The National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have forged a partnership to create a research center for predicting and modeling the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
The agencies will co-manage a new industry-university cooperative research center to investigate and conduct risk assessments of catastrophic weather, which could also benefit and inform the insurance sector, NSF announced Tuesday.
NSF has been developing IUCRCs to cultivate scientific and technological breakthroughs through the alliance of government, industry and academia.
The latest IUCRC will study and work toward predicting shifts in the behavior of oceans, coasts, weather and climate. It will also be used to explore how human behavior affects and responds to climate change.
The facility will leverage the experiences of climate centers under NSF and NOAA.
“Combining climate and catastrophe models with the goal of producing better decision-making tools is a game changer for the insurance, reinsurance and mortgage industries,” NOAA Chief Scientist Sarah Kapnick said. “Additionally, we need to not only develop the science and tools in this space, but also the workforce capacity to put knowledge into action.”
