A new paper titled “Interrogating empirical-statistical downscaling” has recently been published in Climatic Change. Click here to access the paper – it is open access and available to download for free. The paper, led by Bruce Hewitson, examines the conceptual foundations and assumptions of statistical downscaling methodologies, and articulates a framework for evaluating and integrating downscaling output into the wider landscape of climate information. The authors argue that any downscaled climate information must address the criteria of being plausible, defensible and actionable. Furthermore, the paper asserts that climate scientists cannot absolve themselves of their ethical responsibility when informing adaptation and must, therefore, be diligent in ensuring any information provided adequately addresses these three criteria.
