Find out all about CORDEX!

CORDEX builds on a foundation of previous downscaling intercomparison projects to provide a common framework for downscaling activities around the world. Discussion paper now available in Geoscientific Model Developement Discussions (OPEN ACCESS):

Gutowski Jr., W. J., et al., 2016. WCRP COordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX): A diagnostic MIP for CMIP6, Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., doi:10.5194/gmd-2016-120.

Figure. Bias in 1980-2005 precipitation simulations by the regional model RCA4 for South America. For more see Figure 1, Gutowski et al. 2016.

The new 2016 Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Implementation plan “The Global Observing System for Climate: Implementation Needs" will be open for public review from 25 July to 5 September 2016. This plan aims to guide climate observations over the next 10 years, meeting the needs of the UNFCC, adaptation planning and climate science. Following approval by the GCOS steering committee, a final version will be submitted to the UNFCCC for COP22. Anyone interested in climate observations is invited to comment on this draft. 

 The review draft and instructions on how to submit comments can be found on the GCOS website.

In this issue: 14 July 2016

• Questionnaire on IPCC Report on 1.5°C Climate Target
• Call for Proposals: Sustainable Water Future Programme Working Groups
• School on Climate System Prediction and Regional Climate Information
• International Prize for Model Development
• International Data Prize
• Call for papers: 2016 AGU Fall Meeting
• Position announcements for two senior reserch scientists and one PhD Studentship

For more see GEWEX News.

The report helps answer policy-relevant questions related to the global budget of carbon tetrachloride, an important ozone-depleting substance; closing the gap between emissions reported to UNEP's ozone secretariat and those estimated from atmospheric observations. 

See also the 'The Mystery of Carbon Tetrachloride Factsheet'.

The call for nominations to SPARC's Scientific Steering Group (SSG) is now open. The SSG is currently comprised of 14 researchers from around the world with a wide range of expertise in atmospheric dynamics and chemistry. They guide SPARC's priorities and activities, working together with the SSG co-chairs and the SPARC project office.

The deadline for nominations is 30 September 2016. Nominations can be submitted through the online nomination form.

Call for Nominations – Due Date for nominations is 1 October 2016

In recognition of the essential role model development plays to weather and climate science WCRP and the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) are seeking nominations for the “WCRP/WWRP International prize for model development”. For more information and links to the nomination form see the WCRP/WWRP International prize for model development webpage.

Call for Nominations – Due Date for nominations is 1 October 2016

Recognizing this need for further advancing climate observations and their coordination, WCRP and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) are seeking nominations for the first “WCRP/GCOS International Data Prize”. For more information and links to the nomination form see the WCRP/GCOS International Data Prize webpage.

This paper presents unified datasets of debiased and downscaled climate simulations for North America from 21 ka BP to 2100AD, at 0.5° spatial resolution. The radiation data are from the NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget Release-3.0 dataset. Find out more about this dataset on the NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget Website (OPEN ACCESS).

Find this paper at:

Lorenz, D. et al., 2016. Downscaled and debiased climate simulations for North America from 21,000 years ago to 2100AD. Scientific Data 3: 160048. DOI:10.1038/sdata.2016.48.

Figure 6. Maps of the temporal correlation between monthly anomalies for selected climate variables (Lorenz et al., 2016).

CLIVAR July Bulletin out now! Highlights include:

• CLIVAR Open Science Conference - places limited!
• Open Call for New CLIVAR Members
• PREFACE-PIRATA-CLIVAR Tropical Atlantic Variability Conference
• WCRP Joint Scientific Committee Meeting
• and more...

The authors identify human and natural contributions to the observed Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP) changes since the 1950s by comparing observations with climate model simulations using an optimal fingerprinting technique. Greenhouse gas forcing is found to be the dominant cause of the observed increases in IPWP intensity and size, whereas natural fluctuations associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation have played a smaller yet significant role.

For more see: Weller, E. et al., 2016. Human-caused Indo-Pacific warm pool expansion, Science Advances, Vol. 2, no. 7, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501719.

A reminder that CLIVAR are seeking nominations or self-nominations for new members to serve in CLIVAR panels from January 2017 (and from January 2018 for the Scientific Steering Group). New members will play a key role in driving CLIVAR’s scientific agenda into the next decade. Detailed information about CLIVAR panels, including current activities and membership can be found on the Scientific Steering Group and CLIVAR Panels Webpages. Nominations can be submitted online. The deadline for nomination is 20 July 2016.

