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.

The Working Group on Seasonal to Interannual Prediction (WGSIP) in collaboration with the Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Armosfera (CIMA) invites the research community to explore the Climate Historical Forecast Project (CHFP) database for their studies on the seasonal predictability of the global climate. The CHFP database consists of data from retrospective predictions of the seasonal climate from year to year across recent decades. For access the database see the entry page on the CIMA website.

According to a new report by WMO, The Global Climate 2001-2010: a decade of climate extremes, the 2001-2010 decade was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850. The record warmth was accompanied by unprecedented high-impact climate extremes like heat waves in Europe and Russia, floods in Pakistan, droughts in the Amazon Basin, Australia and east Africa, a rapid decline in the Arctic sea ice and accelerated loss of net mass from the world's glaciers.

As one of the main modulators of heating in the atmosphere, clouds control many aspects of the climate system. Limited understanding of clouds is the major source of uncertainty in climate sensitivity. Over the next 5-10 years WCRP will focus in overcome the main barriers that prevent progress in assessing Climate Sensitivity and future precipitation changes. See the WCRP Grand Challenge on Clouds, Circulation and Climate Sensitivity web pages.

The recently established first Science Committee of Future Earth includes 18 members from the diversity of disciplines and expertises needed to address the global environmental change in all its dimensions. The Science Committee is supported by an interim secretariat whose director,  recently appointed, is Professor Frans Berkhout. Read more on the Future Earth website.

The Korean Meteorological Administration is to host a new International Coordination Office for a project which aims to improve predictions at sub-seasonal to seasonal timescales. This project brings together the weather and climate research communities to solve the unique scientific challenges related to this forecasting time range. Read more in the full news article.