Climate services in Brazil: Past, present, and future perspectives

Abstract

From the devastating effects of the 1877–1879 Great Drought in the Northeast region to the creation of the Center for Weather Forecast and Climate Studies (CPTEC) at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in the early 1990 s, Brazil went from a total absence of meteorological expertise to becoming a member of a select group of nations with the infrastructure and technical expertise to build and run a global general circulation model. This article reviews the most critical moments in the development of climate services in Brazil, addressing the evolution of its infrastructure for observation, monitoring, modeling, and prediction, the still incipient efforts in systematically understanding users’ perspectives and needs, and the work required to incorporate the usable science and co-production paradigms into the main centers of production of climate information. Advances and challenges are analyzed, and actions for strengthening the climate services framework are proposed.