Globe Needs System to Help Predict Climate

[GreenPartyVoter]

BALTIMORE (AP) - A global observation system is needed to help predict long-term climate patterns which can affect everything from crops in India to hydroelectric power production in Brazil, researchers said.

"We don't have a climate observing system, and because we don't have a climate observing system, this problem is very difficult," Ed Sarachik, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Washington said Tuesday during a panel discussion on extreme precipitation such as hurricanes and weather change over decades.

Sarachik spoke at the first international science conference for CLIVAR, a climate variability research program that is part of the World Climate Research Program. Findings presented at the conference will be used to help guide future research, said Anthony Busalacchi, co-chairman of CLIVAR's scientific steering group.

Understanding weather patterns on such long time scales is important because they are tied into events such as El Nino, the periodic warming in the equatorial Pacific that can change weather worldwide, participants said.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20040623/D83CU96O1.html