We are delighted to announce that Hindumathi Palanisamy joins the WCRP Secretariat.

Hindumathi Palanisamy is an oceanographer specialized in space-based and in-situ ocean observations with a PhD in space oceanography from the University of Toulouse and French Space Agency in France. Prior to joining WCRP Secretariat, Hindumathi was a senior research scientist at the Centre for Climate Research Singapore where she focussed on developing regional sea level research expertise in the South East Asian region. Earlier to that, she worked for the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative- Sea Level Budget Closure project in Toulouse, France.

At the WCRP Secretariat, Hindumathi will be responsible for supporting three of WCRP’s Core Projects, CLIVAR, GEWEX and SPARC. In addition, she will also provide support to other activities of the new WCRP and work closely with the WCRP Secretariat staff.

The 42nd Session of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC-42) met remotely from 28 June to 2 July to consider a number of important decisions for the programme, including the approval of plans for the new WCRP Lighthouse Activities, the new “Core Projects” on “Earth System Modelling and Observations” and “Regional Climate Information for Society”. In addition, the Core Projects, Grand Challenges and other major activities reported on their progress towards their science objectives and on how they are strengthening their work in response to WCRP's Strategic Plan 2019-2028.

Discussions in breakout sessions about coordination and communication, science gaps, engagement and need of inclusion and diversity, science partnerships, the impact of WCRP science, and resources were very rich and interesting.

The outcomes of JSC-42 will be considered by the JSC at their closed meeting on 8 July 2021. The reports and presentations are available at https://www.wcrp-climate.org/jsc42-documents

The award cites Prof. Kang’s science achievements, particularly in the field of climate modeling and prediction, and his pioneering contributions to operational and research climate centers, and for nurturing next-generation scientists, including from developing countries.

The European Space Agency has been selected by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) as the host for a new Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) International Project Office (IPO), which should be fully operational from September 2021.

The position of Director for CMIP-IPO has now been advertised. Interested candidates can find further details on the post, including a full job description, and how to submit an application from any of the companies listed below:

• Telespazio
• He Space
• RHEA

This year's quadrennial GAW Symposium will happen online from 28 June to 2 July.

It will consist of the following scientific sessions: 1) Science for services: The importance of atmospheric composition; 2) Filling critical gaps in observations;  3)Atmospheric composition, pandemics, and support for a new health agenda;  4) Earth system modeling and data management.

Registration information and draft agenda of the Symposium are available at https://community.wmo.int/meetings/gaw-symposium-2021

The Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change Lighthouse Activity Workshop on "Attribution of multi-annual to decadal changes in the climate system" will take place online, from 22 to 24 September 2021 (free registration and attendance).

Deadline for abstract submission: June 30, 2021

To know more about the workshop and to submit an abstract and register, visit the workshop website at: https://wcrp-epesc.sciencesconf.org/.

To find out more click the heading above.

This difficult decision to postpone the 2nd Climate Observation Conference has been taken after careful consideration and consultation with the sponsoring programmes GCOS and WCRP and the supporting organization EUMETSAT.

The new date of the Climate Conference will be announced in due time on the conference website: https://www.eventsforce.net/gcos-coc.

The purpose of the  WCRP Workshop on Extremes in Climate Prediction Ensembles (ExCPEns), which will be held from 25 to 27 october 2021 and followed by an ECS training and discussion forum (27-28 October 2021), is to provide a focal point for current research aimed at exploiting subseasonal, seasonal, annual to decadal and longer-term prediction ensembles to improve the prediction and understanding of extreme weather and climate events.

• To submit an abstract and to apply for the ECS training and discussion forum, visit the workshop website
• Deadline for abstract submission and application for the ECS training: June 30, 2021
• To read the brochure, click here

We have launched a competition to improve, through Artificial Intelligence and/or Machine Learning techniques, the current precipitation and temperature forecasts for 3 to 6 weeks into the future from the best computational fluid dynamic models available today. Teams can win several prizes, up to 15K. To find out more and get involved, click the heading above.

Note: Town halls on 2 June and 10 June 2021!

Call for papers

Consisting of 4-5 thematic sessions, the workshop, organized in partnership with My Climate Risk Lighthouse Activity, will be held online from 9 to 15 October 2021. It is a combination of thematic keynote talks, individual presentations of original research papers, and peer discussions. At the conclusion of the workshop, the designated publishing editors will work closely with participants to revise their papers for publication as a journal special issue or an edited book.

How to answer the call?

Submit the title and the abstract of your paper (maximum 500 words) or your entire draft before 25 June 2021 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Preference will be given to abstracts/papers that resonate with the workshop’s topical and conceptual themes in the context of global climate change. If you have any questions related to the themes of the workshop, HUC staff will direct your queries to the workshop conveners.

To download the Call for papers announcement, click here.

For more information, visit the workshop website.

