University of Oklahoma National Weather Center to host public discussion on climate change

The University of Oklahoma National Weather Center will host a free, public discussion on the climate and its impacts at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, as the opening event for the Regional Climate Symposium, " Regional Climate - Monitoring, Modeling, Predicting, and Impacts," being held Feb. 9 and 10 at the National Weather Center.

Lynne Carter, from the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program at Louisiana State University, will deliver the public address and lead an open discussion about global climate change and what it means regionally and locally.

"With this symposium, we are aiming to increase the awareness and understanding by both the general public and the university community regarding global climate change," said John Snow, dean of the OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences. "We are fortunate to have the Science Applications International Corporation as a major sponsor of this endeavor.

"The Monday evening session will be structured to provide an opportunity for many outside the scientific community to voice their perspectives on our changing climate. The day-and-a-half of scientific sessions that follow will cover recent research results in this critical area."

The two-day symposium that follows will bring together experts in diverse fields of climate sciences to discuss the state of the science. The scientific sessions, beginning Tuesday morning, will include topics such as observations and monitoring, seasonal and inter-annual effects of climate, modeling and verification, policy and economics.

Also scheduled is a luncheon presentation at noon Tuesday. Gary McManus, associate state climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, will deliver the talk, "Global Climate Change and the Implications for Oklahoma."

There is no fee for attending the symposium or the luncheon, but advance registration is required. Registration, a full agenda and directions to the National Weather Center are available online at http://nwc.ou.edu/symposium/2009/ or by calling the OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at (405) 325-3095.

The symposium is being supported by a grant from Science Applications International Corporation, with additional support provided by the OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regional Integrated Science and Assessments program at OU.

The National Weather Center is located on OU's Research Campus on the corner of Highway 9 and Jenkins Avenue. It houses a unique confederation of OU, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state organizations that work together in partnership to improve the understanding of events occurring in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range of time and space scales.

Provided by University of Oklahoma