Mission Statement IC³

IC’s thematic main goal is to evaluate, understand, and predict climate variability and change at both global and regional scales, and simulate how this former generates and modulates variability and change in societies and ecosystems. IC³’s mandate is to become a leading international center for climate research in Europe, with regional focus on the Mediterranean area, and to provide top quality climate information to society and stakeholders through cutting-edge research and education and the development of applications and tools for assessing current and future climate related risks. IC³, in accordance with international programs, will work towards the accomplishment of the following goals: (1) to increase understanding of the past and present climate, including variability and change, (2) to improve the quantification of the forces causing climate change and variability, (3) to reduce uncertainty in predictions about future climate and related changes, (4) to understand ecosystem and biogeochemical responses to climate change, and (5) to develop resources to support policies, planning and adaptive management (decision support). IC³ will evaluate, understand, and predict climate variability and change through the use, collection and analysis of observational data, accurate diagnosis and the application and further development/improvement of Earth system models. IC³ will provide climate information to society through education and the development of applications and tools for assessing climate-related risks. IC³ is also “charged with producing timely and reliable knowledge and assessments on natural climate variability and anthropogenic change” through the development of Earth system models and theoretical understanding.

Vision:

In RESEARCH: The center will conduct cutting-edge, wide-scoped research in the field of fundamental climate dynamics, ranging from climate diagnosis to the improvement of climate predictions at subseasonal, seasonal to interannual and longer timescales and will use paleoclimate to constrain our projections of climate change scenarios. The center will also have a focus on climate impacts and applications and climate biogeochemistry to disentangle the role of human activities in modifying climate. IC3 aims to be a leading actor in the international arena and to enhance our ability to predict regional climate, particularly for Europe and the Mediterranean region, but with also a focus on climate theory and climate change.

In EDUCATION: The center will offer internationally recognized master and PhD degrees on climate sciences with a broad coverage of its basics and applications, in order to be able to attract the best students worldwide. Dissemination of climate sciences to society will also be favoured as a parallel activity within the institute, and as a way to create a background of climate sciences knowledge that helps decision makers.

In APPLICATIONS and transference of knowledge: The center will be highly proactive in establishing working partnerships with other research and governmental agencies, and foster application projects by research members (e.g. climate tools development, such as a strong seasonal climate forecasting initiative is foreseen). The development of end-user applications is also within the scope of the Institute (e.g. early warning systems and other tools and products to adapt to and/or mitigate future climate change effects). This vision of the Institute stipulates that ocean observations and coupled ocean-atmosphere-biosphere modeling are key to understanding long-term climate variability and change and to developing climate prediction capabilities. It also emphasizes climate biogeochemistry to address the role played by humans in altering current climate, and paleoclimate research as providing climate scenarios quite unlike those revealed in the short instrumental record, thus helping to expand our view of the Earth climate system and challenging our conceptual understanding and modeling capability. Therefore, IC3 sponsors scientific research aimed at understanding climate variability and its predictability. When at full size, the center will employ 150 people and require roughly some 4000 sq.meters.