The European Space Agency has been selected by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) as the host for a new International Project Office, dedicated to supporting the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). Set to open in September 2021, the new CMIP International Project Office will be based at the agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications in the UK.

Initiated by WCRP in 1995 and currently in its sixth phase, CMIP brings over 30 climate modelling centres from countries around the world into a single framework. The project enables scientists to validate models by testing how they perform against real-world observations and accurately simulate underlying climate processes.

The need for a dedicated CMIP international office reflects the growing input of CMIP products to the IPCC assessment reports but also the growing worldwide participation from climate modelling groups and their widening use across the research community, in national and climate assessments, by climate services and increasingly, the private sector which requires such information to manage climate risk.

Hosting the CMIP Project Office at ESA strengthens the link between climate observation and modelling prediction communities, and supports a key recommendation from the most recent WCRP review.

To lean more: https://climate.esa.int/en/news-events/esa-to-host-global-climate-modelling-project-office/

There is about a 40% chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level in at least one of the next five years – and these odds are increasing with time, according to a new climate update issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

There is a 90% likelihood of at least one year between 2021-2025 becoming the warmest on record, which would dislodge 2016 from the top ranking, according to the Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update, produced by the United Kingdom’s Met Office, the WMO lead centre for such predictions.

• To read the WMO Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update for 2021-2025, click here
• WMO Press Release
• Met Office Press Release

Building on the success of the Sea Level 2017 Meeting in New York, the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) Grand Challenge on “Regional Sea-Level Change and Coastal Impacts” will hold the Sea Level 2022 meeting on 11-15 July, 2022 in Singapore.

The conference will provide an opportunity to share the present status of climate-related sea-level research, and will have a strong focus on application of sea-level science for adaptation and stakeholder needs. The conference will consider the future of sea-level rise research within the new structure of WCRP, including the lighthouse activities and the new “Core Projects” focusing on "Regional Information for Society" and "Earth System Modelling and Observations".

For more information, download the flyer

Register your interest by filling in the form available here.

We are soliciting Expressions of Interest from qualified institutions to host the conference and act as a local organizer. Successful applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.

We are also planning to host two webinars (to cater for different time zones) that will serve as Q&A sessions for those groups, organisations or cities that are interested and may submit expressions of interest

Submitting an Expression of Interest

The bidding process will take place in two stages with initial Letters of Intent due 1 July 2021. At this point it is not necessary to answer everything in detail but rather to provide enough information required for the JSC to identify full invitations. Indications as to how the preparation of the conference can be assisted by a local team would be helpful.

To submit an Expression of Interest, please outline (maximum four pages) how your institution meets the requirements described in the Call for Expressions of Interest.

To know more, click on the title above

26 May 2021, 10:00-13:00 CEST

Please join us for this Sustainability Research & Innovation (SRI) mini-workshop, where we will talk about how we can better relate and translate climate science for societal relevance. WCRP, Future Earth, and the Belmont Forum are working together to bridge research communities with users of scientific information and to identify priorities and joint activities. Please join the discussion. Click the heading for details of how to join.

The WCRP Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) Science Advisory Team (SAT) has developed a White Paper with the purpose of highlighting scientific challenges in regional climate modelling to better inform the decision making process in regions, and for setting the basis for the CORDEX science plan. The White Paper has been open for comments to engage the community in the development of CORDEX and regional climate science and has now been published.

To read the White Paper, click here.

To know more about CORDEX, visit the CORDEX website

We are delighted to announce that Nico Caltabiano joins the WCRP Secretariat from today.

At the WCRP Secretariat, Nico is responsible for supporting WCRP’s modelling activities, particularly those covering the WCRP Science Objectives on “Prediction of the near and mid-term evolution of the climate system” and “Long-term response of the climate system”. Nico will provide support to a number of activities including the new "Earth System Modelling and Observational Capabilities" and "Regional Climate Information for Societies" “Core Projects”, working closely with other WCRP Secretariat staff.

Nico is an oceanographer, with a Masters degree in Ocean Remote Sensing at the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research and a PhD in Oceanography at the University of Southampton, UK.

Before joining the WCRP Secretariat, Nico was Deputy Executive Director of the International CLIVAR Project Office, and more recently Project Manager of the Klimapolis Laboratory and EU AQ-WATCH project at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, in Hamburg, Germany.

The Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change Lighthouse Activity Workshop on "Attribution of multi-annual to decadal changes in the climate system" will take place online, from 22 to 24 September 2021 (free registration and attendance).

The aim of this workshop is to document current research, identify challenges, and explore potential pathways towards building an operational capability to attribute multi-annual to decadal changes in the climate system on global-to-regional scales.

To know more about the workshop and to submit an abstract and register, visit the workshop website at: https://wcrp-epesc.sciencesconf.org/.

Deadline for abstract submission: June 30, 2021

To find out more click the heading above.