Other Information
Faculty and Learning Environment at SLIIT
Fees
Participants will benefit from working closely with an expert
teaching faculty comprising of distinguished UN-CECAR
scholars and practitioners. The programme will be conducted
in Colombo, Sri Lanka and is organized by Sri Lanka Institute
of Information Technology (SLIIT) with the support of
University of Peradeniya.
Participants can attend either Course 1 or Course 2 for USD
1,000 each or attend the full training programme (Course 1
and Course 2) for USD 2,000.
All participants are expected to pay for their own travel and
living expenses in Sri Lanka. A limited number of fellowships
(covering tuition fee) are available for government officials
and UN-CECAR partner universities who are nominated from
respective organizations and who can demonstrate a need
for financial assistance.
A dedicated computer lab will be provided for participants,
with software to cater to the needs of the programme,
including GIS, environmental modelling applications, and
statistical analysis tools. The online tool will be provided for
participants to access lecture notes, reading lists and other
materials specific to each course, as well as a message board
and forum to facilitate discussion among faculty and
participants.
Student Support Services and Accommodation
UNU-IAS and SLIIT will assist students through the courses,
acknowledging that students may experience difficulties in
adjusting to a new country and culture. Accommodation is
the responsibility of students, but SLIIT will assist in finding
accommodation (in an affordable hotel close to institutes
conducting courses) during their stay.
Daily Schedule
There will be four lecture sessions per day.
Morning session: 9:00-10:30 and 11:00-12:30 hours
Afternoon session: 14:00-15:30 and 16:00-17:30 hours
Eligibility and Application
Applicants must:
• complete on-line Application and submit necessary
documents with a photo
• One Letter of Recommendation
Eligibility:
• Basic understanding of climate change, downscaling
approaches and related topics is desirable;
• Applicants must have excellent written and verbal
English-language skills.
We can only accommodate a limited number of applicants in
this training programme. As such, we encourage early
applications as the allocation will be made on a first-come
first served basis.
The application deadline is 28 February 2015. Selections will
be carried out and announced on the first week of August,
September and October.
For detailed information on the application and admission
procedures, and to download the application form, please
visit the UN-CECAR website at: http://cecar.unu.edu. Should
you encounter any difficulty, please contact
[email protected]
United Nations University
Promoting science for human security, peace and sustainable development
University Network for
Climate and Ecosystems Change Adaptation Research (UN-CECAR)
Established in 2009 as the first of its kind in the region, UN-CECAR
is an institutional platform of universities across Asia that seeks to
enhance education and research on adaptation to climate change
and ecosystems change, and to build the emerging sustainability
science discipline. Specific objectives of the Network are to:
• collect international-level knowledge on climate change adaptation
and customize it to the local conditions;
• assess existing and emerging climate change-related research and
degree programmes in the region, and identify areas of most need;
• initiate and support the development of joint- or dual-degree
educational programmes, credit-sharing common courses, joint
research and training programmes
Visit http://cecar.unu.edu/
Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS)
United Nations University
53–70 Jingumae 5-chome,
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
Tel: +81–3–5467–1212
Fax: +81–3–3499-2828
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://cecar.unu.edu
The mission of the United Nations University is to contribute,
through collaborative research, capacity development and advisory
services, to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems of
human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of
the United Nations, its Peoples and Member States.
The UN University comprises a worldwide network of institutes,
presently located in 13 different countries and coordinated by the
UN University Centre in Tokyo.
UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS)
The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of
Sustainability (UNU-IAS) is a leading research and teaching
institute based in Tokyo, Japan. Its mission is to advance efforts
towards a more sustainable future, through policy-oriented
research and capacity development focused on sustainability and
its social, economic and environmental dimensions. UNU-IAS
serves the international community, making valuable and innovative
contributions to high-level policymaking and debates within the UN
system.
Photos: Hideyuki Mohri
Created: January 2015
Copyright 2015 United Nations University. All Rights Reserved.
UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS CHANGE ADAPTATION RESEARCH
Training Programme on Climate Change
Downscaling Approaches and Applications
Spring 2015
T
he United Nations University Institute for the
Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo,
invites applications for a 10-day training on Climate
Change Downscaling Approaches and Applications (CCDAA)
in Water and Food Sectors in Asia.
The courses have been developed under the
framework of the University Network for Climate and
Ecosystems Change Adaptation Research
(UN-CECAR). UN CECAR is a joint initiative of more
than 20 leading universities across Asia. It is
committed to developing postgraduate educational
and research programmes on climate and ecosystems
change, adaptation and sustainability science.
UNU-IAS acts as the Secretariat for UN-CECAR.
The training programme will be conducted in
Colombo, Sri Lanka and organized with the support of
Sri Lanka Institute of Information and Technology
(SLIIT). The training module consists of the following
course categories: science of climate change and
downscaling, dynamical and statistical downscaling
methods, and impacts on rice production and impacts
on floods in Asia.
Participants will also receive practical training in
the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in
adaptation planing and modelling extreme climatic
events.
Participants who successfully complete a written
report, presentation of the written report and
participation in group activity will receive a
certificate of completion. The programme is
practically-oriented and will be taught by highly
qualified and diverse team of scientists.
