A recent work by Peter Cox, member of WMAC, and collaborators shows how sensitive biological systems are to changes in climate. The study recently, published in Nature magazine, indicates that tropical reinforest wiil release about 50 billion tonnes of carbon for each degree celsius of warming in the tropics. However this carbon release is counteracted by the positive effects of carbon dioxide fertilisation on plant growth so that overall forests are expected to continue to accumulate carbon.... read the article

The CLIMDEX Project aims to produce a suite of in situ and gridded land-based global datasets of indices representing the more extreme aspects of climate. Indices are derived from daily temperature and precipitation data using the definitions recommended by the CCl/CLIVAR/JCOMM Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI). The project also aims to develop software tools to allow users to access the resulting datasets via a Web interface.

The Chairs of Scientific Committees and Directors of the four international Global Environmental Change (GEC) research programmes, DIVERSITAS, the International Geoshoere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and WCRP, met in London, UK, on 14-15 January 2013, to discuss transition of the Earth System Science Partnership into Future Earth: Research for Global Sustainability. The International Council for Science (ICSU) and its alliance of partners are supporting and guiding this transition, with active engagement of the GECs.

The US National Climate Assessment Development and Advisory Committee (NCADAC) has released the Third National Climate Assessment Report for public comment. The draft report is available on the US Global Change Research Programme website. The public comment period for the report will run from January 14-April 12, 2013. All comments must be submitted online.

WCRP welcomes the new leaders and members of its International Projects’ Scientific Steering Groups, Working Groups and Panels and thanks those who are rotating off. See the complete list of new members.

Thanks to those who offered their experience, time and energy to guide the development of the WCRP scientific strategy and implementation of its activities in the past, present and future. WCRP’s successful legacy and contributions depend on the voluntary contributions of many scientists and community leaders and the support of international and national sponsors.

Find out more about CORDEX development and progress by visiting the CORDEX website. The CORDEX flyer, recently published, provides description of Regional Climate Downscaling and its use in climate change adaptation and impact assessment. An International Conference on CORDEX will take place on 4-7 November 2013 in Brussels, Belgium (announcement).

The results of the GEWEX evaluation of the overall quality of the global, long-term cloud data products have been published recently in the GEWEX Cloud Assessment Report. The need of periodic assessments is a requirement for long-term, consistent data products. It is imperative that the long-term products be compared with more recent state of the art products to assess not only their fidelity, but their quality in light of increasingly accurate measurements.