Director of WCRP, Dr G. Asrar spoke on progress achieved by the WCRP and future plans of the Programme. They are shaped by the urgent need for actionable climate information based on sound science.  In turn, this calls for a “symbiotic” relationship between providers and users of climate information to ensure that climate information is timely, accessible, and understandable, and translates into a need for training and development of next generation of scientists and decision makers who pursue and promote the use of actionable climate/environmental information.

WCRP is expected to maintain scientific objectivity and excellence as a foundation for generating science-based climate information. A dialogue is required with users of climate information to understand their needs and to obtain their feedback on the use of available knowledge and new information.  Generating such information will require a holistic approach to Earth climate system research that also includes socioeconomic aspects of the problems and decision-making processes, with stronger focus on research capacity development and regional aspects of climate variability and change and their impact on climate-related risk management, adaptation planning, and global sustainability and development.

The WCRP Grand Science Challenges includes
• Provision of skillful future climate information on regional scales
• Sea-Level Change and its regional implications
• Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
• The role of clouds, aerosols, precipitation, and radiation in climate sensitivity
• Water availability and distribution in a changing climate
• Science foundation for prediction and attribution of extreme events

The WCRP renewed structure is built on natural composition of the Earth system and the dominating interactions in it, which are at the intersections of the ocean and atmosphere, land and atmosphere, stratosphere and troposphere, and cryosphere and the rest of the climate system. It is along these boundaries that the WCRP will continue to develop scientific methods of and apply observation and analysis, process understanding, modeling, and generate projections and prediction to generate climate Information and develop practical applications stemming from such information.

Dr. Asrar also introduced the main goals and objectives of the WCRP, its current structure, and the new composition of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC). He concluded his presentation, which was also given on behalf of the JSC Chair, Dr A. Busalacchi, with a brief review of JSC decisions and recommendations pertaining to CliC and the Grand Challenge on Cryosphere, for which CliC is responsible. There is a need for authors of the Grand Challenge write-up to identify focused initiatives that could progress significantly in a five-year timeframe. One of these will be the polar climate predictability, to be initially led by SPARC.  Overall responsibility for this Grand Challenge, now entitled “Cryosphere in a Changing Climate”, will be with CliC, but the project is expected to work in close coordination with other projects and partner programmes, such as IASC and SCAR.

Presented by Ghassem Asrar at the 9th CliC Scientific Steering Group meeting in Potsdam, Germany 2013.

2009-06 No. 12 Ice and Climate News

(Media / 2009-06 No. 12 Ice and Climate News)

- Integration across cryosphere disciplines - New CliC SSG members - Norway/China collaborations - Brazil update - Water resources and cryosphere in mountains and N. Canada - CliC-related IPY activities in Russia - Progress in Chinese cryospheric research - The carbon permafrost initiative -...

2009-11 No. 13 Ice and Climate News

(Media / 2009-11 No. 13 Ice and Climate News)

- WCRP Implementation Plan - CliC-ESA Collaboration - Key Events and Initiatives of CliC Interest - SWIPA Snow Cover - Improving Satellite-derived Snow-Cover Information during IPY - Russian IPY Cryosphere Activities - Observing the Nordic Seas during the IPY - VIP Visit to Arctic Sea Ice -...

CliC at the WCRP JSC33 in Beijing

(Media / CliC at the WCRP JSC33 in Beijing)

CliC representatives at the WCRP Joint Science Committee meeting in Beijing, China in July 2012. L to R: Walt Meier, Greg Flato, Koni Steffen, Jenny Baeseman, Vladimir Kattsov

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