Target applicants:
· Postgraduates, researchers or faculty staffs from
universities working on climate change
· Professionals from government or national agencies
involved in planning responses to climate change
· National climate change focal points
Training Programme Information
Course 1: Downscaling Methods (5 days)
Course 2: Parallel Sessions on
Impacts on Floods and Impacts on Rice Production (5 days)
The training programme will run from the 30th March to 10th April 2015, and are
open to participants from universities, government and national agencies. The first
course of the training programme focuses on climate change, atmospheric science and
downscaling techniques using statistical and dynamical approaches. Participants will
receive training on downscaling weather forecasts to the local scale during this
training programme.
DAY 3
MORNING SESSION
AFTERNOON SESSION
Science of Climate Change and Downscaling
Dynamical Downscaling
Overview of Downscaling Methods
Geographic Information System (GIS)
1. General Idea of Atmospheric Science
2. Introduction to Science of Climate Change,
Climate Variability, Observed Climate Changes
3. Concept and Evolution of Climate Models,
Projection of Future Climate Change and Uncertainties
4. Introduction to Downscaling Methods and its
Advantages and Limitations
5. IPCC 5th Assessment Report
1. Description of Global and Regional ClimateModels
2. How to choose a Domain and set up a Present Day
Control Run with WRF
3. Developing Climate Change Simulations
Overview of Climate Projection and Downscaling from
Course 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
Dynamical Downscaling - hands-on
Dynamical Downscaling - hands-on
1. Brief description of GCM (GFS) and WRF models
2. Model setup for domain, resolution for region of
Interest
3. Pre-processing of global (GCM) model products to
obtain desire initial and boundary conditions for
regional model (WRF)
1. Model integration including selection of model physics
2. Post-processing of model output
3. Diagnostics and model products visualization
DAY 1
MORNING AND AFTERNOON SESSION
DAY 2
MRI Hand-on
RegCM Model
1. MRI 20-km Model Introduction
2. Concept of Time Slice Experiment
3. Assessing Model Output Data for Climate Change
Projection
1. Presenting to students the ICTP RegCM tool.
2. Presenting the CORDEX experiment CF standard format
and advocating the usage of Free SoftwareTools for
analyzing climate data and build impact models.
DAY 3
Extended Range and Seasonal Forecast
DAY 4
1. Significance of extended range forecast at regional scale
in various sectors.
2. Performance and evaluation of downscaled GCMs
products at regional scale.
3. Bias correction methods and its application on GCMs
products for development of extended range forecast
4. Multi-model ensemble techniques for developing realistic
extended range forecast .
Risk Assessment
DAY 5
1. Risk Management Concepts
2. Methodologies in Long and Short Term Risk Assessment
3. Hands On Exercises
Extreme Rainfall and
Rainfall-Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curve
1. Introduce the nature of extreme events
2. Introduce RIDF curves
3. Application of the RIDF curves for design floods of
small rural and urban watersheds
COMMON SESSION
AFTERNOON SESSION
PARALLEL SESSION
DAY 2
MORNING SESSION
Basic and Use of GIS
Integration of Various Data Sources
Importing Current and Future Weather Data into GIS
Demonstration and Hands On Exercises
MORNING AND AFTERNOON SESSION
Session 2A: Impacts on Floods
Session 2B: Impacts on Rice Production
1. Rainfall and Runoff Events
2. Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Extreme Event
3. Limitations and Constraints of GCM/RCM in Handling
Extreme Events
4. Derivation of Extreme Event Statistics from Corrected
GCM Data
5. Uses and Derivation of Rainfall
Intensity- Duration-Frequency (RIDF) Curves
Introduction to Crop Models
1. Terminologies in Crop Model
2. Simulation Approach
3. Concepts in developing Crop System Model
4. Crop Simulation Models of DSSAT
5. Biomass and Yield Simulation Processes in CERES-Rice
1. Introduction to Distributed Physically Based
Hydrological Models and Inundation Modelling
2. Setting up Targeted Basin using GIS Information
3. Calibration and Validation of Inundation Models
Setting up a Crop Model (CERES-Rice of DSSAT)
1. File System of the Model
2. Input Data Requirements
3. Calibration and Validation of the Model
4. Uncertainty and Risk Analysis
1. Introduction to Damage Assessment Based on Loss
Functions
2. Assessing Potential Losses for a Given Future Scenario
Hands on Exercise
1. Model Calibration and Validation
2. Future Yield Simulation and Results Interpretation
Statistical Downscaling
1. Overview of what is out there
2. Comparison and Selecting a Statistical Downscaling
Method
3. Introduction (Physics/Statistical)
4. Methodologies (Predictand Fields)
DAY 4
Discussion
Feedback and Closing
DAY 5
COMMON SESSION
DAY 1
For the second course, participants will receive an overview of Course 1 and receive
training on Geographic Information System (GIS). Then, participants can choose from
the two parallel programmes on (a) Assessing flood impacts and (b) Estimating rice
production utilizing future climate projections. The final day provides training on
communicating results and report preparation, with time allocated for participants to
complete their final report. Participants who successfully complete the training
programme will be awarded a certificate of completion from UNU-IAS.
Communicating Climate Information
1. Appropriate Roles for and Communication of Climate
Information in Various Adaptation and Resilience
Planning Processes
2. Report Preparation
3. Presentation