IAM Research Projects
Below is a list of research projects led or participated in by members of NCAR's Integrated Assessment Modeling group.
Primary Research Projects
CHSP | Climate & Human Systems Project
CHSP is a cross-cutting research activity within the Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory at NCAR. Its principal goal is to improve understanding of the climate change issue by better integrating research on both human and earth systems. The IAM group is facilitating and managing this project.
SDWG | Societal Dimensions Working Group
SDWG is a working group of NCAR's Community Earth System Model (CESM) that aims to enhance CESM and its application to improve understanding of the interactions between human and earth systems. The IAM group contributes to leadership of the group and participates in its activities.
EaSM2 | Linking Human and Earth System Models
EaSM2 is an NSF-funded project to improve understanding of the joint consequences of socio-economic development and regional climate change by developing and applying tools to better integrate human and earth system models. The project is a collaborative effort between the IAM group, Arizona State University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
THESIS | Tools for Human-Earth System Integration and Scaling
The IAM group is coordinating the development of Tools for Human-Earth System Integration and Scaling (THESIS) to facilitate linkages between the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and Integrated Assessment or impact models. THESIS consists of models and software tools to translate, scale, and synthesize information from and between human system models and CESM.
ICONICS | International Committee on New Integrated Climate Change Assessment Scenarios
The ICONICS committee oversees the process of developing the next generation of socioeconomic scenarios to facilitate interdisciplinary research and assessment on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The IAM group participates in the narratives (Brian O'Neill) and IAV-indicators working groups and maintains the website for the ICONICS committee.
Scenario-MIP | Scenario Model Intercomparison Project
ScenarioMIP is a component of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projection Phase 6 (CMIP6). The project carries out climate model simulations driven by alternative plausible future scenarios of emissions and land use in order to better understand climate impact on societies, address questions about climate effects of scenario-based research, and provide a basis for international efforts to improve methods for quantifying projection uncertainties. The IAM group is participating in leadership of the project and in NCAR's contribution of CESM simulations.
Additional Research Projects
LAMP | Latin American Modeling Project
The Latin America Modeling Project (LAMP) is a model comparison project that looks into climate change mitigation and adaptation for the region of Latin America. Participation in the project includes global integrated assessment models, as well as models from several major Latin American countries. The IAM group participated as unfunded partner in this model comparison project and coordinated research work into baseline scenarios for Latin America.
IMPRESSIONS | Impacts and Risks from High-End Scenarios: Strategies for Innovative Solutions
IMPRESSIONS is an EU Framework Program 7 project that aims to advance understanding of the implications of high-end climate change, involving temperature increases above 2°C, and to help decision-makers apply such knowledge within integrated adaptation and mitigation strategies.The IAM group is participating as an unfunded partner by providing guidance and iPETS simulations related to global scenarios.
LUC4C| Land Use Change: Assessing the Net Climate Forcing, and Options for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
LUC4C is an EU Framework Program 7 project that aims to achieve progress in critical aspects of land use-climate system science and, ultimately, to provide novel results to inform policy makers and society. The IAM group is participating as an unfunded partner.
AGMIP | Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project
AgMIP is a major international collaborative effort to assess the state of global agricultural modeling and to understand climate impacts on the agricultural sector. The IAM group is participating AgMIP Global Gridded Crop Model (GGCM) Intercomparison Phase I (done) and Phase II (ongoing) by providing CLM crop simulations.
ADVANCE | Advanced Model Development and Validation for the Improved Analysis of Costs and Impacts of Mitigation Policies
ADVANCE was an EU Framework Program 7 project that improved integrated assessment models by enhancing the representations of complex system interactions and thorough validation of model behavior in order to increase confidence in climate policy assessments. The IAM group participated as an unfunded partner by providing advice and participating in the model diagnostics comparison.