The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) and the University of Northern British Columbia are proud to announce $185,000 over two years to support groundbreaking research that will advance Canada’s science and technology objectives while helping prepare for the impacts of climate change.

These funds will support research at UNBC that will improve our ability to forecast not only the weather for days ahead but also the seasons ahead – vital information for the many industries that depend on a reliable understanding of upcoming weather conditions, from agriculture to construction to gas-and-oil and more. The research is being led by Youmin Tang, a Canada Research Chair in Climate Prediction and an associate professor of Environmental Sciences at UNBC.

“These projects are a perfect fit for the goal of this competition, which focuses on research that will give decision-makers the scientific tools they need to face future challenges,” said Gordon McBean, chair of CFCAS. “This is the sort of information that must be built into sound public policy, innovation and strategic development, moving us forward into an era of mitigation and adaptation to climate change and associated factors.”

“The support from CFCAS is wonderful,” says Dr. Tang, “This research represents quite a change from weather forecasting that may look a few days into the future. I’m interested in using novel mathematical models to improve our capability in predicting atmospheric variability and evaluating their practical use, so that we may be able to use them to predict weather several months ahead.”  

This funding is part of the $5.5 million recently awarded by CFCAS to promote research across Canada on increasing knowledge and training in air quality, extreme weather, climate sciences or marine environmental prediction. This competition was focused on research that could guide environmental policy or adaptation strategies. Funds were awarded to research on air quality, northern science, weather prediction and forecasting, or climate change and water resources. Multidisciplinary collaborative research is encouraged, as well as partnerships with researchers in the health or social sciences as appropriate.

This is the Foundation’s seventh and final competition under its current mandate and is funded entirely by interest revenues of CFCAS investments. CFCAS has invested over $110 million across Canada over the past eight years to support a suite of research projects.

UNBC is emerging as a national leader in research and teaching related to the environment. In fact, the proportion of students in environmental degree programs at UNBC is 20-times the national average and Dr. Tang is one of 13 research chairs at UNBC who are leading research on environmental topics ranging from climate change to wildlife habitat.

Contact:
Kelly Crowe, CFCAS Communications Officer, 613-238-2223 ext 209
Rob van Adrichem, UNBC Director of Media and Public Relations, 250-960-5622
 

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Click on the thumbnail below to download a high-resolution image of Dr. Youmin Tang