Assistant Deputy Minister, Meteorological Service of Canada
Environment and Climate Change Canada
The YOPP Final Summit caps off a 10-year period of focused research collaboration and coordination towards improving environmental prediction capabilities for the polar regions, and beyond. This event is both a great opportunity to celebrate the successes of Polar Prediction Project (PPP) and YOPP and, to come together as a community to plan for the future.
Environment Climate Change Canada has been very pleased to support the World Meteorological Organization’s Polar Prediction Project by contributing to the PPP trust fund and through additional observations, such as radiosondes, lidar, argo floats, research and models such as the Canadian Artic Prediction System (CAPS).
Like other polar regions around the world, Canada’s North is undergoing many changes. There are increasing economic, tourism, and transportation interests in the region while at the same time communities and ecosystems are experiencing the destabilizing effects of a changing climate.
Canada’s extensive north and vast arctic coastline underpin our country’s keen interest in advancing a better understanding of weather, ocean and climate processes in polar regions to support prosperity, environmental sustainability, national sovereignty and adaptation goals. The culmination of all the collaborative work accomplished to date through YOPP will continue to improve both services in polar regions and global prediction capabilities.
We expect more than 250 scientists, researchers, policy makers, students, members of the indigenous community, and others to join in the Summit. I am inspired to see such a diverse group of experts from many different fields contributing to the dialogue and collaborating on polar matters. Let’s take this opportunity to celebrate how far we have come and plan for the challenges that are still ahead of us.
Diane Campbell
Assistant Deputy Minister, Meteorological Service of Canada
Environment and Climate Change Canada