Nature Climate Change talks to Dame Julia Slingo, leader of the Review of the World Climate Research Programme, about the achievements and future directions of WCRP. To read more click the heading above.

Hanover, Germany | October 9-11, 2019

Registration is open now for the Herrenhausen Conference "Extreme Events: Building Climate Resilient Societies". For more information, click the heading above.

Photo by Kevin Grieve on Unsplash

We are delighted to announce that the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) has elected Professor Detlef Stammer as its Chair and Dr Helen Cleugh as its Vice-chair for two years. For more information, click the heading above.

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Beatriz Balino has been appointed as the new science coordinator of the WCRP Coordination Office of Regional Activities (CORA) hosted at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) in Bergen, Norway. Click the headline above for more details. 

A new paper, an outcome of the Young Earth System Scientists—Young Hydrologic Society (YESS-YHS) Workshop in May 2018, presents an early career perspective on major challenges and opportunities that arise in the study, the understanding, and the provision of regional information for climate, weather, and hydrological extreme events. To find out more please click the heading above.

Nanjing, China, 21 October - 1 November 2019

WCRP and partners are bringing together early career scientists and professionals to learn from each other on weather and climate extremes and disaster risk reduction and management. Applications for this highly sought after summer school are now open and will close on 28 March 2019. For more information, click the headline above.

Professor Pavel Kabat, Director of WCRP, Director of WMO Research and WMO Chief Scientist, today addressed the United Nations Security Council during a session on climate related disasters and their impacts on international peace and security. Click the headline for details.

Xuebin Zhang and Olivia Martius, co-conveners and leaders of WCRP's Grand Challenge on Weather and Climate Extremes, would like to bring to your attention an association symposium on high impact weather and climate extremes at the upcoming 27th International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) General Assembly. The deadline for abstracts is 18 February 2019. Click the headline above for more details. 

An overview article published in Nature Climate Change this week describes the work and vision of the WCRP Grand Challenge on Near-Term Climate Prediction. The paper also highlights operational production of decadal climate predictions through the World Meteorological Organization. Click the headline for details.

WCRP is proud to announce that a Workshop on Correlated Extremes will take place at Columbia University from 29 - 31 May 2019, preceded by an evening panel on 28 May 2019. For more information click the heading above.

Nature Climate Change Perspective, 'Taking climate model evaluation to the next level', by Veronika Eyring and others discusses newly developed tools that improve the evaluation of climate models. Advancement in this area is critical for providing the most credible information possible to stakeholders and policy-makers.

Figure: Annual mean SST error from the CMIP5 multi-model ensemble. Figure reproduced from Wiley (see Eyring et al., 2019).

WCRP is pleased to announce that the 2018 WCRP/WWRP International Prize for Model Development has been awarded to Dr Thomas Melvin from the UK Met Office; and the 2018 WCRP/GCOS International Data Prize has been awarded to Dr Paul Durack (Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA). Click the headline for the full announcement.

We are excited to announce that a new book, entitled 'Sub-seasonal to Seasonal Prediction: The Gap Between Weather and Climate Forecasting,' has just been published. It is edited by Andrew Robertson and Frederic Vitart, co-chairs of the Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) Prediction Project. To find out more click the heading above.

The IPCC invites nominations for Expert Reviewers for two Special Reports' Second Order Drafts: both the "IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land" and "IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere" will be open to government and expert review between November 2018 and January 2019. Click the headline for details.

The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) is currently seeking a senior adviser to coordinate the newly established office for the World Climate Research Program's regional activities. For more information, click the heading above.

Credit: Tore Furevik, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research

Is there a connection between climate change and wildfires? Kevin Trenberth, Senior Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, explains that "Global warming does not cause wildfires ... global warming exacerbates the conditions and raises the risk of wildfire." To find out how this relates to the Earth's energy imbalance, click the headline above.

A satellite image of the Carr Fire in California (NASA.)

The IPCC today announced the approval of the "Summary for Policymakers" of its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. The full report will soon be released in final form, pending small changes that arose from the consideration of the Summary for Policymakers. For details, click the headline above.

WMO Chief Scientist and Research Director, Pavel Kabat, is currently at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting to consider its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ºC. He specifically mentions the role of WCRP in convening the global research community, both to advance our understanding of fundamental processes and to develop and continuously improve climate models. To read more, click the heading above (photo: IPCC).

At the 48th Plenary session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the IPCC has taken note of the Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science, the primary outcome of the Cities and Climate Change Science Conference held earlier in the year and co-sponsored by WCRP. Click the heading above to find out more.

Photo: IPCC

The Risk KAN invites interested researchers to self-nominate for a membership in the Knowledge Action Network on Emergent Risks and Extreme Events, in the Development Team (DT) and/or working groups. The deadline for nomination is 15 November 2018.