October 2009:

MERC collaboration building capacity to simulate climate change scenarios

The recent IMCORE project meeting (Centre for LIFE - Newcastle, UK; 20 th – 22 nd October 2009) was focussed on the development of future scenarios to illustrate the potential impacts of climate change and the need for effective planning to adapt accordingly. This application has direct relevance for MERC partners involved in IMCORE (CIT, NMCI, INS and the CMRC) as the use of visualisation is a core aspect of considering future scenarios. Utilising their combined expertise in climate change and computer technology, these partners are working together to utilise the 3-D simulator, housed in the National Maritime College of Ireland, to show the effects of flooding in Cork Harbour. Whilst this simulator is routinely used to simulate navigation, demonstration of its use as a visualisation tool for impacts of flooding is an exciting departure. Early indications are that this innovative application of state of the art hardware will provide excellent 3-D imagery which can be used to support the development of effective local adaptation plans. This project demonstrates the synergy to be achieved through collaboration between MERC partners with a range of expertise, and the optimisation of national infrastructure such as the NMCI simulator suite for R&D.