7-11 November 2016

Portland, Oregon, USA

Oral and poster presentations are solicited on all topics related to severe local storms, which addresses hazards of tornadoes, large hail, flash floods, and damaging local winds that are associated with deep moist convection. Short abstract submission deadline is 7 July 2016. For more information see the Conference Website.

15-19 August 2016

Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Pre-registration of the Joint 21st Satellite Meteorology, Oceanography and Climatology Conference and 20th Conference on Air-Sea Interaction closes 7 July 2016. For more information see the conference website.

22-24 August 2016 -  Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract submission extended to 1 July 2016. Tomorrow!

The Nordic Meteorological Meeting 2016 (NNM2016) will include sessions on: forecasting, meteorological and climate services, new observation sources and systems, Arctic climate change research and open data access in the EU and the Nordic Countries. For more information see the meeting website.

Shaping our water future

Brisbane, Australia - 9-14 October 2016

Early bird registration deadline - 30 June 2016

The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition is the global event for water professionals. It offers new insights into how pioneering science, technological innovation and leading practices shape the major transformation in water management that is underway. It draws over 5,500 of the top water, environment and related professionals from more than 100 countries from across the water sector, including thought leaders from within and beyond the water sector. See the Congress & Exhibition website for more details.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA - 20-22 September 2016

Abstract submission deadline - 30 June 2016

The Physics Dynamics Coupling 2016 workshop will work to address challenges in the development of advanced algorithms to accurately and efficiently represent process interactions that determine fundamental characteristics of weather and climate systems. For more see the workshop webpages.

11-13 Oct 2016, Brest, France

The call for papers for 'A Connected Ocean (ACO): The challenge of observation data integration' has been extended to 25 June 2016. For information on the sessions and how to register please see the AOC 2016 Conference Website.

OPEN ACCESS

Decadal prediction simulations of Niño3.4 sea surface temperatures show a transition from positive to negative phases of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) and a resumption of larger rates of global warming over the 2013–2022 period consistent with a positive IPO phase. For more see: Meehl, G. A. et al. 2016. Initialized decadal prediction for transition to positive phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation. Nat. Commun. 7:11718 doi: 10.1038/ncomms11718.

Figure 2: Hindcast skill for the IPO (Meehl et al, 2016).

The recent El Niño event has elevated the rise in CO₂ concentration this year. Using emissions, sea surface temperature data and a climate model, the authors forecast that the CO₂ concentration at Mauna Loa will for the first time remain above 400 ppm all year, and hence for our lifetimes. For more see: Betts, R. A. et al. 2016. El Niño and a record CO2 rise, Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/nclimate3063.

Figure: Identifying, testing and forecasting the relationship between Niño 3.4 SST anomalies and Mauna Loa CO₂ growth rates. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Climate Change, Betts, R. A. et al. 2016, copyright 2016.

OPEN ACCESS

Large-scale atmospheric circulation controls the mass and energy balance of the Greenland ice sheet through its impact on radiative budget, runoff and accumulation. For more see: Tedesco, M. et al. 2016. Arctic cut-off high drives the poleward shift of a new Greenland melting record. Nat. Commun. 7:11723 doi: 10.1038/ncomms11723.

(a) 500 hPa geopotential height composite anomaly (m) for the month of July 2015, with respect to the 1981–2010 baseline period (using NCEP–NCARv1 reanalysis) (Tedesco et al., 2016).

In this issue:

• Workshop on Including Water Management in Large Scale Models
• School on Climate System Prediction and Regional Climate Information
• Reviewers Wanted for NASA Earth Surface and Interior Focus Area
• Call for papers: GEWEX Convection-Permitting Climate Modeling Workshop
• Jobs: Senior Research Scientist and Climate Modelers

For more see GEWEX News.

 “We are all climate communication heros!”. Read all about the Early Career Scientist Event on communicating climate science that took place at the International Conference for Regional Climate (ICRC): CORDEX 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden.

CLIVAR June Bulletin out now! Highlights include:

• CLIVAR applauds scientists on World Oceans Day
• CLIVAR OSC early bird registration closes 15 June
• Call for new CLIVAR members now open
• CLIVAR present at the Regional Oceanic Numerical Modeling and Observation Workshop
• The US CLIVAR 2015 Summit Report is now available
• ICTP School on Climate System Prediction and Regional Climate Information
• ICAT-Ice Core Analysis Techniques Workshop

Today is World Oceans Day! Check out this video by Valery Detemmerman, ICPO Executive Director of CLIVAR, which explains why healthy oceans are necessary for a healthy planet.