Registration now open for the Climate Symposium 2014 to be held in Darmstadt, Germany, 13-17 October 2014. The Science Committee under the leadership of Julia Slingo, former WCRP JSC member, will be shaping the overall agenda. More details of the event can be found in the second announcement

The report of the workshop convened by WCRP/CliC in October 2013 has been published. The goal of the workshop was to further develop the strategy to address the WCRP Cryosphere in a Changing Climate Grand Challenge. The workshop report serves to frame the outcomes and future actions to move forwards.

We invite applications for the WCRP-ICTP Summer School on Attribution and Prediction of Extreme Events that will take place in Trieste, Italy, from 21st July to 1 August 2014. The submission deadline is 31 January 2014. Detailed information on the school lecturers and directors and how to apply can be found here. 

The Scientists attending the Cordex Conference identified future challenges for the follow up of the initiative and proposed some concrete actions. Implementing these actions will lead to the second phase of CORDEX and will represent another milestone in the delivery of climate services. Read more

A summary and a final declaration of the Africa Climate Conference have been agreed and are available online. The main outcomes of ACC2013 are an Agenda on Climate Research for Development in Africa and the necessity to establish a coordination platform on African Climate Research. Read more (on clivar.org)

After serving five years and half as Director of WCRP, Ghassem Asrar left WMO to face a new challenge. He is the new Director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute in Maryland, USA. We wish him all the best for his new position. 

Meanwhile, Valery Detemmerman has accepted to be acting Director till the position is filled. Valery has been with WCRP for 26 years and is well known among the Climate Research Community. The Joint Planning Staff congratulates Ghassem and Valery on their new responsibilities! 

Around 480 participants from 97 countries took part in this week's International Conference on Regional Climate – Cordex 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. The conference, co-sponsored by the European Commission (EC), WCRP and the WMO/UNEP IPCC, opened with a High-Level session followed by a Dialogue with Stakeholders highlighting the policy-makers and end-users needs. The findings of the IPCC AR5 were presented by Thomas Stocker. Read the full news article.

WMO and UNEP produced a video that shows how recent record low ozone values in the stratosphere above the Arctic could be linked to climate change. Ozone distribution and recovery might depend on changes in climate parameters especially in the Arctic.

On the frontiers of climate change science, researchers build on global scenarios to determine regional climate impacts, vulnerabilities and risks. Leading scientists from around the world are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 4-7 November 2013. Read the full press release.

WCRP is pleased to announce that Carolina Vera, former officer of its Joint Scientific Committee, has joined the Future Earth Science Committee. 

Scientists working in and on African climate and user community representatives have crafted a common climate research agenda to inform decision-making, climate risk management and adaptation planning in Africa. Read more in the full news article.

"We are assisting at physical and biological shifts that suggest a new normal for the Arctic environmental system" argues a recent article published in Physics Today, entitled "The Arctic shifts to a new normal".

The authors highlight that the Arctic remains a data-sparse regions and observations are far from comprehensive.

Dr. Anny Cazenave (JSC Member) has been appointed director of Earth Science at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) located in Bern, Switzerland). Dr. Cazenave succeeds Dr. Lennart Bengtsson who has been involved in WCRP activities in the past. The WCRP community wishes to congratulate Anny for her new position.

The first VAMOS/CORDEX Workshop in Latin America took place on 11-13 September 2013, kindly hosted by the Institute of Geophysics of Perú (IGP) in Lima. The meeting was organized by the WCRP in partnership with ICSU-ROLAC, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs), and in collaboration with ICTP and CIMA. read more in the full news article.

The CORDEX South Asia workshop assembled 70 experts of the region in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 27 to 30 August 2013. The meeting was hosted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in collaboration with WCRP, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS). The workshop was funded by the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and WCRP. 

WCRP sponsored several students to attend the EUCLIPSE Summer School that took place in June 24- July 5, 2013, in Les Houches France. In their "Thank You" letter, these students acknowledge the opportunity given for their career development and the inspiring lectures as well as the stimulating discussions. See the full news article.

In this interview made before the opening of the 35th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment (ISRSE, Beijing, China, April 2013) Dr. Ghassem R. Asrar, expresses his satisfaction at the wonderful job the global community has done in building the Earth Observing System (EOS) and turning observations into useful information for decision makers around the world. Read the full interview.

The Changes in temperature and precipitation extremes over the Greater Horn of Africa region from 1961 to 2010 paper published in the International Journal of Climatology shows that there has been a significant decrease in total precipitation on wet days and increasing warm extremes. This study was promoted by WCRP, WMO and GCOS and was supported by the World Bank Global facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

Compiled by 384 scientists from 52 countries, the State of the Climate in 2012 report provides a detailed update on global climate indicators and other data collected by environmental monitor stations and instruments. According to the report, 2012 was among the 10 warmest years on record worldwide.

The WCRP Joint Scientific Committee and the WCRP Modelling Advisory Committee held their 34th and 2nd Sessions, respectively, in Brasilia, Brazil, in May 2013. The final reports of these meetings are now available on the WCRP Publications 2013 webpage.

WCRP community congratulates Dr. James Hurrell for being selected to become the next NCAR director. Jim has served as CLIVAR co-chair for several years and has been involved in several WCRP activities including the successful Open Science Conference that took place in Denver in October 2011.

The Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability is launching an open competitive process for the selection of a permanent secretariat for Future Earth. Parties are invited to submit their expression of interest which is the first stage of a three-step process.

WCRP together with EUMETSAT are planning a symposium to discuss the current state of climate science and climate observations with particular emphasis on the role of space-based Earth observations. The symposium will take place in Darmstadt, Germany, on 13-17 October 2014. Some preliminary information and the first announcement can be found of the Climate Symposium 2014 website.