The Outlook for U.S. Meteorological Research in a Commercializing World: Fair Early, but Clouds Moving in?

Morss, Rebecca E.; Hooke, William H.

doi:10.1175/bams-86-7-921

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Indeed, we demonstrate that the commercialized model for providing climate services can in some cases enhance, rather than diminish, the difficulties of using climate science to inform adaptation. Although our argument relates specifically to climate services—and the ways that commercialization, the international development context, and the complexities of climate science combine to militate against the production of useful climate information—we echo critics of the increasing commercialization of meteorological information and weather services . We first discuss the climate service business model and its objectives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Climate service warnings: cautions about commercializing climate science for adaptation in the developing world

Webber

Donner²

2016

WIREs Climate Change

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This article examines the increasing emphasis amongst climate scientists and development professionals on providing ‘climate services’ in order to inform adaptation decisions in vulnerable countries. The climate service business model hopes to provide ‘on demand’ and ‘actionable’ information products that are useful for policy makers. Drawing from literature across the natural and social sciences, we outline potential benefits and limits of this model of providing climate information and products, as well as recommendations for improving climate services. We argue that a shift away from the commercialized model of climate services may be necessary to ensure the creation, and consistent delivery, of products that practitioners in the developing world are able to employ in making adaptation decisions. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e424. doi: 10.1002/wcc.424 This article is categorized under: Climate and Development > Knowledge and Action in Development Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Climate Science and Decision Making

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Climate service warnings: cautions about commercializing climate science for adaptation in the developing world

Webber

Donner²

2016

WIREs Climate Change

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“…Note that the first two alternatives imply the certainty of rain in a given area or for a given period of time. 23 The same ambiguity exists in English [15], but also in Spanish and in French. Please note that the same problem exists for the terms "uncertainty" [25], and "error".…”

Section: Linguistic Ambiguities In Statements Used In Communicating Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

The communicative process of weather forecasts issued in the probabilistic form

Raimondi¹

2009

JCOM

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One of the main purposes of weather forecasting is that of protecting weather-sensitive human activities. Forecasts issued in the probabilistic form have a higher informative content, as opposed to deterministic one, since they bear information that give also a measure of their own uncertainty. However, in order to make an appropriate and effective use of this kind of forecasts in an operational setting, communication becomes significatively relevant.The present paper, after having briefly examined the weather forecasts concerning Hurricane Charley (August 2004), tackles the issue of the communicative process in detail.The bottom line of this study is that for the weather forecast to achieve its best predictive potential, an in-depth analysis of communication issues is necessary.

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“…Commodification, as the earlier Marxist-inspired quotes suggest, can go 'beyond need and want' and arguably puts the emphasis on trade and profit rather than on the sustainability of the atmosphere. How will the production of meteorology be affected by the increasing values being placed on certain types of meteorological products (Morss and Hooke 2005)? What are the impacts of this on meteorological services provided by public actors?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Commodification creates a desire for things and experiences which goes beyond need and want. (Shurmer-Smith 2002, p. 30) The atmosphere is an essential part of life on Earth, but increasingly the atmosphere, and information about the atmosphere, are being transformed from being considered as part of a global common to being conceived of as a global commodity to be bought and sold (Glover 1999;Byrne and Glover 2000;Klein and Pielke 2002;Morss and Hooke 2005;Block 2006;Stern Review 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Castree 2003, p. 273) The fears over the commodification of nature and science have grown in recent years, allied with increased corporate control over the financial, social or political networks of science, with the biomedical industry a case study par excellence (Krimsky 2004;Mirowski and van Horn 2005;Morss and Hooke 2005). These developments do not affect just some corporate scientists, but increasingly all scientists in many different fields, and Morss and Hooke (2005) have suggested that meteorologists need to consider how commodification may affect their research. This paper broadens the inquiry from the commodification of atmospheric sciences to also consider how the nature that atmospheric sciences purport to measure, explain and predict, is being commodified or can be thought of as a commodity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Commodifying the atmosphere: ‘pennies from heaven’?

Thornes

Randalls

2007

Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography

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The atmosphere may be the most valuable resource on Earth and is worth orders of magnitude more to society than it costs as a hazard. However, the atmosphere, and information about the atmosphere, are increasingly being transformed from being considered as part of a global commons to being conceived of as a global commodity to be bought and sold. There are three basic types of atmospheric commodity: firstly, the material atmosphere itself; secondly, the physical properties of the atmosphere; and thirdly, data or information or predictions about the atmosphere. The global expenditure on national meteorological and climatological services and research has now been surpassed by the value of new economic instruments such as weather derivatives and climate emissions trading. Atmospheric scientists, climatologists and physical geographers need to be critically aware of what the consequences, both positive and negative, of these developments for science and society might be. This is particularly the case as climate change is increasingly providing new discourses for companies and governments to exploit as the atmosphere becomes a tradable green resource. This paper attempts to construct an initial critical framework of analysis drawing from broader literatures on the commodification of nature.

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The Outlook for U.S. Meteorological Research in a Commercializing World: Fair Early, but Clouds Moving in?

Cited by 7 publications

References 62 publications

Climate service warnings: cautions about commercializing climate science for adaptation in the developing world

Climate service warnings: cautions about commercializing climate science for adaptation in the developing world

The communicative process of weather forecasts issued in the probabilistic form

Commodifying the atmosphere: ‘pennies from heaven’?

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