N.C. State to launch climate research center

North Carolina State University is creating a climate research center in Asheville to create more accurate long-term climate change forecasts.

Posted 4:30 p.m. May 29, 2009 — Updated 4:30 p.m. May 29, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina State University is creating a climate research center in Asheville to create more accurate long-term climate change forecasts.

The center will be part of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, which will include a second center in College Park, Md.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Maryland and other institutions will join N.C. State in the partnership.

The institute will focus on collaborative research into the use of satellite observations in climate research and applications. The work is part of NOAA’s ongoing effort to create a climate service that would provide longer-term forecasts and warnings related to climate change, just as the National Weather Service does for storms and other short-term weather changes.

“This is an excellent step towards observing and documenting climate impacts on national and regional scales and a wonderful partnership between government and academia that will be a major player in climate research,” Otis Brown, who will direct the institute for N.C. State, said in a statement.

Brown, a professor and dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami, will join N.C. State’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences this summer.

The Asheville site will be affiliated with the National Climatic Data Center of NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service.

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