The United Nations General Assembly adopted without a vote was a resolution titled “Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences, 2025–2034” (document A/78/L.99). By its terms, the Assembly proclaimed the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences to address the challenges associated with melting glaciers and changes to the cryosphere by advancing related scientific research and monitoring.

Introducing that text, the representative of France, speaking also on behalf of Tajikistan, spotlighted the vulnerability of glaciers and poles to climate change and their role in regulating climate, ocean levels and preserving biodiversity.  Describing the cryosphere — the frozen components of the Earth’s system — as “an essential resource for our planet’s equilibrium”, she said that more than 30 countries, with the support of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), have launched an international appeal for the poles and glaciers, committing to launch a Decade of Cryospheric Sciences from 2025 to 2034.  “This UN Decade will provide a political impetus needed to make this issue a priority on the multilateral agenda,” she said.

To read the press release, click here.

The Eighth WMO International Workshop on Monsoons (IWM-8), jointly organized by WWRP, WCRP, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, in cooperation with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO), will be held at Pune, India during 17-21 March 2025, both on-site and virtually. IWM-8 will focus on Advancing the Understanding & Prediction of Monsoons and their Impacts in a Changing Climate and will emphasize on addressing monsoon impacts as part of the societal challenges prioritized by the WWRP and WCRP.

Interested people are invited to submit their abstracts online by 30 September 2024.

• For more information and abstract submission, please visit the workshop website:  https://wmo-iwm8.tropmet.res.in/
• To read the first circular, click here.

Photo by Amal Abdulla from Pexels

Antarctic sea ice is on track to be at extreme deficit for the second consecutive winter. In response, polar scientists are calling for urgent global action and a commitment towards the Antarctica InSync programme. The Call for Action is an outcome of the School on Polar Climates: Theoretical, Observational and Modelling Advances, which ran from 22 to 27 July at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy. 

Professor Detlef Stammer, the Chair of World Climate Research Programme Joint Scientific Committee (WCRP JSC) visited Australia and New Zealand in June 2024 to present WCRP’s work and engage with the climate scientists and funders in these countries. His visit was aimed at informing the community about the developments within WCRP. 

He visited the Antarctic Research Centre at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century in Melbourne, Australian Antarctic Partnership Program in Hobart, University of New South Wales Climate Change Research Centre and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes in Sydney, and Australian Academy of Science in Canberra. 

His visits triggered several workshops and roundtable discussions organized by the host institutions where Detlef presented WCRP’s work including its two new lighthouse activities and the WCRP Academy to the audience. He participated in discussions around the priorities, gaps, opportunities and challenges in climate science in New Zealand, Australia and in the world, and also interacted with several early- and mid-career researchers about how to get involved in WCRP’s work. 

Several action items were identified focusing on forging new or closer partnerships between WCRP, research institutes and programs in Australia and New Zealand, such as national academies of sciences. Publishing white papers around actionable climate science and climate change adaptation in New Zealand were also agreed on by the participants. 

Read the full report here. 

Image courtesy: Australian Academy of Science

The PCAPS project will undertake research that leads to improved service provision for vulnerable communities and those operating in the fast-changing polar regions.

To visit the website, click here.

Image from wirestock - Freepik

The planning for the 5th International Polar Year in 2032-33 is currently underway. Planning discussions have been underway between 17 organisations since 2021 and an initial IPY concept note and planning timeline was published in October 2023. An interim Secretariat for the IPY planning process is currently being operated by the Secretariats of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).

IASC and SCAR are inviting other regional or international organisations / unions / associations (scientific, Indigenous, educational etc.) to join the IPY Planning Group. Organisations interested to join should be:

• working on / in the polar regions, including organisations working to deliver/enable science in the polar regions (e.g. logistics)
• committed to contributing directly and long-term to the planning of the IPY 2032-33

Organisations wishing to join the Interim IPY Planning Group should email the interim IPY Secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and submit a survey.

For further details, click here.

We are pleased to announce that the call for proposals for WCRP’s new Global South fellowship program with a focus on Africa is now open. The objective of the Global South Fellowship program is to give early to mid-career researchers* from the Global South the benefit to develop their own WCRP-related research activity, thereby boosting climate research activities in their own region.

For the 2024-call, WCRP is soliciting research proposals from early to mid-career candidates from the African continent. Such proposals must be supported by a host institution guaranteeing that the successful candidate will undertake the proposed project full-time during the agreed period of the fellowship at the institution. Successful projects should address aspects of critical gaps in WCRP-related African climate research, enhance climate action for and in Africa, help build a community of practice, and create the potential for leaving a strong legacy to build upon in the longer-term. 

Applications close on 30 September 2024.

• For more information and to apply, please visit:  https://www.wcrp-climate.org/about-wcrp/fellowship-global-south
• For inquiries, please contact Hindumathi Palanisamy (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) cc’ing Lian Xue (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

 *Early to mid-career researchers are active researchers up to 12 years after receiving their PhD (excluding parental and care leave). 

• Deadline: September 30, 2024
• More information and how to apply: https://cryosphere.info/nominate

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) is gearing up for the upcoming annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU 2024) in December. The conference is now accepting abstracts and the submission deadline is 31 July 2024.  

Like every year, WCRP’s Core Projects are involved in convening a variety of sessions across a range of topics. The list below will be updated as soon as we receive new information:  

• GC149: The global water cycle: coupling and exchanges of mass and energy between the ocean, land, cryosphere and atmosphere  
• GC046: Climate forcing: quantifying the roles and responses of anthropogenic and natural climate drivers 
• GC128: Robustness of Climate Change Information for Decisions 

To know more and to submit an abstract, please click here. 

The registration deadline for the upcoming APARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (A-RIP) kickoff meeting and planning workshop to be held in Boulder from 22 to 24 July is fast approaching. This workshop aims to bring together scientists developing and using reanalyses to share research and plan the next phase of systematic reanalysis evaluations as part of A-RIP. 

The pre-registration deadline is extented to 6 July. Please register your virtual or in-person participation and submit abstracts here.

Additional information on the meeting is available on the A-RIP website.

Submit a photo for the cover of our Science and Implementation plan!

Climate and Cryosphere aims to understand and assess the wide range of societal impacts of the loss of the mountain cryosphere through a newly proposed strategic initiative: Impacts of Changes in the Mountain Cryosphere (IC-MontC).

Applications are now invited by the CORDEX Science Advisory Team (SAT) for groups within regional communities across the globe to propose 'Flagship Pilot Studies' (FPS).

This FPS call consists of two parts:

• An open part where you suggest a topic of your choice as long as it follows the FPS Criteria & Guidelines
• A part dedicated to Climate Risks. We here encourage FPS proposals that target risk producing climatic hazards including assessing and improving simulations of the hazard, understanding the projected future changes, and quantifying the added-value that high-resolution/process resolving brings to the simulation of the hazards and their changes. CORDEX SAT would also highly appreciate proposals related to Small Islands challenges. 

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 21 August 2024.

To read more about the call and to apply, click here

Join us for a special seminar celebrating the career of CMIP Panel member Cath Senior in CMIP and WCRP as she announces her retirement after 38 years working at the forefront of climate science.
This Special Seminar will welcome Cath to share her Perspective on WCRP and CMIP and future challenges. At this session brief remarks will also be provided by CMIP Panel members Karl Taylor and Helene Hewitt.

Date: 24 July 2024, 15:30-16:00 UTC

Register here!

WCRP and CLIVAR are saddened to hear of the passing away of Dr Howard Cattle, Director of the CLIVAR International Project Office from 2002-2010 at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK). Dr. Cattle’s background in meteorology, oceanography, forecasting and management had suited him in taking CLIVAR to the next level. He will be remembered as an outstanding scientist. Our thoughts are with his family and many friends.

Please see the obituary on CLIVAR webpage.

Earth System Modelling & Observations (ESMO), one of our core projects, is looking for global experts dedicated to advancing Earth system modelling and observational capabilities. Deadline: 7 July 2024. Click here to apply.

Members of the Safe Landing Climates lighthouse activity have recently published a commentary “Uncertain Pathways to a Future Safe Climate” in Earth’s Future.