Applications of Seasonal Climate Forecasting in Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems

• Section I — Introduction.- 1. The importance of climate variability and seasonal forecasting to the Australian economy.- 2. The relevance of seasonal climate forecasting to a rural producer.- 3. Understanding and predicting the world’s climate system.- 4. A general systems approach to applying seasonal climate forecasts.- Section II — Seasonal Climate Forecasting.- 5. The development and delivery of current seasonal climate forecasting capabilities in Australia.- 6. The potential for improved statistical seasonal climate forecasts.- 7. Global climatic models and their potential for seasonal climatic forecasting.- 8. Operational experience with climate model predictions.- 9. Stochastic down-scaling of general circulation model simulations.- 10. Statistical methods for deriving seasonal climate forecasts from GCM’s.- Section III — Farm Scale Agricultural Decisions.- 11. Using seasonal climate forecasts to manage dryland crops in northern Australia — Experiences from the 1997/98 seasons.- 12. The potential value of seasonal climate forecasting in managing cropping systems.- 13. Comparing the value of seasonal climate forecasting systems in managing cropping systems.- 14. Managing climatic variability in Queensland’s grazing lands — New approaches.- 15. Simulation of grazing strategies for beef production in north-east Queensland.- 16. Managing climate variability in grazing enterprises: A case study for Dalrymple shire, north-eastern Australia.- 17. Seasonal climate forecasting and the management of rangelands: Do production benefits translate into enterprise profits?.- 18. Building knowledge and skills to use seasonal climate forecasts in property management planning.- 19. Opportunities to improve the use of seasonal climate forecasts.- Section IV —Regional and National Scale Agricultural Decisions.- 20. Aussie GRASS: Australian grassland and rangeland assessment by spatial simulation.- 21. Using seasonal climate forecasts in forecasting the Australian wheat crop.- 22. Can seasonal climate forecasts predict movements in grain prices?.- Section V — Natural Systems.- 23. Climate variability, seasonal forecasting and invertebrate pests — The need for a synoptic view.- 24. ENSO regulation of Indo-Pacific green turtle populations.- 25. Streamflow variability, seasonal forecasting and water resources systems.- 26. The effect of climate on the incidence of vector-borne viral diseases in Australia: The potential value of seasonal forecasting.- Section VI — Synthesis.- 27. Applying seasonal climate forecasts in agricultural and natural ecosystems — a synthesis.

'The book provides the first consolidated collection of R-D in this area, and while there is still a great deal to learn, the book represents a significant step towards achieving more widespread and prudent use of SCFs around the world. We therefore have no hesitation in recommending this book to those who work in the development, delivery, or application of seasonal-to-interannual climate predictions and to meteorological service providers generally' Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 82:10 (2001)