Climate prediction and weather forecasting

Abstract

Agricultural science is often directed towards an identified application or need. However, a goal of application does not ensure a successful science program. For example, since 1989, the US spent approximately $2 billion dollars per year on climate change research that purportedly aimed to support decisions. However, there is little evidence that it produced a commensurate amount of useable information (Pielke Jr. and Sarewitz 2003), due to problems of legislative ambiguity, models of scientific thought and a tenuous relationship between the realities of modeling and needed information (see also Chaps. IV.3, IV.9 and IV.17). Unlike some other fields, such as theoretical physics or astronomy, agricultural and meteorological research have not historically been disconnected from concerns of application and use. However, creating linkages between research programs intended for decision support and benefit to societal actors, including agricultural producers and decision makers, is fraught with complexities of context, ideology, and institutional design. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.