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Brief history

The Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) was initiated by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) in 2009 in response to the need for a coordinated framework for evaluating and improving regional climate downscaling (RCD) techniques and producing a new generation of RCD-based fine-scale climate projections for identified regions worldwide. The CORDEX framework additionally offered the potential for better coordination of RCD-related research and modelling activities within the regional climate modelling and downscaling communities and further to bridge the gap between the climate modelling community and end users of climate information across the globe. 

During the ensuing period the CORDEX initiative has made great progress in producing a wealth of climate projections covering much of the globe and also contributing to capacity building in many developing regions. The 'International Conference on the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment - CORDEX' in Trieste in 2011 and the 'International Conference on Regional Climate - CORDEX 2013' in Brussels (conference report here) both showcased how CORDEX had been a successful framework resulting in a common protocol to guide the development of high-resolution Regional Climate Model (RCM) and empirical statistical downscaling (ESD) projections, and the intercomparison of these projections, on each continent. However, ICRC-CORDEX 2013 highlighted the need for better interaction and collaboration with the Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (VIA) communities and also on more clearly demonstrating the 'added value' of regional downscaling in the context of increasing high resolution global models.

Since then the CORDEX community, led by the CORDEX Science Advisory Team (CORDEX-SAT), has focused on meeting these challenges and ICRC-CORDEX 2016 provides the platform for the community to present their progress, discuss and develop the many ongoing activities, and importantly come together with the VIA community and other relevant stakeholders.

 

CORDEX Vision

The CORDEX vision is to advance and coordinate the science and application of regional climate downscaling through global partnerships.

 

CORDEX Goals

  1. To better understand relevant regional/local climate phenomena, their variability and changes, through downscaling.
  2. To evaluate and improve regional climate downscaling models and techniques
  3. To produce coordinated sets of regional downscaled projections worldwide
  4. To foster communication and knowledge exchange with users of regional climate information

 

For more information on CORDEX see the website.