Blueprinting for collaborative climate service design

Since the launch of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP) in 2018, the UK Met Office has continually updated the underlying climate model datasets and operated a supported climate service on behalf of the UK government. In addition to providing technical support for its datasets, the UKCP Climate Service monitors the evolving user need, supports activities to enable knowledge sharing, improve understanding and co-design additional services. This work has resulted in the release of new datasets, reports and user guidance as well as a community-contributed monthly webinar series led by the co-chairs of its user group, the Development and Knowledge Sharing network. In 2023, a user consultation process was conducted and has revealed data needs that are not satisfied by the current UKCP18 corpus of information. As the UK Met Office assesses how to meet these data needs through new scientific capabilities and services, understanding their impact on climate action and their priority is of great importance.

New climate service design often focuses on the delivery system, leaving much of the user requirements defined in terms of climate variables, uncertainty, scenarios, data formats and visualisations. This can lead to misinterpretation by producers of the need and users of the most appropriate scientific tools available. We present the application of service blueprinting, which allows the explicit co-design between producers and users of a climate service which is outcome focused, i.e. it outlines the steps on how new information provision can potentially affect user actions. We will show draft blueprints co-designed with industry partners through interviews and focus group sessions, addressing user needs for information on extreme events, ocean chemistry, uncertainty and hydrological variables. The blueprints provide a holistic view of the whole climate service production process, starting at the potential outcome and working through the steps to information delivery and formats, data processing and interpretation as well as climate model simulation requirements. The blueprints offer a shared understanding for all stakeholders of the climate service.