Paris – Toronto – Zurich: 25 years of international SPARC research

Anniversary celebration on 1 December 2017 at ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Founded in 1992 largely in response to concerns about the consequences of stratospheric ozone depletion, the World Climate Research Programme’s core project SPARC has evolved into a major international research coordination hub for atmospheric sciences. Over the years, SPARC’s focus has expanded to go well beyond just the stratosphere and to look at coupling between the troposphere-stratosphere system and impacts closer to the surface. The primary goal, however, has remained the same: to facilitate cutting-edge research to improve our understanding and prediction of atmospheric processes. Counting over 3000 active researchers from around the world, over the past 25 years the SPARC community has become an internationally recognised and lively scientific community. Research is carried out through a wide range of activities focused on societally-relevant questions. Over the past two and a half decades, eight comprehensive SPARC Science Reports as well numerous well-cited scientific papers and newsletters have been published. SPARC’s renowned expertise in data handling and modelling have contributed significantly to international assessments, such as the WMO/UNEP assessments of ozone depletion and the IPCC climate assessments.

SPARC’s success would never have been possible without the long-term commitment and support of the World Climate Research Programme and WMO, as well as the numerous SPARC Office hosts and sponsors, including the most recent SPARC Office sponsors in Switzerland: ETH Zurich, the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) and the Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU).

On 1 December 2017, SPARC celebrated its 25th anniversary and, after six years of operation in Zurich, the move of its international project office from ETH Zurich to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen – its fourth destination after Paris, Toronto and Zurich.

The SPARC Project Office in Switzerland (session chair: Thomas Peter)
14:00-14:10	ETH Zurich	Detlef Günther
14:10-14:20	WCRP/WMO	Deon Terblanche
14:20-14:30	MeteoSwiss	Bertrand Calpini
14:30-14:40	BAFU	José Romero
25 years of SPARC (session chair: Fiona Tummon)
14:40-15:00	25 years of SPARC science	Thomas Peter, Johannes Staehelin
15:00-15:30	SPARC contributions to the O₃ assessment	Stefan Reimann
15:30-16:00	SPARC contributions to IPCC	Thomas Stocker
*Coffee break*
The future of SPARC (session chair: Johannes Staehelin)
16:30-16:50	Future directions of SPARC science	Neil Harris
16:50-17:10	Interesting new SPARC science – chemistry	William Ball
17:10-17:30	Interesting new SPARC science – dynamics	Hella Garny
17:30-17:45	SPARC Office at the German Aerospace Center	Markus Rapp
17:45-18:00	Thanks!	Fiona Tummon
*Apéro riche*