Establishing contact with new users: SERCC and the health community

The public health community realizes that weather and climate have an impact on human health in numerous ways, and that climate change has the potential to create major challenges. The climate community has a large amount of data and understanding concerning past and future climates. Current activities linking climate and health commonly demonstrate that the creation of useful knowledge requires a closer collaboration between the two communities. This must be fostered through cooperation at all stages in the information generation process, from problem definition to results dissemination. The NOAA Southeast Regional Climate Center has been exploring techniques for linking climate expertise with the needs of the public health community. Initiatives range from contacts between individuals to the organization of a formal workshop exploring possible links and identifying optimal development strategies. Examples and tentative results will be presented.