Who should be interested in UKCP09?

Anyone who wants to know about possible future climate in the UK.

In detail

UKCP09 is based around a number of web-based and written products offering differing levels of access to the same climate information depending on the needs and level of technical understanding of the user. The idea behind offering a range of products of varying complexity is to ensure that UKCP09 is applicable to a wide range of users, from users in e.g. the Environment Agency or utilities industry who use detailed data to plan multi-million pound adaptation projects, to a civil servant with no background in climate change wanting some illustrations of possible future climate.

A researcher running an impacts model, for example, may wish to access the Weather Generator, land-based and marine model outputs to input the information into their own model. A policy maker who is interested in forming an adaptation policy for their sector and geographical area may be more interested in the customisable image and numerical products for their region. A communicator who is preparing a presentation on UK climate change might only want to know the headline messages or key findings and have access to the pre-prepared maps and graphs; they will not need to access or have any understanding of the underlying data sets.

The layered format in which UKCP09 will be presented will meet all these varying needs without unduly confusing the user, by offering them an appropriate entry level into the information. All outputs are based on the same underlying climate data and thus will give the same conclusion and have the same caveats.