OSA Announces Plans for Climate Change Global Network

The Optical Society (OSA) has announced its intent to establish a global network of regional environmental centers aimed at better understanding and forecasting the local impacts of climate change.

“While climate change is measured on a global level, its impacts will affect different regions in different ways,” said Tom Baer, head of OSA’s International Photonics Advocacy Coalition (IPAC). “It is crucial that we have a better understanding of how impacts such as changing weather patterns and sea level rise will affect cities and regions at the regional level.”

The Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring Network project was unveiled by OSA at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. The OSA, through IPAC, is leading discussions to create the projects first two centers in Northern California, jointly with the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University; and in the U.K. with the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. The new centers will bring together public and private decision-makers, environmental scientists, and technology developers to provide more precise and useful information needed to measure and address regional impacts of climate change. Additional regional centers are also being pursued.

“Leaders at every level of government and in the private sector face increasing demands for better data to address the challenges of a changing environment,” said Elizabeth Rogan, OSA’s CEO. “Rapidly improving technology can provide more precise information and presents exciting new opportunities for improved predictions of regional impacts.”

The OSA is a professional organization focused on the science of light.