Climate Resilience Early Warning System Network
With MIT and BRAC, a Bangladesh-based global development organization, we are developing the Climate Resilience Early Warning System Network (CREWSNET). A proposal to the MIT Climate Grand Challenges program, CREWSNET aims to empower climate-threatened communities to make informed decisions about their future. This ability is especially important for communities that are disproportionately affected by and least able to respond to the impacts of climate change.
Laboratory researchers are focused on integrating models that predict the effects of climate change at local scales with decision-support tools and innovative resilience services to help communities develop resilience strategies. The tool is being developed for initial adoption in Bangladesh — which is already facing intensified storms, salinity intrusion, severe flooding, and extreme heat waves — but holds promise to be adapted for global use. CREWSNET will be an open-source tool for the public good. Current work includes porting the MIT Regional Climate Model to run on commercial cloud platforms to support future operational use.