Climate Science for Service Partnership China
The Climate Science for Service Partnership China is a collaborative climate science initiative between research institutes in the UK and China.
What is the Climate Science for Service Partnership China?
Launched in 2014, the Climate Science for Service Partnership China (CSSP China) is a project stimulating scientific collaboration between research institutes in the UK and China. It focuses on producing world-leading scientific research that is fundamental to the development of climate services that support climate-resilient economic development and social welfare around the world.
The project is working to enhance collaborative research by supporting the UK climate science community in their work with Chinese research institutes. The CSSP China project is part of our Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership (WCSSP) programme.
Who is involved in the project?
Through CSSP China, we have developed strong scientific partnerships between the Met Office, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and multiple other organisations and universities in China and the UK.
UK institutes can find out about research calls and how to get involved in the project on our WCSSP funding opportunities page.
Why is this research important?
Climate variability and change is a global challenge. A key focus of CSSP China is the development of climate services that provide individuals and organisations with the climate information they need to overcome the challenges of extreme weather and climate events. So far, these climate services have ranged from providing seasonal rainfall forecasts for the Yangtze River Basin to providing tools for urban planners to protect cities from the risks of weather events such as heatwaves or flooding.
The project has also developed new scientific capability to improve the seasonal forecasting of typhoons to support disaster risk reduction and is working to address global challenges such as food security.
Understanding climate variability and change is vital for global food security.
Current research areas
Understanding extremes
With the backdrop of a warming world, extreme weather and climate-related events have become increasingly frequent and severe in China and the UK, as elsewhere. Robustly quantifying present day extremes, understanding the causes of these events, and how they might change in future is thus a key requirement if society is to be prepared for the more frequent and impactful extreme events expected as the world warms.
Exploiting climate models
The use of model simulations to make accurate climate predictions and projections depends upon understanding current biases within modelling systems and the continuous improvement in the representation of relevant processes to reduce these biases. As part of this process the evaluation of models can include comparisons against observations, development of new analysis tools/methods and the use of new techniques including the advent of high-resolution models and machine learning capabilities. Accurate predictions and projections of climate are essential for societies to make informed decisions about reducing risk, mitigating further climate change, and adapting to future changes. In CSSP China we use the latest techniques to understand the current biases in model simulations of physical and earth system processes, in both UK and Chinese models, aiming to make improvements in the modelling systems to improve their use in predicting and projecting future climate.
Climate services
Climate services play a pivotal role in advancing scientific understanding and providing actionable climate information that can inform policy and decision-making. CSSP China has a focus on transforming the scientific research and innovations generated in the project and elsewhere towards user-oriented climate services that address the specific needs of key sectors such as agriculture, urban environments, and energy, and provide access to state of the art climate information. It does this by harnessing transdisciplinary expertise, developing new tools and trialling processes designed to improve the quality, usability and relevance of tailored climate information and to establish good practice. Prototype services are co-developed through an iterative and collaborative approach, working closely with stakeholders to ensure that services are practical, relevant, and responsive to real-world challenges, and enhance their ability to apply climate information effectively in the decision-making process.
CSSP China and AI
Machine learning is playing an increasing role in many areas of science including the research carried out within CSSP China. Collaborations between CSSP China partners are helping scientists to keep abreast of and help make use of the latest developments in this emerging area of research.
CSSP China and VIEWpoint
To share the scientific outputs of CSSP China, the VIEWpoint project has created a range of communication materials including articles, videos and training materials. These communication resources are aimed at a range of audiences including government, industry and the public. You can find all resources on the VIEWpoint CSSP China website.
Research publications
The project has published around 600 peer reviewed studies with many authored jointly by UK and Chinese scientists. In May 2021, a project overview paper was published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The paper presents highlights from the first six years of the project and was led by project science leads at the Met Office in collaboration with the China Meteorological Administration and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics.
Find out more: Scaife et al., 2021, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Additionally, three special issues of the project have been published so far: