The WCRP Core Project Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) leadership is composed of experts from around the world who dedicate their time to SPARC's international activities. These include the SPARC Scientific Steering Group (SSG), who serve to guide SPARC's scientific focus. SPARC is now accepting nominations (or self-nominations) for SSG membership to serve from January 2019 - December 2021 (initial three-year term can be extended by two additional years). If you are interested please complete the online form here. The deadline for nominations is 30 September 2017.

To find out about GEWEX scientific research and activities see the latest GEWEX Newsletter. For opportunities and meeting announcements take a look at the July edition of GEWEX eNews.

You can subscribe to GEWEX eNews on the GEWEX website.

The July 2017 edition of the SPARC Newsletter is available on the SPARC Website. Science highlights include: the SPARC Data Initiative, Fine-Scale Atmospheric Processes and Structure and the Polar Climate Predictability Initiative. There are also meeting and workshop reports for: SPARC WAVAS-II Annual Meeting, SSiRC Meeting at ISSI, SPARC LOTUS Workshop, the Third Workshop on Atmospheric Composition and the Asian Monsoon (ACAM) and the Second ACAM Training School, the IGAC/SPARC Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) 2017 Science Workshop and the First TUNER Meeting. For regular updates subscribe to the SPARC Newsletter and eNews.

Also see SPARC eNews Bulletin for the latest news and announcements.

How will different choices of the pre-industrial baseline affect the likelihood of nations exceeding the 1.5 °C or 2 °C temperature thresholds? Find out in this new article by Andrew Schurer and others:

Schurer, A. P., Mann, M. E., Hawkins, E., Tett, S. F. B. and Hegerl, G. C., 2017. Importance of the pre-industrial baseline for likelihood of exceeding Paris goals. Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/nclimate3345

This paper acknowledges the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP)

This article by Qinjian Jin and Chien Wang, published in Nature Climate Change, shows that monsoon rainfall in India has increased since 2002 after previously showing significant decline, a signal that has not yet been replicated by global climate models. To find out more see the article: 

Jin, C. and Wang, C. , 2017. A revival of Indian summer monsoon rainfall since 2002. Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/nclimate3348

Get the latest issue of the Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) Prediction Project Newsletter, which includes:

1. Propagation of Intra-Seasonal Tropical Oscillations (PISTON)
2. Update on the S2S Database
3. A new ftp site containing MJO indices from the S2S database
4. 7th International Verification Methods Workshop
5. S2S Special Session at the 5th WGNE Workshop on systematic errors in weather and climate models
6. Subseasonal prediction of the heat wave of December 2013 in Southern South America by the POAMA and BCC‑CPS models

All S2S Newsletters are available on thr S2S Website.

Nominations for both prizes close on 1 October 2017.

Find out more in an article by Josep (Pep) Candela and David Carlson in the World Meteorological Organization Bulletin.

The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and the American Meteorological Society (AMOS) have announced that the Joint 25th AMOS National Conference and 12th International Conference for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography, AMOS-ICSHMO 2018, will be held at UNSW Sydney from 5 to 9 February 2018. The conference will bring together experts in meteorology, oceanography and other climate sciences from around the world as well as government representatives, NGOs, businesses and the media to focus on problems specific to the Southern Hemisphere. To find out more information see the conference website. Abstract submission closes on 31 August 2017.