3
Concluding Thoughts
To assess the effectiveness of the USCPO in fulfilling its key functions to support U.S. CLIVAR, the committee carefully considered the anonymous input from the questionnaire as well as the direct input from the current SSC co-chairs, members of the IAG, the USCPO staff itself, and other relevant parties.
Based on this input and the committee’s expertise, the committee finds that the USCPO is vital for coordinating U.S. CLIVAR activities and that it should be continued. It is the committee’s assessment that the USCPO is working very effectively despite limited resources and structural impediments. The committee urges that it is important to realize that any additional tasks to be undertaken by the USCPO will require commensurate human and financial resource allocations.
Although the USCPO is doing a commendable job, the committee believes that there are opportunities for enhancing the communication and visibility of U.S. CLIVAR and for developing strategic directions for the near- and long-term future of the USCPO. As such, the committee has provided the following two overarching recommendations, which build on the specific recommendations stratified by the USCPO’s core functions.
The USCPO should work to improve communication about the U.S. CLIVAR project to the U.S. CLIVAR community, to the broader atmospheric and climate communities, and to the public. Within the U.S. CLIVAR community, the successes and possibilities of the U.S. CLIVAR project must be better articulated to the IAG members and the needs of the agencies must be conveyed to the SSC in order to realize the full potential of the U.S. CLIVAR project. For the broader atmospheric and climate communities, the scope of the U.S. CLIVAR project and the mapping of the objectives to current activities and publications are necessary to convey what is the U.S. CLIVAR project.
The USCPO should develop strategic directions for its near- and long-term future and for the future of the U.S. CLIVAR project. Given the limited resources available for the USCPO, priorities for the allocation of these resources need to be assessed based on these strategic directions. More specifically, some of the key means for the USCPO to ensure its continued success as well as that of the U.S. CLIVAR project are through (1) identifying its interactions and synergies between the goals of U.S. CLIVAR and CCSP; (2) finding ways to engage NASA and DOE into the U.S. CLIVAR project based on their mission objectives; and (3) stimulating collaboration between U.S. CLIVAR and its sister organizations, such as GEWEX.
The continued hard work of the USCPO, combined with the implementation of these recommendations, will help to build on its past achievements and ensure the growth and success of U.S. CLIVAR.
