n
old saying expresses the thought that "climate is what you expect, weather
is what you get." But what can we expect from the climate of the United
States, and the whole world, in the coming decade – or even in the next
millennium? As all life on Earth depends on a favorable climate to survive,
that's an important question, a question that researchers at NOAA are
trying to answer.
NOAA's research laboratories, Office of Global Programs, and research partners conduct a wide range of research into complex climate systems and how they work. These scientists want to improve their ability to predict climate variation in both the shorter term , like cold spells or periods of drought, and over longer terms like centuries and beyond.
NOAA researchers will continue their consistent and uninterrupted monitoring of the Earth's atmosphere that can give us clues about long-term changes in the global climate. The data collected worldwide by NOAA researchers aids our understanding of, and ability to forecast changes in, complex climatic systems.
Using ever more powerful and sophisticated computer systems, NOAA researchers are working on numeric modeling of climate systems that will help improve the accuracy of climate forecasts.
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