Community

Significant progress has been made in the past several years in linking GIS with atmospheric and related geosciences sciences and their datasets. There is growing interest among practitioners in GIS compatible weather and climate data. Additionally, there is growing recognition among researchers, operational meteorologists, and university-level educators that GIS is a useful tool for spatial analysis, interdisciplinary research and science communication. Building an “Atmo-GIS” community and participating in GIS education at the science-society interface have been important components the GIS program. Community workshops on “GIS in Weather, Climate and Impacts” have been instrumental in building collaborations, defining research agendas for both NCAR GIS program and the larger AtmoGIS community, and addressing issues in GI science, data management, and data discovery. Community efforts in developing an Atmospheric Data Model for GIS enabled many research projects, NWS operations, national and international collaborations and adopting netDCF data format by Esri. GIS-focused education and capacity building has been included in a number of NCAR/UCAR workshops, colloquia and hands-on training, and demonstrations. Training materials focus on integration of climate science and data with traditional GIS data and spatial analysis to facilitate interdisciplinary research and build capacity for decision-making.