The Role of CMIP in Climate Research

WCRP's Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) was launched 1995 as a model development initiative to better understand why different models gave different results even when providing identical model forcing fields and to understand which results are commonly agreed upon between models. However, CMIP quickly developed into an activity essential for providing climate projection and information about future climate changes that can be expected under various emission scenarios. In this capacity CMIP played a fundamental role in identifying humans’ impact on climate and as such was essential for providing important answers to WCRP’s initial objectives. The talk will review first the success story of CMIP as part of WCRP’s climate modeling activities and will continue from there by discussing aspects of future of climate modeling approaches capable of providing actionable climate change information in support of the mitigation and adaptation actions that the world population needs to follow during the decades ahead of us.