NOAA/National Weather Service's Chief Learning Office United States Department of Commerce
Commerce Learning Center
Climate Image

Climate Services Professional Development Series

Climate Services Branch Emblem

PCU 1: Know the Infrastructure for Climate Data and Services

PCU 2: Understand Climate Variability and Change and Apply to Local Services

PCU 3: Understand the Basis and Methodologies of CPC Products

PCU 4: Use NOAA Climate Products and Tools in Local Climate Services

PCU 5: Apply Climate Information to Decision Support, Partnership, and Communication

PCU 6: Understand Principles for Conducting Timely, Accurate, and Consistent Climate Data Observations and the Broad Range of Their Applications

Residence Training:

Operational Climate Services

Climate Variability

Advanced Climate Variability

Sub-Seasonal to Seasonal (S2S) IDSS

 PCU 2: Understand Climate Variability and Change and Apply to Local Services Producer: Brian Brettschneider, Alaska Region Headquarters and Ray Wolf, NWS Davenport, Iowa Training need: NWS field staff will learn how climate variability and change affect regional and local weather as a foundation for producing messaging on climate timescales for partners.

Training objective: To familiarize NWS field staff with important aspects of climate variability used in climate monitoring and prediction, and climate change in order to support field-level messaging and decision support services.

Specific Job Task Skills and Knowledge: Demonstrate familiarity with the definition, description, characteristics, teleconnections, and predictability of the following components:

  • ENSO
  • AO/NAO
  • MJO
  • Other teleconnections (PDO, AMO, PNA, etc.)
  • Internal modes of variability
  • Monsoonal systems
  • Land surface processes
  • Drought genesis and maintenance
  • Stratosphere-troposphere interactions
  • Blocking
  • Ocean circulations including the thermohaline circulation
  • Arctic sea ice change including mid-latitude implications
  • Volcanic effects
  • Solar and lunar variabilities
  • Multidecadal variability
  • Global change
  • Extreme events including attribution
PCU 2 Instructional Components:
Please note, updated modules for each instructional component are in development.
Links will be added as they become available.
Instructional Component 2.1: Introduction to Climate Variability Instructional Component 2.2: Subseasonal to Seasonal Variability
  • Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO)
    • MJO Life Cycle
    • MJO Prediction and Impacts
  • AO/NAO Prediction and Impacts
  • Other Teleconnections
  • Stratosphere-Troposphere Interactions
  • Blocking
  • Atmospheric Circulation and Sea Surface Temperature
  • Monsoonal Systems
Instructional Component 2.3: Seasonal to Interannual Climate Variability Instructional Component 2.4: Intra-decadal to Long-term Variability
  • Multidecadal Variabilities
    • Pacific Decadal Oscillation
  • Climate Change
    • Climate Change - Physical Mechanisms
    • Climate Change - Models and Projections
    • Communicating Subseasonal to Seasonal Impacts: Climate Change
      • Training Module (MetEd Version | LMS Version)
    • The National Climate Assessment and Climate Change Impacts
    • NOAA Climate Resilience Toolkit
  • Ocean Circulations including Thermohaline
  • Solar Variations
Instructional Component 2.5: Land Surface Processes
  • Land Surface Processes and Models
  • Soil Moisture
Instructional Component 2.6: Extreme Events
  • Climatologies and Trends
  • Attribution

TRAINING PORTAL
Frequently Asked Questions

TRAVEL INFORMATION
NWSTC Visitor, Travel & Admin Info
Getting to COMET

TRAINING POLICIES
Weather Event Simulator Administration Site

CONTACTS
OCLO Contacts